Category: Featured Meets

Tuesday 6th December, at Heaton Moor or Zoom: Jesse Dufton: Not Just in it for the View Jesse is a blind rock climber. He is best known as the first blind person to lead climb the Old Man of Hoy, and is a member of the GB Paraclimbing Team (see https://jessedufton.com/) Jesse, and his wife and climbing partner Molly, are just back from a trip to Lofoten and we’ll be hearing of their exploits in these magical isles, among other adventures.     Admission is FREE for Rucksack Club Members and Associate Members (including MUMC Members) and open to all for £10 (£5 concessions) payable on the door.   Doors open at 7pm and the show starts at 7.30pm.   For those of you who are unable to join in person, you can also watch live on Zoom:   Meeting ID: 828 0738 1553 Passcode: The Year of Founding of The Rucksack Club  Google Maps Link for the Heaton Moor Sports Club: https://goo.gl/maps/wbwKG3UPTBsGuoPT6 …and here’s the address for those who own and can still operate an AtoZ: Green Lane, Stockport SK4 2NF

The latest Virtual Meet video has been added to the collection – it’s a double bill featuring two highly accomplished Rucksackers who are recent graduates from MUMC: Hard Trad and Heart Surgery with Adam Bowman and Georgia Alpinism with Molly Worth. Watch it here or browse through the magnificent library of this and a further 35 videos in the Virtual Meets Gallery. Adam Bowman has blazed a trail through some of the UK’s hardest trad routes (and sports routes for that matter) including the hardest line on Peak Limestone: The Final Round which weighs in at E9. His accomplishments are even more remarkable for the fact that he’s fitted them around a number of major heart surgeries. Tune in to find out how! Molly Worth shared the story of her Alpine Apprenticeship with The Club on Zoom last year, culminating on the summit of The Matterhorn! What next, you might ask? We’ll be hearing about Alpine excursions further afield in Georgia.

On 29th October, a group of ex-Anabasis gathered at Beudy Mawr, for a shared meal and to ‘unveil’ the photo of our Garth Hut, splendidly hung as it is alongside the hearth in the sitting room. It’s a lovely cosy hut, and the rain sounding on the roof and spattering the windows was the same as the Garth rain. Despite that we got out for a bit of a walk, and deservedly got very wet indeed. It would have been easy to believe that we were on an Anabasis meet, hiring someone else’s hut and away from Garth, which was still there, our home at the heart of it all. That of course is not how it is, this is our new ‘home’, and better than that, it’s one of three! It was lovely to be with a group of ‘old’ friends, many of whom I’ve not seen for far too long. A few mentions. Clive Lane led the work that gave us a toilet and washroom at Garth (and many of his work team were here), very much adding to the comfort there increasing the value of the farmer’s asset when he brought it back home. No grudges are held,[…]

Hard Trad and Heart Surgery with Adam Bowman and Georgia Alpinism with Molly Worth The indoor meets season continues with a thrilling double bill featuring two highly accomplished Rucksackers who are recent graduates from MUMC. Zoom “Doors open” at 7pm with the show starting at 7.30pm https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82807381553 Meeting ID 82807381553 Password: Year of Founding of The Rucksack Club. Adam Bowman has blazed a trail through some of the UK’s hardest trad routes (and sports routes for that matter) including the hardest line on Peak Limestone: The Final Round which weighs in at E9. His accomplishments are even more remarkable for the fact that he’s fitted them around a number of major heart surgeries. Tune in to find out how! Molly Worth shared the story of her Alpine Apprenticeship with The Club on Zoom last year, culminating on the summit of The Matterhorn! What next, you might ask? We’ll be hearing about Alpine excursions further afield in Georgia.

120th Anniversary Celebration: Dom put together a tremendous evening for us to celebrate another significant milestone achieved by the Club…and what better way to celebrate than with our first ‘live’ meeting at Heatons Sports Centre since 2019, including a Zoom link for those unable to attend in person. The evening started with a canter through the first 100 years of the Club courtesy of John Beatty, which was a very personal and insightful review by one of the senior member’s of the Club delivered in his usual eloquent style. After a break, there were short presentations by current members outlining activities undertaken over the past 20 years. Fittingly, the whole evening was videoed and is now available to view via this link. A very big thank you to all involved but particularly Dom and John for the significant contributions they both made. Andy

The 2023 Rucksack Club Charity Calendar in support of Climbers Against Cancer is on the shelves now! Thanks to the generosity of The Club, every penny of the purchase price will go to support Climbers Against Cancer in funding research around the world. That’s right – think of it as making a £10 charity donation and getting a free calendar! Fifty photos taken from the equivalent month of the previous year feature members enjoying the whole gamut of Club activities: climbing, mountaineering, bouldering, fell-running; ice-climbing and via ferrata among other things. From The Matterhorn to The Ben; Gogarth to Georgia; and Cornwall to Chamonix, there’s something for everybody! Through the worldwide climbing community, CAC https://www.climbersagainstcancer.org/ aims to increase awareness and raise funds for research in the continued fight against a disease that affects so many. Climbers Against Cancer is a non-profit organisation, with all proceeds donated directly to cancer research facilities throughout the world. Last year, with your support, we raised over £5,000 for CAC – let’s see if we can go even further this time! The calendar is available online directly from the CAC Shop: https://www.climbersagainstcancer.org/shop/rucksack-club-cac-calendar/ and from Climb-Europe: https://climb-europe.com/rockclimbingshop/rucksack-club-2023-calendar.html and will also be on sale at local climbing walls. A[…]

Don’t forget to join us to celebrate 120 years since the founding of the Club with John Beatty and Volunteer All Stars (that’s you!) – Heaton Moor Rugby Club (and on Zoom) Like all the best birthday parties it will feature cake, candles, beer and some photos from when the “Birthday Person” was growing up! This will split into two parts: – John Beatty will take us on a whistle stop tour of the first 100 years, based on the centenary publication: This Mountain Life, for which he was the driving force. – We’ll then hand over to you, the Club members, to fill in the most recent twenty years! Please email me with your favourite photos which capture the essence of being a ‘Rucksacker’ (no more than 5 each please!) and we’ll share these for the rest of the evening (and great if you can be there just to say a few words). email to dominic@oughton.uk.com. If you can’t join us ‘in the room’ there’s plenty of space on Zoom (and you’d still be very welcome to share some photos). Meeting ID: 828 0738 1553 – Passcode: The year of founding of the Club (do the maths!) Entry is[…]

The Hut Warden for Craigallan writes:   Craigallan Working Meet   Due to a recent change of plans for the autumn, I will now be away over the time of the working meet.  Following discussion with others who would have been involved I have decided to cancel the meet for this year.  Thanks to those who had volunteered to help.  This will not affect facilities at the hut for the rest of the autumn and all will be well for the winter climbing season.     John Patrick