Category: Classic Journal Articles

We restart a new year of dips into the journal with extracts from years ending in a ‘4’.  So this month’s is from ten years ago, a very difficult choice with many excellent articles, mostly of folk putting themselves under duress. The article that sums it all up concisely is Brian Cunningham’s Beyond the Bonk, attempting to defy age, weather and Scottish terrain. You can find Brian’s article here, and the whole journal here in the club archives (under the Get Out There! tab). Here’s a clearer view of the map. PS You can find out what went on before and after in Brian’s On The Hill With here  

The final Dip into the Club Journals for 2023 [in the nick of time!] takes us back to 1913 and what a Journal this was. It was, of course, the last to be published before the start of World War I and it is full of classic writing making it difficult to choose just one! Initially, the article on the first Club Hut [in Cwm Eigiau] appealed, but this was highlighted in the earlier “Classic Article” series (available here)…no need to repeat given the quality to be found in the Journal . I have gone for ‘A Tramper’s Easter Soliloquy’, a relatively short but pithily humorous essay in which HS Porter laments the fact that a peaceful and well-earned rest after a good tramp and scramble can be transformed into a hideous nightmare by the “Ultra Cragsmen” who are as ‘fresh as paint and no wonder…it’s motors for them, to the foot of the crags’! This may have been uncomfortably close to his true feelings as in A Short History of The Rucksack Club 1902-1939 [Page 16] there is reference to an altercation in a 1911 Committee Meeting where an angry Laycock [he of Central Climb on Hen Cloud, also[…]

Welcome to November’s dip into the journals. And there’s much to consider in the 1923 journal.  This journal celebrated the coming of age the club, A E Burns (Hon. Sec.) provides an interesting summary, this shows, inter alia, that the club has always undertaken a range of diverse activities. There are articles about solo trips through Dartmoor, Scotland and the Alps, and similar group excursions, new routes at Stanage End and High Neb, and on Ben Eighe. But this month’s pick is again an article by Eustace Thomas.  At this stage in his early fifties, his Long Circuit of the Fells describes an attempt on the Lake District Fell Record, supported by club members, which he extended within the allowed 24 hours in covering 66 1/2 miles and 25,000 feet of ascent.  Typically he kept going and achieved 30,000 feet of ascent (a personal Everest?).  This was not bettered until 1932 when Bob Graham completed his eponymous round. Read his article here, and more from the 1923 journal here.

Les Aiguilles de Diable, photo B. Cosby Welcome to October’s dip into the journals, (apologies for the delay, it’s a busy autumn). And there’s much to consider in the 1933 journal.  Articles by members whose names are still well known: * John Rooke Corbett on a solo stravaig in the Applecross area in February; * H.M. Kelly writing about Corbett’s last munro, somewhat tongue in cheek; * a report by Maurice Linnell of the first ascent of Great Eastern on Scafell East Buttress, the first route on the buttress. But this month’s pick is Eustace Thomas’ article on his is completion of the Alpine 4000m peaks on the Aiguilles de Diable, with guides Alexander Taugwalder and Cachat. He then continues on to the Dolomites!  Read his article here, and more from the 1933 journal here.    

This month’s journal article, another decade back, is from 1943.  The 1943 and 1944 journals were combined, and there are few articles, there was a war on … C.D. Milner’s article revitalises the spirit despite advancing years.  An accomplished mountain photographer, he was also a member of the FRCC, Wayfarers and Alpine Club, worth reading his obituary in the RC 1991 journal here. It was a hardly a difficult choice this month, the other article may well appear next year when we visit 1944! Read the article here and in the 1943-44 Journal in the archive section of the website here, amongst other things the climbing notes have a write up of the first ascent of Manx Wall on Clogwyn Du in 1942, a climb worth seeking out.

