Maureen Linton, President 2006-2008 THE FELL AND ROCK JOURNAL Edited by SUSANJENSEN and ANDREW PAUL VOLUME XXVIII(1) No. 81 Published by THE FELL AND ROCK CLIMBING CLUB OF THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT 2008 Contents Editors' Note CENTENARY When Not to Answer the Phone Tim Pickles 8 The Centenary Service, Wasdale Maureen Linton 20 Poems Read in Wasdale Church George Watkins 22 Rewriting History on Great Gable lain Whitmey 25 244 Fells for Centenary Year Peter Smith 31 GREAT BRITAIN Report from Pillar Chris Eilbeck 38 Filming Birkett Alastair Lee 42 Two Short Walks with Wendy Dick Courchee 49 They Don't Come Much Better Than This Dave Lockwood 52 From Lingmell Colin Shone 56 Eagle's Nest Direct John Wilkinson 58 Offcomer Bill Roberts 65 A Pathway in the Peak Leslie Shore 67 Le Com-Ping Gaz or Alcohol as an John Hickman 74 Aid to Mountaineering Traverse of the Black Cuillin of Skye, Beryl Yates 80 18 July 1956 EUROPE AND REST OF THE WORLD Dodging Death on Les Droites Peter Fleming 84 The Great Wildespitz Disaster John McM. Moore 90 Tyrolean Odyssey 1949 Albert Hattersley 94 A Guideless Ascent of Mont Blanc Paul Exley 100 Ski-ing Across the Dolomites John McM. Moore 105 Mosoraski Andrew Paul 112 That Would Have Beat the Band Dave Gregory 117 Mt Hood Dave Rhodes 122 High and Wide in the Balkans Richard Hargreaves 127 Deep in Albania Jane Hargreaves 130 Wrestling with Mt Uhambingetu Richard Morgan 141 Greenland Reminiscences P E Brown 144 Four Weeks on the Big Brother Boat Ian Arnold 152 New Climbs 165 In Memoriam 197 Book Reviews 229 Officers and Club Meets 251 Editors' Note Here it is: the first of our series of (hopefully) five FRCC Journals, assuming that we stay the course. Firstly we would like to pass on our thanks to Doug Elliott and John Holden for their assistance during transition, and to Peter Hodgkiss for his unstinting guidance. We would also like to thank the contributors for the breadth of articles which collectively form this Journal. Our initial ideas and aspirations for this Journal were based in part on our readings of other climbing journals with their glossy photo- graphs and tales of derring-do, although we have realised that this Journal is a reflection of the Club, and that it constitutes an archive of the Club's life. As such, many of the articles are of adventures which do not necessarily rank high in the international, or even national scale of achievement, but are a record of the joys of experience in the hills. From the wealth of articles submitted we have tried to find a balance between memories of past events and current activities, and between activities in the UK and overseas. We have failed in the latter objective, for it seems that we have been sent much more about overseas adven- tures than those nearer to home, probably in part because the Centenary edition of the Journal nicked all the recent domestic adven- tures. This journal does contain several articles and photos from the Centenary celebrations, as well as a rather random scattering of paint- ings, sketches and photos from the Centenary Exhibit at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, which appear between articles throughout the Journal. Another club event has been much-awaited publication of the new Gable & Pillar guidebook in 2007, and the Buttermere & St Bees guide- book in 2008. For the former we've reprinted an article of first ascents on Pillar 40 years after its first writing for a magazine. As always, a plea for continuation of the flow of contributions is submitted to the membership. We know you are doing fun, interest- ing, atmospheric, thoughtful, photogenic, dramatic and/or entertaining things in the hills. Tell us the story, with photos if possible. Please. Andrew Paul Susan Jensen 7 CENTENARY When Not to Answer the Phone Tim Pickles C C A Te'd like you to organise the Centenary, please" said the flat- / ^/ tering voice of the President on the phone, from a safe distance in his Edinburgh tenement. "You 'd be just the chap for the job. No need to involve the committee as it's far too complex to consult them about everything; just go ahead and make all the plans; it needs someone like you to drive it and make it happen ." It was only five minutes later, after putting the receiver down that I realised this just might not be a compliment. The initial moves to anticipate the Centenary had taken place four years before, in 1998. A small working group had been formed to come up with some proposals for consideration by the committee. A survey was circulated to all the members and around 400 replies were analysed. They presented mixed opinions : a celebratory annual dinner, a