YORKSHIRE RAMBLER THE YORKSHIRE RAMBLERS CLUB YRC BULLETIN Issue 22, Winter 2004 Articles Sof Omar............................................4 John & Valerie Middleton Weather or not .........................5 Roy Denney Alpine Trip........................................7 W J Anderson E E Roberts letter...............10 Antiques of the future...10 Alan Linford Carabiners...................................11 Peter Holden Alum Pot.........................................16 Steve Craven Energy................................................23 Roy Denney Fisherfield Forest ..............29 Tony Smythe Le train est trop cher.....34 Derek Collins Lakes 3000s ...........................42 Adrian Bridge High Seirra...................................44 Tim Josephy Appalachian Trail...............52 Peter Green China.....................................................57 Ged Campion DESCENT FROM THE OBER GABALHORN CLUB COTTAGE, LOW HALL GARTH LITTLE LANGDALE, CUMBRIA LANGDALE SLATER’S BRIDGE The Yorkshire BULLETIN 22 - WINTER 2004 Ramblers Club CONTENTS Sof Omar John & Valerie Middleton Page 4 Weather or not Roy Denney Page 5 Established 1892 Alpine trip W J Anderson Page 7 Archive letter E E Roberts Page 10 Antiques of the future Alan Linford Page 10 A mountaineering and Carabiners Peter Holden Page 11 caving club Yesterday and Tomorrow Page 14 Alum Pot Steve Craven Page 16 Turbine or not Turbine Roy Denney Page 23 Club Member of The British Mountaineering Council Fisherfield Forest Four Tony Smythe Page 29 Le train est trop cher Derek Collins Page 34 Lakes 3000s Adrian Bridge Page 42 Lancashire V Yorkshire Page 43 Secretary - Gordon Humphreys, Mountain Quest Page 43 Mountbegon, Hornby, High Sierra Tim Josephy Page 44 Lancashire LA2 8JZ Appalachian Trail Peter Green Page 52 Alpine Club Page 53 John Muir Trust Page 55 Editor - Roy Denney, China Ged Campion Page 57 33 Clovelly Road, Natural history corner Page 69 Glenfield, Leicestershire LE3 8AE Chippings Page 74 The President Page 82 Club proceedings Page 83 The opinions expressed in this Meets report Page 90 publication are not necessarily Editor’s Note Page103 those of the YRC or its officers. Lakeland drawings Page104 YRC Bulletin Page 3 SOF OMAR Few formations are to be found but erosion of the Mesozoic Antalo limestone has created many John and Valerie Middleton spectacular columns and canyons. The streamway can be followed throughout but this entails several Six hundred and fifty kilometres southeast of Addis swims; deviating through the many side passages can Ababa the glistening river Webb, fresh from the avoid these. In the many dry chambers bats are very 4,300m high Bale Mountains, reaches the dozen round common as is guano and it’s associated fauna. thatched huts that make up Sof Omar. This picturesque village nestles in a small but luxuriant Just within Ayiew Maco entrance is a Muslim holy subsidiary dale terminating where the river valley site that should be treated with respect. reaches the great Sof Omar cliffs. Here is to be found the fourth most extensive cave yet explored in No new discoveries were made on our visit but for Africa (the longest is Wit Tamdoun in Morocco at anyone in the region with a 4x4 an excursion to Sof 21km). Omar is well worth the effort. The 15.1km long cave of Sof Omar was first noted but The area is extremely beautiful and due to the dense not entered by the explorer Donaldson-Smith in 1897. and spiny nature of the vegetation possibilities must In 1967 Robson, Clapham and Ahmed explored and still exist further afield. surveyed over 8km of passageway and in 1972 a British Expedition added a further 6km (see Transactions of the C.R.G. vol. 15 no. 3 pgs 107-168). Over the next 25 years various cavers visited the system but barely a kilometre was added. From then BETWEEN THE until 2002 access became almost impossible due to TWO local political problems. As we were in Ethiopia in early SOF OMAR 2004 we decided a visit could be worthwhile. VILLAGES Expressed very simply the system is based on a great The cave is in river passage 1.5km long, averaging 20m wide and 20m the valley high, commencing at the village of Sof Omar and behind the known as the Ayiew Maco entrance. This extends Camel. through the mountain to emerge at the equally vast Holuca exit. We stayed at a small hotel in Goba situated roughly 120km east of the cave but camping, with permission, is possible nearby. The friendly villagers make a “negotiable” charge for entry into the cave and can also provide a very proficient guide. On the plateau directly above Sof Omar is a slightly larger but not so picturesque village also known as Sof Omar. Here, on each Saturday, a very lively and colourful market occurs with most of