The 1953 Journal is a celebration of the Club’s 50th Anniversary. At the time, photographs were few and far between, so all the articles are mainly prose. There is an amazing selection to choose from as shown here:I was torn between Neil Mather’s Peteret Ridge and Ted Courtenay’s Tan Hill Walk; indeed these two authors are Club legends. Ultimately, The Tan Hill Walk [click here] stood out as a celebration of an activity central to the Club over many years…long arduous walks. It records the first Tan-Cat walk, which Courtenay proposed to friends in the Club as “a hundred-mile hill walk, to take place sometime during the Jubilee year”. Neil Mather was one of the participants although he pulled out after completing over 100 miles because of severe knee pain…undeterred he returned the next year to complete it, as recorded by Brockbank, his partner, in the 1954 Journal [click here]. Finally, the whole of the 1953 Journal can be accessed here…happy reading!

This month’s journal article is from sixty years ago, Ralph Jones’ account of the joint AC and SMC expedition to the Pamirs in Soviet Russia (at the time).  Noted for the tragic accident and deaths of Wilford Noyce and the young Edinburgh climber Robin Smith.  What could he have achieved?  Interesting views on the mass alpine style approach of the Russians compared to the siege tactics of the UK group. It was a difficult choice this month, and a word for the other contending article, Len Stubbs’ account of a Three Peaks attempt in an unreliable car, before motorways, in poor weather and apparently fuelled by cigarettes, tea and toast! Read the Pamirs article here and others in the 1963 Journal in the archive section of the website here.

The 1973 Journal is full of great articles making the choice of just one difficult. There were several based on Munroing, an article on the Alpine 4000ers and the one chosen, authored by Eddie Birch, on the fourth ascent of Fitzroy in Patagonia via a new route up the SE Ridge by the British Argentinian Expedition in 1972 of which Eddie was a member. It paints a picture of a different era of expedition travel and life with two of the members taking vast quantities of gear and food in a VW out by boat to be joined by the others in the team in Argentina. It was a highly successful trip and, as Eddie noted, they were very fortunate as all members maintain a harmonious and cordial working friendship throughout. The photo shows Fitzroy on the right with the Mount Poincenot on the right which, together, form a central part in the Patagonia clothing logo! The map below shows the route taken; the SE Ridge can be clearly seen in the photograph above. Enjoy the article, which can be accessed by clicking here  

Just in time for this month’s Dip Into The Club Journals – it’s 1983 and Mike Cudahy’s account of his five year campaign to complete the Pennine Way in under three days. Here’s a link to the article The Pennine Way in Three Days and Five Years Mike’s record was bettered by Mike Hartley in 1989 and this record stood for 31 years. Mike Hartley touches on this in his On The Hill With, here’s a link OTHW – Mike Hartley

Between 1945 and 1950 Peter Harding was one of the leading climbers in the UK, who was also credited with inventing the modern ‘hand-jam’, although it is more likely that he rediscovered it! First ascents include such iconic routes as Promontory Traverse [Black Rocks, 1945], Valkyrie [Roaches, 1946], Suicide Wall [Cratcliffe, 1946], Goliath’s Groove [Stanage, 1947] and Ivy Sepulchre [Dinas Cromlech, 1947]. He joined the Rucksack Club in 1947 remaining a member until his death in 2007. He continued to climb throughout his life although less cutting edge and sometimes further afield. He climbed the Matterhorn on four occasions with his last [a solo of the Hornli Ridge in 1993 aged 69] recounted in the excellent article “Just a Bit Difficult” in the 1993 Journal. Here’s the link to the article. Peter Harding, first ascent of Promontory Traverse [E1/5b], Black Rocks 1945. Photo: © Rucksack Club Peter Harding, first ascent Goliath’s Groove [HVS/5a], Stanage 1947. Photo: © Rucksack Club Peter Harding circa 1945. Photo © Rucksack Club Peter Harding, 1995. Photo: © Gordon Stainforth Peter Harding leading Valkyrie [VS, Roaches] in 1995. Photo: © Gordon Stainforth The Hornli Ridge.  Photo: ET Roberts © Rucksack Club