special dinner at another date to the AGM, an outdoor get-together, a legacy project, souvenir items, and an assortment of other ideas. It was at this time that we realised that by coincidence , it might be possi- ble to hold our annual dinner in 2006 on the one-hundredth anniversary to the day of the founding of the club in Coniston on 11 November 1906. The working group presented a report to the commit- tee proposing an anniversary dinner, a commemorative exhibition and celebration, and further provision for a suitable legacy project. These proposals were noted and action was deferred until nearer the time. Three years later the issue was raised again and George Watkins started to gather more practical ideas as to how the event should be celebrated. By this time one or two older clubs had already achieved this milestone and precedents had been established. It was realised that such a major event could attract a very large number of members and friends. Not only that, but the club would want to put on a show that was memorable and distinctive . Several publishing projects had already been mooted. Investigations were initiated into possible venues together with the costs of hiring marquees and catering teams. The whole thing 8 Tim Pickles 9 was gathering momentum. And that's when the ambiguous telephone call was made. Realising that whoever shoulders the risk is very much in the firing line, the first task was to spread the responsibility. A small planning group was quickly convened to bring wisdom and gravitas to the delib• erations. Past Presidents John Wilkinson and Harry Ironfield were joined by George Watkins and Wendy Stirrup. Several calls were made to the membership for ideas and volunteers and over the next two years this planning group convened informally to review all the various plans and projects put forward for the Centenary. Around 100 people stepped forward with various offers of help. Those who proposed events, projects or memorabilia were invited to take the lead in their development. The steering group provided the celebrations with a distinctive overall shape — one that four successive Presidents have embraced with enthusiasm — and approved or vetoed all the individual projects according to whether they felt they were worthy of our club and this unique occasion. The distinctive shape of the programme emerged early in the process, and incorporated virtually all of the ideas that had arisen during the 1998 consultation. Unlike our fellow clubs, we would spread our celebrations over several months, commencing with a special Centenary dinner (that was always likely to be expensive) and ending with a participatory commemorative event that encouraged as many members as possible to get involved whilst actually climbing and walk• ing in the fells. In between, certain meets and events would be designated as 'centenary-related' to take our celebrations to all parts of the club. And a select quantity of commemorative souvenirs would be produced, on a self-financing basis, to mark the occasion in a more permanent way. The very first estimates showed that the net costs of these events might require a subsidy from the club of up to £10,000. Prudent as ever, the Treasurer quietly set about creating a centenary reserve through a £5 subscription levy each year; by 2007 this had produced a piggy-bank of £25,000 which was more than sufficient to cover all of the club's non-recoverable costs in staging all the events. The Centenary Banquet (as it eventually became known) lasted a mere four hours, taking four days to prepare, and four years to plan. 10 WHEN NOT TO ANSWER THE PHONE The club owes a huge debt to Reg Atkins for all the energy he put into the research and planning of this event; it is tragic that his untimely death prevented him from enjoying the fruits of all his work. For two years he visited thirty or more potential venues from Manchester to the Scottish Borders. He looked at indoor and outdoor venues. In an attempt to gauge potential demand for tickets, Reg asked members to indicate their intentions and this suggested that up to 650 people might want to attend. The only place that could accommodate such numbers was Rheged at Penrith and that would be a buffet format with limited parking and no overnight accommodation. The committee eventually decided on a formal meal to be held in the Lakes. With the exception of the war years, the club's main dinner has always been held in the Lake District. The largest hotel dining room (by far) is the Shap Wells, so a firm booking was made for Saturday 11 November 2006 - the exact anniversary of the auspicious club formation meeting in the Sun Hotel at Coniston.