the produce ONE OF THE SOF OMAR EXITS being transported on local camels or donkeys (these latter have a distinctive stripe on the Along this main thoroughfare maize-ways of (usually) shoulder). large passages and chambers extend from both sides. A good survey becomes invaluable when exploring Our team was comprised of Jan and Tony Waltham, these! my wife Valerie and myself, a driver and a guide. YRC Bulletin Page 4 WEATHER OR NOT It is tempting after recent weather to rename our seasons. In other parts of the world, the By Roy Denney autumn and early winter we have seen in recent years would have been called The Monsoons or The Wet and perhaps should at least be known as We constantly see evidence of the effect of the rainy season. This and the odd brief cold snap climate change with extremes of weather having are impressed on our memories but memory is a disastrous effect on people and property and fickle and we remember the good or bad the more gradual and subtle effect it is having on depending on our mood at the time. We perceive wildlife is well documented. last winter as bad but as mentioned above the evidence of the wildlife belies this although it The importance of weather in our lives is cannot be denied that we had some extreme probably reflected in the number of weather interludes. indicators that our forbears had identified. We often say that spring is upon us but even this There are many supposed natural indicators is subject to some debate. Traditional calendar several of which may be old wives tales but may allocations of the seasons no longer seem also contain an element of truth. Logic suggests appropriate and different bodies now consider that the weather is too variable for wildlife to be the various seasons to start at differing times. able to make long term predictions but there is Even nature is changing the rules. certainly evidence of accurate short term indicators to be seen around us. Traditionally and meteorologically autumn is supposed to start on Sept 1st. However many If you see sheep frolicking or horses rubbing bodies now consider Sept 23rd, the equinox, to their backs on the ground then you should head be the start as it more properly reflects the for cover as rain is due although it is hard to find natural world but yet others now consider Oct 1st any correlation. Cattle also have a habit of to be the start. picking a dry spot to sit or lie down before the ground gets wet. In reality it is just a label to describe a type of weather and the associated behaviours in the The scarlet pimpernel is known as the poor mans natural world. The obvious indicators of autumn weatherglass as it always closes its petals when are misty mornings and falling leaves. Both are rain is due. This is no good in the afternoons as caused by the changing balance between air and this plant closes up shop for lunch and does not ground temperatures. open again till the next day. If we ignore the norm of considering each season Bees head back to the hive when rain is due and to be three months long and relate the seasons to swallows hunt low to catch insects which are not natural activity as evolving with the change in our rising as high as they would in fine weather. climate then what we used to think of as winter is now only December and January and they are Frogs certainly seem to set up a loud chorus when rarely as severe as we used to see as is reflected rain is impending and they, like many creatures, in the lack of snow conditions at most of our can probably sense increased humidity or January meets. barometric pressure. Spring often starts in February but can run on Long term climatic change will, and indeed into May. Summer then runs through, certainly already is affecting our own leisure activities and into September and to be classed as an 'Indian is beginning to make a nonsense of our traditional Summer' we now look for a hot spell in early seasons. October as we had in each of the last three years. YRC Bulletin Page 5 Recent research by the Woodland Trust and We have often held Hill Inn meets when the others shows that in much of Britain, trees Dales were wrapped in snow but it now seems retain their leaves till well into November with that we will not get classic winter conditions reds and oranges only appearing at the end of without going much further afield. September or later. To counter this we do now seem to enjoy Heavy rain, one of the many potentially better summers. May and June last year were dangerous effects of weather changes due to exceptional months for sunshine although July global warming, puts many inland sites at risk and August saw dramatic storms and flooding particularly areas of the world where we like to between good spells.