46984_COVER 9/9/04 9:57 AM Page 1 UK £2.50 Autumn 2004 www.thebmc.co.uk Big Issues Bonington Interview Extreme Technology Alpine Detox Trad Leading CRoW Act contentsCONTENTS features 14: Big Issues What's the state of British climbing? A look at the challenges facing us, and predictions for the future. 24: Remote Control Gary Rolfe's getting all cold again. This time looking at technology in the wilds. 28: The Evergreen Years Chris Bonington is 70, but is he really going to take up golf? Terry Adby finds out. 32: Detox Nick Bullock and Jules Cartwright clean up on the Pic Sans Nom. 36: Basics 3: The sharp end Steve Long is your guide to the exciting world of trad leading. 46: The CRoW has landed But what does the introduction of the CRoW Act really mean to you? 50: Heroes of Telemark Chad Staton retraces the historic Saboteurs' route with some very modern help. 52: Schools Out Nick Colton gives an overview of the BMC's Child Protection Policy and how it works in action. regulars 5: The Issue 6: News 10: Access News 11: Frontline 42: Accident & Emergency 45: Events 49: Winter Lectures 62/54: Last Thoughts special offers 12: Stuff It's your lucky day - we've got another four more competitions for you to enter. Win books, rock boots, stoves and more... 35 3 46984_p03-07.indd 3 09/09/2004 11:18:59 35 foreword WELCOME TO ISSUE 35 Summit is the membership magazine of the British Mountaineering Council. The BMC promotes the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers and the freedom to enjoy their activities. The primary work of the BMC is to: Negotiate access improvements and promote cliff and mountain conservation. Promote and advise on good practice, facilities, training and equipment. Support events and specialist programmes including youth and excellence. Provide services and information for Games we play.. members. BMC hen I was 16 I was told by a prominent climber that, “You’re nobody 177 - 179 Burton Road, Wtill you've climbed The Gates” - which implies that having climbed Manchester, M20 2BB it, you were somebody. It seems rather quaint now, but the sixties was Tel: 0870 010 4878 an era of personalities - Joe Brown was king and there was a small but Fax: 0161 445 4500 growing group who climbed Extremes. Competition for a place in the offi[email protected] pecking order was rife. Today however the players change quickly, world www.thebmc.co.uk rankings vary from month to month, and the best climber in the world President: Mark Vallance is a meaningless concept. Chief Executive: Dave Turnbull Summit Editor: Alex Messenger In the autumn the BMC will be hosting three open meetings entitled “The State of British Climbing” so comparisons with the past are inevi- EDITORIAL table. For me, the biggest change is that it's now possible to climb at Contributions for Summit should be sent a high standard without the same level of commitment required in the to the Editor Alex Messenger at the above past. Today people can learn to climb and reach technically high stand- address or [email protected]. Every care is taken of materials sent for publication, ards in just a few months with no long apprenticeship, often fitting it in however these are submitted at the sender's alongside other "lifestyle" sports such as biking and surfing. risk. The views expressed within are of the contributors, and not necessarily the BMC. But that's not to say that at the very highest level there is any less commitment shown. The Mick Fowler’s and Al Powell’s are doing unim- PUBLISHED & PRINTED BY aginably hard routes in remote ranges in excellent style, but the world Greenshires Publishing has become a smaller place. In 1924 it took three weeks by sea to get Telford Way, Kettering Northants, NN16 8UN to India followed by a train journey to Darjeeling and a six-week hike Tel: 01536 382500 across Tibet - just to get to Everest Base Camp! Today it is possible in two days. A small team can climb a hard route on a remote mountain PUBLISHING almost anywhere in the world, in their summer holidays. Gill Wootton Display Advertising So if it's true that what we get out of our efforts is proportional to Jane Harris what we put in, then maybe we have lost something. In his classic book Classified Paula Hearn Games Climbers Play, Lito Tejada Flores suggests that the development Tel: 01536 382500 of climbing requires us to tackle bigger and harder objectives in an ever Fax: 01536 382501 purer style. Thus to free a route that previously required aid, or to use alpine tactics on a Himalayan peak, are more worthy objectives than say Neither the BMC nor Greenshires using pre-placed protection