Mark Jenneson – The Rucksack Club

Mount Kenya 2025

5th May 2023 Mark Jenneson Member Posts

I am in the early stages of planning a two week trip to Mount Kenya in 2025 with Richard Clegg. We have our eyes on one of the longer routes on the mountain and so will spending the full 11/12 days on Mount Kenya itself to allow time for acclimatisation, warm up routes and a suitable weather window for a three-day epic. Mount Kenya being on the equator has two climbing seasons depending on which side of the mountain you want to climb, we will be heading out sometime during the Dec to March season which is summer conditions on the south side of the mountain and winter conditions on the north side. Dates to be decided but I suspect the trip will be sometime around February 2025. The purpose of this post is to gauge if any other members are interested in heading out to Mount Kenya at the same time. There are many different routes on the mountain, ranging from simple trekking routes up Point Lenana (4,985m), classic rock routes at above 5,000m, through to rarely climbed hard aid routes and even more rarely formed ice routes. If you didn’t want to spend the whole time on the[…]

Have you ever organised a meet?

5th May 2023 Mark Jenneson Featured Meets

In the recent survey we asked a series of leading questions Have you ever organised a Rucksack Club meet? If not, would you like to? And if you answered yes to the last question what is stopping you? The responses to this last question where wide ranging, but a number of people responded along the lines of ‘I don’t know what’s involved’ , ‘Nobody knows me’ or ‘I feel out of my depth’. So the purpose of this post is to highlight that there are no right or wrong ways to run a meet. The outdoor programme includes all ends of the spectrum, from legendary Rucksack Club expeditions like Aber – Barmouth or Colne – Rowsley to local day walks. From hugely popular staple meets like Gogarth and Marsden – Edale with over 50 attendees to my recent Laddow Bivvy meet with just 3 of us braving the famous cave. It is this variety that makes our outdoor programme so good and one of the stand out benefits of the Rucksack Club. Helen, the outdoor organising will soon be pulling together the 2024 programme, so don’t be shy. If you have never organised a meet before or you haven’t done[…]

Initial Survey Results

1st March 2023 Mark Jenneson Featured Meets

The results are in and they have been overwhelming positive. As well as answering the survey questions you have provided over 650 comments in response to the survey. The committee will be analysing these in detail over the coming months but we wanted to share some high level results with you as soon as possible. Here is some high level information on the responses. Total no of respondents: 176 Average Age (173 Responses): 62 years (Range 22 – 90) Average Length of membership (174 Responses): 22 years (Range 1 – 62) Gender Split (173 Responses): 143 Male / 30 Female Click here for full details – RC Survey – Initial analysis for membership

Annual Dinner 2023

1st March 2023 Mark Jenneson Member Posts

It’s Annual Dinner time again. This year we will be based at the Cairn Hotel in Harrogate. I recently visited Harrogate for the first time and it’s a beautiful, interesting town with easy access to the Dales. This, year in addition to the usual dinner walks we aim to make it a true multi-activity weekend and plan to have climbing, cycling and running meets over the weekend. If none of these take your fancy, then don’t worry there are plenty of other attractions in Harrogate to while away the day before the main event. In a change from recent years the Club has had to take a block booking of rooms in order to secure the best prices. This should help address some of the difficulties people have had in previous years securing a room but it also means we need to start earlier to ensure any unused rooms can be released back to the hotel. It is also a lot of extra work for me, so early booking will be very much appreciated. We have managed to secure 40 classic rooms bedrooms (20 double / 20 twin) at a Bed & Breakfast rate of £42 per person per night[…]

RC Survey – Only 3 days left

28th January 2023 Mark Jenneson Member Posts

We have had a fantastic response so far and the survey closes at the end of the month, so if you have not already completed it, you still have chance. https://forms.gle/KviQrttSgg6Wcwzt8 Apologies to all the members who are also on Facebook and WhatsApp who will have seen this message multiple times.

Rucksack Club Survey 2022

11th January 2023 Mark Jenneson Member Posts

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the Rucksack Club. The survey contains a number of questions covering all aspects of the Club and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Each section also has free text box where you can provide any additional comments you may have. The survey will run until 31 January 2023, after which the results will be analysed by the committee and anonymised results shared with the membership. The purpose of the survey is to help guide the committee in running the Rucksack Club over the next few years. Should the feedback result in a direction change for the Club then that will follow the normal governance process (AGM etc.). We have constructed the survey to allow you to complete this anonymously, but would encourage you to populate as much of the demographic data as you are comfortable with. This data significantly increases the value of the survey and insights we can make. To complete the survey click here https://forms.gle/KviQrttSgg6Wcwzt8 If you experience any problems completing the survey please contact Mark Jenneson.

Rucksack Club Survey 2022

11th January 2023 Mark Jenneson Notices