THE JOURNAL OF THE FELL & ROCK CLIMBING CLUB OF THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT Edited by MURIEL FILES No. 53 VOLUME XVIII (No. Ill) Published by THE FELL AND ROCK CLIMBING CLUB OF THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT 1959 CONTENTS PAGE Caucasus Diary Sir John Hunt 231 Excitement in the Dolomites John Wilkinson 251 Bidean nam Bian A. M. Dobson 260 The South Face of Mont Blanc H. G. Stephenson 262 Scottish Interlude Jack Carswell 269 Purist Takes to Pitons O. S. Heavens 273 Lakeland Storms, 1958 .. P. G. Satow 276 Some Eskdale Rock Climbs John Lagoe 280 Climbs Old and New .. Peter Moffat 290 In Memoriam 302 Leslie William Somervell Geoffrey Winthrop Young R. W. Wakefield Henry Herbert Symonds Sir Arthur Cutforth, C.B.E. , F.S.A. C. J. Astley Cooper I. M. Banner Mendus Henry Becket Swift Gibbs Hubert Kingsnorth Beken The Year with the Club . R.G. Plint 317 Brackenclose, 1937-1958 .. A. H. Griffin 320 Scottish Meets, 1958 .. 325 Annual Dinner, 1958 F. H. F. Simpson 328 The Story of His Life John Hirst 331 London Section, 1958 332 Climbs and Expeditions 335 Editor's Notes 339 Climbing Ropes : a British Standard 341 The Library 342 Reviews 343 CAUCASUS DIARY Sir John Hunt A very great deal of exploration has been done in the Caucasus since 1868, when Douglas Freshfield, a famous past President both of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Alpine Club, with Tucker and Moore and their guides, first climbed Elbruz at one end, and Kasbeck at the other end of the high central massif of this great rampart of mountains between the Black and Caspian Seas. Most of this exploration was done in the last quarter of the last century, when all the bigger peaks were climbed, including the second highest, Shkara, by Holden, Woolley and Cockin, and the third highest, Dych Tau, by the great Mummery, twenty years after Freshfield's first visit. Ushba, the Matter- horn of the range, was climbed, also by Cockin and his guides, in that same year, 1888; a remarkable achievement. Then, except for a visit by Longstaff early in the century, there was a long gap. It was nearly thirty years before the Austrians, the Germans and the Swiss 'Tigers' of the 1930's, during eight years of ambitious campaigning, introduced their own new methods and high standards of alpine technical skill, with great success, to the harder problems in the range. In particular, they stormed the southern wall of Ushba and the 7,000 feet of north-facing precipice which falls into the Bezingi Glacier. The last chapter in this great phase of mountaineering was written by a party of enterprising young men from Oxford University in 1937; they made a new route, never again repeated, up the South face of Ushba, and a number of other climbs. Then there was a gap of twenty years before climbers from the West again received permission to visit the Caucasus. It was in this period that Soviet mountaineering, in its infancy before the war, made rapid strides; particularly after the last war. To Mrs. Dunsheath fell the distinction of being the first 'capitalist' climber to revisit these parts, just over a year ago, when she made a very late-season ascent of Elbruz. To us, a private party,* unsponsored by and not representing anyone but ourselves, came the good fortune to be the first group of climbers to be allowed to return there since 1937, bent on carrying out a programme of serious ascents. * The party consisted of: Sir John Hunt, Alan Blackshaw, George Band, Derek Bull, David Thomas, Christopher Brasher, John Neill, Michael Harris, Ralph Jones. 232 CAUCASUS DIARY Why did we go ? First, to climb. There is quite a satis• faction to be found in treading, if not virgin soil, at any rate summits first trodden by one's own compatriots; we were keen to follow in the footsteps of Donkin, Woolley, Cockin, Collier and, especially, Mummery. Second, and more important, we wanted to meet and make friends with the Russian climbers. 1st July, 1958. We spent the morning repacking, in order to send our loads, in two parts, to Naltchik with a Soviet climbing partv. In the evening there was a reception by Soviet mountaineers and journalists at the Journalists' Club. This was a most enjoyable and memorable occasion. Around a table loaded with Georgian wines and brandy, we exchanged speeches and toasts in the most warm and friendly atmosphere—no facade at all. Romanov was our chief host; Anuvrikov was there, whom I had met at Trento; Abalakov, a very famous climber; Baldin, whom we had entertained in North Wales; and a number of others. They showed us two films, including an excellent one of Ushba, and then there was a curious proces- verbal, already drawn-up, of the conditions under which we might climb. Romanov and I signed it in English and Russian. Great stress was laid on safety and the importance of (a) avoiding undue risks and accidents, (b) notifying destinations and intended return times, and (c) adhering to these. Altogether it was a very remarkable, indeed a historic evening. 