or bolting. Those that have done this in the Publishing accept responsibility for past, such as Ron Fawcett and Reinhold Messner, have commanded our information supplied in adverts. Readers respect and inspired our ambitions. are advised to take reasonable care when responding to adverts. It's up to the individual to choose the game they play, but those climbs RISK & RESPONSIBILITY that will have the most influence and inspire the next generation will Readers of Summit are reminded that climb- involve the greatest commitment and the purest style. ing, hill walking and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement. Mark Vallance BMC President ON THE COVER: Kim Thompson enjoying autumnal conditions on the Hourglass arete, V4, Stanage Plantation. Credit: Adam Long. 4 35 46984_p03-07.indd 4 10/09/2004 16:10:18 the issue The Silver Tsunami Bolts. Has there ever been a more emotive word in British climbing? A word guaranteed to spur the Ken Wilson’s and Gary Gibson’s of this world into a spouting, spluttering verbal onslaught. word that unites and divides. A word, that so few younger climbers seem interested Gorge and various crags up and down the A which spells security and convenience in what’s happening on Yorkshire limestone. country, where local climbers need to make for some, but the death of British climbing There are some fantastic historic routes up carefully considered decisions about how they to others. here and if we’re going to get the sport/trad want to style the climbing on their doorsteps Speak to the Yorkshire mafi a and there balance right, then they’ve got to engage in in the future. It’s these crags that must be- would seem to be consensus that the wave the debate." looked at closely now, by climbers, young and of retro-bolting and re-equipping sweeping So - Yorkshire is the testing ground of old, whilst you still have a chance. across the limestone Dales is a good thing. the day. The bolt debates of the 1980’s and After all, it stimulates interest and generates 90’s have brought broad agreement in the traffi c on increasingly neglected routes and Peak, whilst in Wales*, the South West and If you’ve got an opinion, then come along ensures our rock (sometimes whole crags in the Lakes there also seems to be relative to the Herriots Hotel, Skipton on Friday 1st fact) remains clean and climbable. And this harmony at present. For some crags, the October at 7pm, where Mark Radtke will quiet revolution is gathering pace - some solutions are obvious, the only way that the chair a meeting discussing fi xed gear in the might say it is getting out of control. majority of routes on established sport crags Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire activist Mark Radtke has taken such as Kilnsey and Malham are ever likely to on the job of chairing the Yorkshire Bolt be climbable is with fi xed gear. The same is (TOP) Steve Crowe climbing the classic of the Debate next month - and he told Summit, probably true for the “scrotty quarries” that crag, Central Wall (E3 5c/A1) at Dib Scar, "Many people seem to accept retro-bolting no one seems too worried about, since let’s where several “unpopular” trad routes such as a way of keeping our crags popular - but face it, they’ll probably fall down anyway. as Final Demand (E5 6b), I Travel, (E5 6b) we’ve got to know where to draw the line. On a national level, the testing ground is and Travelogue (E4 6a), have been retro We need a precise understanding of where the local or regionally important crags - Blue bolted with the permission of the fi rst (free) bolts are and are not acceptable. It’s sad Scar, Dib Scar, Trow Gill, Wintours Leap, Avon ascentionists. Credit: Crowe collection. * Yes - we've just heard about Taffs Well! 35 5 46984_p03-07.indd 5 09/09/2004 11:30:20 news Credit: Martin Moran. Get Wise for Winter If you’re a young person and want the BMC on the Up perfect introduction to Scottish winter mountaineering, then the Jonathon BMC posts £167k deficit. It wasn't so long ago that headlines Conville Memorial Trust winter courses are for you. Based in the Cairngorms dur- like that graced the pages of Climber magazine. But only ing January 2005, these bridge the gap between summer climbing/walking and a few years on, things look back on track. winter mountaineering. With a ratio of 1 instructor to 6 participants, the two-day inances are on a steady footing now and BMC lectures (Rock, Walk & Snow), a Skills courses cover all essentials including; Fthe organisation is being modernised on & Equipment Seminar, an activity based crampon and axe use, belaying and rope many different fronts.