Category: Member Posts

My last post prompted a flurry of further great photos – see below (and sorry I’m not web-savvy enough to get them in the right monthly folders of the previous post!) A hint for viewing these and previous entries – click the images to get the full picture rather than the cropped square thumbnail. Still plenty of opportunity to get your entries in – especially for September and October this year, of course, but also for the last 10 months (March seems particularly light – what were you all doing???) Cheers, Dom

Congratulations to Helen Pritchard who completed this year’s Ultra Tour Monte Rosa [UTMR] last weekend finishing as the first V40 lady and 6th female overall…in good Rucksack Club tradition in such races! Day 3 was cancelled because of heavy snow. Conditions on the first 2 days were perfect, however Day 3 was cancelled because of heavy snow…as a consequence an alternative reduced route was ran on day 4 with the organisers flag a 25km 1600m route in the early hours of that morning!!! Helen noted “It was a circular route keeping us much lower down but just stunning. I loved it!” Helen on the UTMR with the Weisshorn behind Helen running through Zermatt    

Beudy has been booked by Blind Veterans UK for an event on 13/14 November. Six blind veterans assisted by four sighted helpers are providing overnight support to other veterans involved in an exercise in Snowdonia. The event is midweek.

Hi Everyone With a bit of badgering I’ve managed to accumulate a few contenders for each month of the planned 2020 Rucksack Club Calendar (all proceeds to charity – to be printed in November 2019 and ready for stocking fillers and the New Year). There’s still time to ‘Get In There!’ by sending in your photos. Each month will feature a photo from the same month’s activity the previous year (with Nov & Dec from 2018 for logistical reasons). Photos need to be landscape (could be cropped from a portrait photo though) and ideally of and/or by members, featuring action shots of the Club’s activities (climbing, mountaineering, and hill walking obviously but also scope for running, ice-climbing, MTB, caving, skiing etc). Even better if they’re on a Club Meet. Please send more contributions (high res please) to calendar@rucksackclub.org or dominic@oughton.uk.com with month and a caption and a credit. Here’s what we’ve got so far (about half a dozen contenders for each month – apologies that there are so many of my shots; that’s why we need more of YOURS!!!): November: December: January: February: March: April: May: June: July: August: September: Cheers Dom

Due to a combination of injury (mine & John Beatty’s), an absence of persons (Andy Llewellyn & Andy Howie) and an absence of interest (with the honourable exception of Dave Woolley) the 2019 Greenfield – Macclesfield will be completed on bikes. In recognition of John Beatty’s epic drive, train, bike & hike of last year we will leave Greenfield station at 0845 following the walking route as closely as possible on a mix of road and trail. All are welcome. If anybody is wanting to complete the route on foot I can supply you with GPX files and drink celebratory beer with you in the Waters Green Tavern, Macclesfield.

A quick reminder from Carole [Smithies] that the High Camp 29 or Camp on a Welsh not quite Three Meet is next weekend [30 August – 1 September]…as a reminder of what you will miss if you don’t attend, and to ensure there is sufficient cake, Carole has sent the following: Fifty five years ago Vin Dillon went off to Wales for his first Camp on a Welsh Three.  Vin and Arthur Clarke with MRC guests Cutting & Richardson, and “member’s wife”, spent the night on Crib y Ddysgl. “Rum and cigars in leader’s tent at 7.00 followed by Talisker and biscuits and talk, then come “bottle empty” time, all along to Snowdon under a black sky peppered with stars”.  And we’ve been following Vin’s lead ever since.  Given the success of last year’s combined High Moss/Harter Fell High Camp I thought why not go back to our beginnings and do the same in Wales.  So I’ve booked Beudy for the weekend but, since Vin used up all the Welsh Threes, I’m going to camp at Llyn y Cŵm, a mere 2,000ft, just above the Devil’s Kitchen.  Like last year, the plan is for people to arrive Friday evening or Saturday morning.  No[…]

Tony Sawyer and myself are hoping to get a team together in October for a weeks climbing in the Vercors. This is a great area about 30 miles west of Grenoble we are planning on staying in Presles where there is a wealth of multi or single pitch routes to get on.Dates are 17th–25th October,flight to Lyon from Manchester then car hire onwards and accomodation in the area, drop me a line if you are keen, you can check out the climbing from UKC (climbing in the vercor) John Warby

Greenfield – Macclesfield 2019 meet on a sheet

Here we go with bookings over the next couple of months or so:- This month, John Wootton has booked 5 places from the 18th to the 23rd. There are 4 people booked in for the Bank Holiday weekend and Carole Smithies has booked the whole hut for the weekend of 31st/1st September as part of her High Camp Meet. In September, Andy Baron has booked 7 places for the weekend of 7th/8th and Keith Towell has booked 2 spaces for the week commencing 16th. There are no bookings for October as yet.