Category: Member Posts

Hi Everyone, Our good friend and member, Paul Shearman, has handed me a pair of almost unused Grivel G12 New-matic crampons which he can no longer use. He wants nothing for them, which is extremely generous. But, at circa £130 plus for new, could I ask for a modest donation to Climbers Against Cancer of £30 for them. Let me know if interested.

The 2025 MEF lecture will take place on 27 March at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London and will feature a special one-off talk by Mick Fowler and Victor Saunders, newly returned from making a first ascent in Pakistan at the ages of 68 and 74, respectively. In the summer of 1987 Fowler and Saunders travelled together to Pakistan, where they made the first ascent of the ‘Golden Pillar’ of Spantik (7027m), a landmark mountaineering achievement. Nearly four decades later, not only are they still climbing together, they’re still achieving first ascents in Pakistan! For one evening only, they will give a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) to discuss their latest climb (the 2023 first ascent of the spectacular Yawash Sar (6258m) – “the Matterhorn of the Khunjerab”), their enduring partnerhsip and their future plans.  Further details on the MEF website here. If any RC members are up in London that day, then Tickets can be booked now via Eventbrite with proceeds going to the MEF’s continuing work of supporting mountaineering and scientific exploration in mountain regions.  

Who’s Up for a Winter Weekend in North Wales? Yes, don’t forget to book in on my Beudy Mawr Meet on 18/19 January for fun, frolics and food. (In fact, even if you think you’ve already booked in, please book in again as several people have asked to book on the Meet at a time when I didn’t have anywhere to write it down, so unless your name happens to be Charles B or Ian H I’m not currently planning to cater for you. Apologies, the little grey cell – singular – has been struggling to keep up recently!) But I am confident there are a limited number of places left. So don’t delay, do it now, commit to 2 days of fun at everyone’s favourite Welsh hut, owned by The Rucksack Club, with the initials BM! Contact details as in the Handbook.

Many of you will know that I’d like to see more people use Beudy – it’s a wonderful place but often lies empty ( sometimes for weeks on end). Midweek and family usage is minimal. It got me thinking of ways of improving that situation. So – to that end, you may have seen in Meetstaff that there is a proposal to install Wifi at the hut. I am putting together a paper for the Committee to consider at the next meeting on 17 February. So that the Committee can be fully informed, I would like to ask Members for their views so that I can incorporate them into the paper. If you have a view please let me know as soon as you can by emailing me direct (billdeakin@yahoo.com). It would be helpful if you could indicate whether you actually use Beudy, or would/would not use it if Wifi was put in. I know many Members will have strong opinions but I would like to try and get a feel from those who are currently active in the Welsh mountains. Hoping to hear from you.

Heads up for anyone planning to leave a car in Edale for after their Marsden to Edale hike: unfortunately the new manager of the Ramblers will not accept overnight parking there (only for residents). I explained we would pay and that this is a longstanding thing etc, but they wouldn’t budge. Doublers will have to use the main council car park, which I believe is £6 for the chargeable period 8am to 6pm tomorrow. I’m inclined to finish and celebrate my hike at the Nag’s Head rather than the Ramblers now!

Most of you will have seen Dan Calverley’s post “Who’s up for the M2E double?”. This has resulted in a team of three doing the double on Friday/Saturday. It’s not too late to join them (or the singlers) and the forecast is good!.  The problem they have is no support. Dan has added a comment to his post asking if anyone could take a bag of supplies round to Marsden on Saturday (most people won’t have seen his comment). So far there have been no volunteers. I just wanted to give this a little more of a push to the RC membership. But wouldn’t it be really great if we could give Dan’s intrepid doublers a bit more support? Maybe somebody with a campervan could be at Marsden in the morning (around 7am) with a steaming kettle and a bubling pan of porridge?? If not, could somebody with car bring a flask and give the team somewhere warm to have a brew before starting back?? If not, any other offers for how they can be supported?? Please get in touch with Dan – he is not in the handbook as he is a new (and really keen) member but his[…]

Following on from Ian’s post about the Marsden to Edale walk on Saturday – is anyone brave enough to tackle The Double with me? I was looking forward to being inducted into this Rucksack Club institution, but sadly Andy L can’t lead it this year. I might go for it solo (or might not!), but would definitely rather have company. Happy to do it as a hike in the traditional manner, or as a steady ‘run’. The weather looks set to be not too bad, as things stand at time of posting (New Year’s Eve). So come on, where are all the long distance maestros that the club was once famous for?!! Cheers & Happy New Year Dan

The Marsden-Edale was dead – to begin with! So starts our uplifting tale of Rucksack Club redemption. Are you are one of the Ebeneezer Scrooge “Marsden-Edale, bah humbug!” members? If you could work your will, would every idiot who goes about with ‘Marsden-Edale’ on his lips be boiled with his own boots and buried with a walking pole through his heart? Are you are a tight-fisted hand to the grindstone Member? A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel has ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster? Then beware, over the next week you may be visited by the spirits of Marsden-Edales past, present and future. Yes, you have but seven days to redeem your lives and commit to honour the Marsden-Edale in your heart, and try to keep all the year (or at least next Saturday). Completing the Marsden-Edale will leave you as light as a feather, as happy as an angel, as merry as a school-boy. Possibly also as giddy as a drunken man (it does, afterall, finish at a pub). Ok, enough mangling of that great work of Dickens.  A reminder[…]

I thought I would write a short note about my old friend Des Hannigan; rock climber, poet, writer, raconteur and fishing boat skipper, who has sadly passed away after a long struggle against ill health. I shared many a climb with him over the years. Although Des was not a member of the Rucksack Club (indeed, Des had a somewhat Groucho Marxian attitude towards clubs), anyone who has climbed in West Cornwall during the last thirty years or so will almost certainly have used one of his excellent guidebooks (some may even have met him). In the 1980s he was at the forefront of the successful fight against the placement of bolts on Cornish rock. After giving up fishing for a living, Des became a successful writer and it was this and his love of the Cornish cliffs that led him into taking on the unenviable task of updating and essentially rewriting the Climbers Club guidebooks to West Penwith (Bosigran and Chair Ladder). Des was of Scots/Irish descent, but lived for the great majority of his life in west Cornwall. He leaves his wife Pauline and sons Tim and Dominic. He will be greatly missed.