Madam’s Meanderings

So we are well and truly into 2008 and I hope you’re all keeping your
New Year’s resolutions. I only made one this year but it had several
sub-clauses. However, I’ve just referred to it and I’m surprised to
discover that I’m doing remarkably well. I hope you are too.

I can’t imagine what sort of New Year’s resolution the weather has made.
‘Get noticed more’ perhaps? If that’s the case it’s certainly been
getting noticed more recently, but let’s hope the tempestuousness soon
gives way to brighter weather. Already the days are getting lighter and
it’s great to have light until 6 or 6:30 in the evening. Although it
will soon be mess about with the clocks weekend and I don’t know bout
you but the spring forward always leaves me out of sorts for a week or
two. Though hopefully lighter mornings will mean I feel happier about
leaping pout of bed and doing some exercise before the day gets gobbled
up by other things.

Do you ever feel that your life is not your own and your time is at the
beck and call of others. During the course of today I have had eleven
meeting invites and meeting updates from just one person! 121s, team
meetings, kick off session part 1, kick off session part 2, oh and best
of all a pre-kick-off session to be held of course on 1st April.
Sometimes, what am I saying, frequently, I think that if I spent less
time in workshops and meetings I’d actually have time to get the day job
done! Though I did have the pleasurable experience recently of walking
into a 4 star hotel dressed in mountain biking gear, covered in mud and
much to the consternation of the afternoon receptionist (who’d not seen
me before) demonstrate that I was a resident and could I have a table
for dinner that evening. Well it made me smile, and dinner was very
pleasant too.

Since I wrote the above the clocks have indeed sprung forward, it’s the
1st of April, I have over slept and am feeling very out of sorts, and
even copious amounts of coffee are not helping to gee up the inner
project manager.

However it is the start of the new financial year, a new quarter, I’ve
just been paid and there is annual leave available in the ‘bank’. All
this leads to the question of where shall we go and what shall we do?
Don’t forget it is not just the committee who can organise trips and
suggest venues; anyone in the club can. So if there’s somewhere you
fancy going, just suggest it to me or the meets organiser and we’ll help
you put something together.

Lastly a call for support for the beginners’ trip on 17-18 May. As you
may or may not know this annual event is always well supported for which
I thank those leaders and assistants who give up their time. However,
can we please ensure that if your want to climb with a specific person
or group that you ensure Tonksy knows in advance of the weekend. We had
quite a few problems at the last beginners’ follow through weekend where
people were organised into groups but a large number of people wanted to
climb with other people and it all got rather messy and really difficult
for the organiser. A lot of effort does go into organising these
weekends and it is helpful if the organiser gets support and a little
forethought goes a long way to providing that support.

Right you know the rules: be careful out there, don’t get injured, don’t
disturb the Air/Sea/Mountain Rescue bods (Martin, apologies, the
newsletter should have been out earlier, entirely my fault), give
generously when you see them collecting and have lots and lots of fun.

All the best

Caro xx

P.S. Lob of the year: I made the ‘mistake’ of giving my Lob of the Year
speech as a totally off the cuff diatribe; ‘mistake’, as I was
expected to hand it in as a write-up for the newsletter! So herewith a quick
synopsis. Special mentions go to Aaron Willis who I was told came off a VS!
Practically unheard of and he must have been particularly ill for that to
have happened. To Isobel Farr who decided that to make taking out the gear
easier she need to use both hands and… well you can imagine the rest. To
Karen Roberts who had a tussle with a VS at Dovestone but the VS won. To
Andy Hansler who made many and varied attempts to get the award – early
disqualification for spraining an ankle lead to more and more attempts to be
considered for the award. To Beryl Worvell who decided to do Heather Wall as
a layback and got spat off. So I decided that this year there would be two
awards. One to Beryl for sheer audacity and the other to Andy for tenacity.
Well done both and I hope we have many more injury free lobs to write and
talk about over the coming year. I shall be attempting Heather Wall as a
layback myself this year 😉

 

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Editor’s Erratum

Well, ‘the best laid plans’ and all that; time drifted past and suddenly
the interim edition has become a tardy standard one. But though it
arrives late it’s worth the wait and shows how much you organise amongst
yourselves.

Once again my thanks to all who appear here – it’s your hard work that
makes it fun.

I am very keen to hear what all of you have been up to and I know there’re
others who feel just the same so quick trip reports would be much
appreciated amongst any longer articles. Just a few paragraphs giving a
taste of your trip to inspire and excite us would be great.

