YORKSHIRE RAMBLERS’ CLUB JOURNAL 2019 The aims of the Club are to organise walking, mountaineering, and skiing excursions; to conduct expeditions to remote parts of the planet; to encourage the exploration of caves and pot-holes; the pursuit of other similar outdoor activities and the gathering and promotion of knowledge of archaeology, geology, natural history, folklore and other kindred subjects. FRONT COVER: COMPILED AND EDITED BY: Richards Smith approaching Roy Denney. The start of the Wolf’s Head climb, Wyoming 33 Clovelly Road, Glenfield, BACK COVER: Leicester LE3 8AE Packhorses bringing the E-mail: gear to Lonesome Lake, [email protected] Wyoming meet Doctor In The Hills Rory Newman In the latest of the series of articles reminiscing and (to Stanage aged about 14) I tied a hemp commenting on changes seen, our President shares his rope onto an iron karabiner which attached thoughts. We had three such contributions in the last to a hemp waist loop, and climbed in boots edition and they are always interesting. or gym-shoes. “PAs” were just coming in, and within a couple of years I was using “I was interested by Mick Borroff’s article in a these and single 11mm Perlon rope (tied recent YRC journal about modern GPS and directly round my middle); some of the real mapping, and it really got me thinking about hard men and women (not so many of the changes during my mountaineering lifetime. latter in those far-off days), were using I’m now looking at my uncle’s ice-axe, dating from double 9mm ropes, and harnesses, which I about 1950. It’s rather a thought very sophisticated. By then we had beautiful object (in the way alloy karabiners, with tape and rope slings that many good tools are and some nuts on rope or tape for also beautiful) with a slim protection – nuts on wire came a year or wooden handle, and iron two later; many leaders still carried pitons head and spike. It was made and a peg-hammer. by Francois Simond et Fils, of Chamonix, and endorsed Eventually a 40-foot free-fall which ended by Gaston Rebuffat. with me dangling in front of Sue as my second on the climb, convinced me that a I have tried using it: it’s OK harness would be a good investment (she as a walking axe, though a said “are you all right?” and I said bit longer in the handle than “URRK” as I was too winded to get the one I would usually use, anything more sensible out). its balance is good for cutting steps on steep Climbing walls did exist, but they were all ground, but for anything outdoors, and all made by chipping holds approaching vertical ice, the in the brickwork on disused bridges and handle is too long and the Wife Sue with that axe suchlike. The development of actually pick at the wrong angle. building walls for climbing, and especially doing this indoors, has made huge changes I have also tried his old iron 8-point crampons (no to standards, as it’s now possible to train, front points); again fine for walking, ok-ish on steep and practice hard moves safely in bad ground (really better with cut steps), but I found weather....although some of the outdoor almost impossible to use on more vertical stuff – epics do live in the memory: Main Wall in I’m unsure how they climbed really steep ice in the Snowdonia in increasing rain, Ardverikie earlies, presumably with endless step-cutting, as Wall in the Highlands ditto, Tower Ridge climb it they did. on Nevis in unexpected snow (we set off in sunshine) – all a bit interesting at the time, I don’t quite go back to nailed boots, though my but I wouldn’t swap them for 3 indoor father used them, but on my first rock-climbing trip climbing days. YRC Journal page 4 Walls have also made it possible to play some different games: a few years ago I had a medical student to stay who enjoyed rock-climbing. He was happily working his way up the “E” grades (to which I have never aspired) – all on indoor walls; he had never led, and was looking forward to his first trip to an outcrop to experience outdoor climbing. On the YRC 1995 expedition to Nepal, at our base camp we were 3 days by runner from the nearest telephone. It seems amazing now that this was so only 20 odd years ago. On all the more recent trips where I’ve been expedition doctor, a timely medical evacuation would have been possible (weather permitting), or at least I could have got some expert advice; for the Nepal trip I took a stack of heavy-duty medication – these days I would be arrested for trying to import/export this – with the thought that I might have to try to keep somebody alive for four or five days before help arrived, or even if they clearly were not going to make it ‘ease their passing’. I didn’t discuss this with the other expedition members at the time – sorry lads, but thought it might be a bit of a downer – but fortunately we had no disasters. Mobile phones, and satellite phones in the real backwoods, have made expedition doctoring a lot less alarming (though I think they can also make us a bit less self-reliant – is it TOO easy to yell for help now?). Which brings me back to where I started, and to what for walkers at least is perhaps the biggest advance: GPS. I can think of a number of sweaty moments, trying to navigate in thick fog or white-out, estimating distance walked for a bearing-change with no landmarks, mostly with reasonable success (though Sue and I never did find the summit of Ben Alder in white-out and deep snow – or at least if we did we didn’t recognise it – and had to go back in Summer and try again). Contrast this with a more recent trip onto the Greenland icecap, where we could safely leave camp in poor visibility, secure that with satellite mapping we would actually be able to find it again. I am now (of course) a grumpy old man, but I think all of these advances are on the whole good things. There are YRC members (say it quietly) even older than me, whose mountaineering experience goes back even further; I wonder how they see some of the changes? And I would enjoy an account of how caving has changed, if anyone would write one.” Axes were not the only thing very different in the early days. Right is Rory’s battered old map with 250’ contours, which has brought to mind changes in mapping over the years YRC Journal page 5 Mapping Over The Ages Roy Denney The President’s article has triggered my thoughts in These new maps employed this new the direction of maps I have used over my three technology and although I doubt they will score and ten. I was shown a mysterious sheet of ever admit it, I think it showed the paper when I was four by by mother who had been unreliability of OS mapping in one important a keen cyclist and had started taking me for local area. Using a compass is a good idea but in walks, mostly around Styal and Alderley Edge. dense woodland or on a moor riven by deep gullies it is not easy. The top of Kinder if In the misguided belief that I had a clue what she trying to strike across on a bearing is not easy was talking about I later realised she was trying to and I suspect that the contours on the early show me how contours could warn of dangerous OS maps reflecting the terrain on the top were edges. Something must have stuck as I have been just an indicative screen hooked on maps and geography in its wider sense ever since. O level geography was a shoe-in and I Another area where I doubt the accuracy is have the almost certainly unique achievement of on hillsides. I suspect that accurate contour having passed one geography exam five times. My lines were created every 25 or 50 meters and professional qualifications came in 10 modules and then infill drawn to reflect the image rather you had to pass three of the first five at the same than being strictly accurate. Quite helpful time to move on. The English module was fairly actually most of the time. straightforward and I kept passing that and the Commercial Geography but the other three eluded To my mind OS maps have become less me especially economics which I could not helpful over the years despite getting more understand, much like today’s economists. accurate with fine detail. In trying to expand their market they now include so much Anyway back to maps; when I moved down to the information that the maps are a bit cluttered. Midlands, a long way from any higher hills I took As more use is made of electronic versions up orienteering to keep fit between YRC meets and various screens can be switched on and off to trained myself to produce highly detailed and very make the information more relevant to the accurate maps for them. I also did some simple ones purpose in hand. for local authorities showing country parks and the ways to walk to them. It is fascinating to compare and contrast generations of maps.