3rd July. We were aroused at 3.40 a.m. and boarded the plane at 4 a.m. for Mineralne Vody, where we landed at 5.30 a.m. A few striking hills rise from the flat plain here for about 1,000 feet, one of them, Snake Mountain, being especially shapely. We had breakfast under the friendly supervision of an airport official who spoke excellent English, all learnt by correspondence course; his name is Uri Bor- shenko. A bus had arrived to take us to the Spartak Base,* and we left about 7.30. We were soon over the border into the Republic of Balkaria, passing through rolling country on the road to Naltchik. Peasants with typical white broad-brimmed hats were on the road, some of them in small donkey carts, * A permanent camp administered by the Union of Co-operative Workers. Sir John Hunt 233 others on horseback. The country was treeless and mainly vast grassy plains. The Balkari have recently returned from their fourteen years of exile at Stalin's command. Village scenes were reminiscent of Greece or even India, with mud brick huts thatched and whitewashed. At Baksan we left the Naltchik road and started along the river which rises in the Elbruz area; the road, roughly cobbled, was exceedingly uneven and we were hurtled all over the place. Gradually the valley narrowed between crumbling limestone cliffs and we began to make height. The east side was heavily wooded, the west bare and grassy. Small mar• mots, no bigger than rats, were sitting on boulders and there were some interesting birds; we saw a large dark eagle, probably a spotted eagle, flying low by the river. At Tirnaus, a growing town with some mining development, we stopped to buy stamps, soup, etc., and fell in with a friendly lorry-load of Soviet climbers on their way back from the Bezingi; Beletski was among them, in charge of their camp. Many photographs were taken and an hour soon sped by. Then we were on the last stretch, climbing steeply up the flanks of the narrow gorge; we reached the camp at 2.30 p.m. in the rain. Many willing hands took charge of our luggage and we were soon sitting down to a very large meal. We met the deputy camp chief and some of the instructors—Vladyimir Zirianov, U.S.S.R. ski champion; Uri Tur, who climbed Pobeda Peak in 1956; Josef Kachiani, Misha Khergiani and Shaliko Margiani, three outstanding mountaineers. After this it was very necessary to take some exercise, so we walked up the Shkhelda* torrent as far as the snout of the glacier. The weather had cleared and we had some fine views of Kavkaz Peak (4,048 metres) and the four peaks of Shkhelda. Zirianov and Tur pointed out some of the big face climbs on Shkhelda and we discussed our intended ascent of Kavkaz. A hot shower on return to camp, dinner and more social contacts afterwards, then the camp order came for 'lights out' on the loudspeaker. 4th July. We were woken at 7 a.m. by the loudspeaker, calling everyone out to ablutions, followed by the music of Schubert. Ten minutes later, as we rose to wash, there was a further call to exercise, and young Russians came out of * Pronounce Shi-elda. 234 CAUCASUS DIARY their huts in P.T. attire, girls and boys. Soon after, some were trotting off to the woods, others were swinging on parallel bars; others again playing basket ball, and one attractive lass was very slowly going up some steps, practising speed skating in slow motion. Altogether a stimulating sight, which put us decadent Westerners to shame! After breakfast there was further photography and fraternizing; we managed con• versations with several Russians—some in English. Four Czechs came up and the girl in the party gave me her scarf. We packed up and had lunch at 2 p.m. Outside the dining- room a party of boys and girls were sun-bathing and preparing skis at the same time! We were joined by Josef and Misha and set off at 3.50 p.m. for a bivvy site beneath Kavkaz Peak. A long plod up steep grass and scree brought us to this attractive spot at the top of a moraine slope, at 10,000 feet. It took three hours from the camp. We passed a large Czech party on the way down from a training climb.