I am setting the next deadline as the end of June so that we can ensure
an edition before the pens are put away for the summer months.

Don’t wait for my prompting; get reporting now.

Stay safe.

Guy

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Name that Route

Two more mystery routes for you to identify.

[/showhide]

 

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Articles

This Newsletter’s articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.

• Knoydart – Peter and Louise head into the wilderness by Peter Krug
• Cairngorm Snow holing by Alex Purser
• Four go Mad in the Dolomites (& Ortler Alps) by Steve Culverhouse
• Martins Peak District Trip by Martin Stevens
• Rain Doesn’t Stop Play in North Wales by Adrian Fagg
• How Gunni grew wings … by Gunni Page
• Scrathmere Scar, December 2007 by Andrew Hansler
• The Scottish for Fun, March 2008 by Steve Culverhouse

Did you know that most of the articles that have previously appeared in the IMC newsletter can be read online? Find them listed in the Articles Index. By the way, these can now be read by anyone on the internet – not just members of the IMC. So tell your friends and family.

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

The answers to the Christmas crossword can be seen here.

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Website News

As promised in the last newsletter I’ve setup an image gallery on the
IMC website. This is linked from the left-hand menu on the homepage,
and from the photos page. Alternatively go to http://www.ipswich-m-c.co.uk/pics/. This allows you
all to add photos to the website. If you wish you can add some
descriptive text, and make comments about other members’ photos as well
as vote for your favorites. I hope that this will keep the photo album
fresh. A random montage of photos from the album are shown on the IMC
homepage. Click the FAQ
link on the gallery page for instructions on how to use it.

Simon – IMC Webmaster

 

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The Committee

See the contacts page for list of the IMC committee members and a brief description of their roles.
There were a few changes in line up at our last AGM, with Louise and Peter Krug jointly taking over the role of secretary from Mervyn. Martin Hore was chosen as our Child Protection Officer, whilst Aaron Willis and Jo Southall are our youth representatives.

 

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Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details about
meetings and events that are currently planned by the Ipswich Mountaineering Club

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming
months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking
for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where
people would like to go. Please contact the meets
coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the
above or to make suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone
attending an official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a
member of the Ipswich Mountaineering Club or some other BMC
affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as any trip advertised on
the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the e-mail
facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

Madam’s Meanderings

I’m just coming to the end of the project I’m working on and the first thing to be
writ large on my Lessons Learnt Report will be “never trust a salesman”! I know
this is a lesson that I should have learnt at my mother’s knee but a part of being
a project manager is that you have to trust your client. Even if that client is a
salesman! ☺

It made me think about the concept of trust and where we would be without it. The
Beatles sang that “money can’t buy me love” but it can’t buy trust either. Like
love, trust, is something that, once lost, cannot be regained. When someone lets
you down, whether that be through poor belaying, infidelity or just not catching
you when you fall, the trust in that person is damaged, often terminally.

So what is this thing called trust? It is intangible, it is important and without
it we wouldn’t get through the day. Could you imagine for example walking across
the floor if you did not trust the floor to take your weight? Or not leaving the
house for lack of trust in returning safely? The Concise Oxford defines the verb
trust as believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of. I’m not sure
that I can truly apply any of those words to this salesman, but he does have an
ability to keep pushing to get what he wants.

However, these concepts of reliability, strength and ability are so important to
us as climbers that we take them for granted. We trust that the belayer is
watching our every move and has their hands on the rope, but Andy relates a tale
of one climbing pair he saw earlier this year where the leader, in dire straits,
looked down to see his belayer yawning and stretching his arms above his head. I
am given to understand that sharp and harsh words were exchanged! We’ve all been
caught unawares at some point or another – hands up those who can honestly say
that they belay with total concentration all the time. Yet that person is trusting
you, and trusting your judgement as you in turn trust them when it’s your turn on
the sharp end. I know I for one am always nervous when climbing with someone new
and, especially when leading with a novice belayer, tend to take my grade down a
level or two. Earlier this year I upset someone because they considered themselves
to be a more experienced belayer than I felt they were, but it comes back to the
issue of it taking time to earn trust. And, at the other end of the extreme, a
close friend of mine was killed due to trusting the ability of someone who was not
honest about a medical condition which, ultimately, caused the death of them both.
So it would appear you can trust too little and you can trust too much.

On a happier note this year has seen another IMC wedding, and I’m sure you’ll all
join me in wishing Pete and Lou the very best of happiness as they embark on the
journey of the greatest trust of all – putting your happiness in the hands of
another person. However, from what I’ve seen of them I don’t feel that there’s any
great risk involved here! ☺

Finally, it is proposed that we market the club a little more and encourage more
new membership next year, and whilst I applaud the intake of new members it will
cause a strain on existing resources as Beginners’ trips are likely to be larger
next year than they have been this year. It will need more leaders to step forward
and take on beginners during these trips than we have had in the past and it will
mean that you may not always be able to climb with your usual climbing partner. On
the other hand it is only for a weekend and not for a lifetime and at some point
in your climbing career someone did the same for you.

I trust that we as a club will see an increased level of support to facilitate
these weekends.

Right, that’s all from me for this year. I wish you all the very best for the
festive season and the New Year. Good climbing, skiing, mountain biking –
whatever.

Yours
Caroline
La Prez

 

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Editor’s Erratum

The Christmas issue is here and it’s a cracker: there’s plenty to keep you
entertained as you warm yourself with mulled wine and an open fire. My heartfelt
thanks to those who have contributed to produce such a fine issue.
[Note from Simon: And there’s more to come! Further articles will be published in
part 2 of this newsletter, due out at the end of January 2008]

It’s great to hear some new voices amongst those we know and love in this issue; I
hope this bodes well for the future of the newsletter.

The mixture of an empty in-tray in September and the request for a bumper
Christmas issue means that this is only the third Newsletter this year. Looking
back over the last few years I see that we have changed from bi-monthly to
quarterly and this present change hints at a drift toward an even longer gap
between issues.

This is not the way I would want it to go.

I think every three months means that time-sensitive articles can be seen whilst
they are still topical, but issues will still also include writing of a more
timeless nature.

I think that The Newsletter is another part of the gel that holds the club
together, and in a time when we are trying to promote the club having a vibrant
newsletter can be no bad thing.

I hope that over the coming year we will continue to see inspiring articles that
bring the individual’s quirkiness to their tales of outdoor exploits.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a great 2008

Guy

 

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Name that Route

Four mystery routes for you this time. Can you identify these? And for a bonus point can you identify who is in the fourth mystery route?

 

 

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Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.

• Kilimanjaro – Trekking for charity by Heather Bentley
• Trip To Gower by Tim Dalby
• Apuan Alps Trip – Adrian and Kearton take on Italian via ferrata by Kearton Rees
• Classic Rock (2007) – a review by Mike Bayley
• How hard can it be? Well, according to the guidebook… by Andy Hansler

And here some of our member’s look back at the past year …

• My Climbing Year: E2 to E7 – part 1 of 4 by Aaron Willis
• Climbing ‘Snapshots’ of 2007 – various IMC members

More articles will be published in part 2 of the IMC Winter Newsletter – which will be out at the end of January 2008.
Hopefully this will include a trip report from the Walking/Scrambling/Biking/Climbing extraveganza in the Lake District on the 19th-20th January (see the meets page for details).
There will also be articles from Peter Krug, Alex Purser, Steve Culverhouse, Martin Stevens, and Andy Hansler. Order your copy now!

Did you know that most of the articles that have previously appeared in the IMC newsletter can be read online?
Find them listed in the Articles Index.
By the way, these can now be read by anyone on the internet – not just members of the IMC. So tell your friends and family.

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

Our editor has compiled a Christmas Climbing Crossword for you. Send your answers by email.
If you’d like to print the crossword, open this page and print from your computer in the usual way.

Answers

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From The Secretary

There are currently 132 members including 36 new and 18 under-18 members. 93% of members have chosen to receive the newsletter electronically, and 95% of
members have their details listed on the web contact list. 37 (out of 129) of last year’s members did not renew this year.

The YHA group membership has been renewed until Sept 2008 and the club’s membership card is held by the secretary.
The club’s YHA membership number is 7653317, which can be used by all IMC members when making bookings.

Please use email to contact the secretary, at secretary@ipswich-m-c.co.uk.

 

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Website News

We are currently trying out a new website service that was requested by some of our members at the AGM.
The IMC forum is open to all members of the IMC.
The posts there can only be read by members of the IMC, since access to it requires
the website username (‘imc’) and password (which I can’t tell you here!).

To use the forum click the link on the IMC webpage menu, or go straight to http://www.ipswich-m-c.co.uk/forums/.
Once there find the ‘register’ link in the top right hand corner, register, and then you can immediately start using the forums. There are currently two forums:
‘The Soapbox’ and ‘Committee Matters’. The Soapbox is open to any IMC member. You can put anything you want in there. Later you may create (or suggest that I create)
more specific forums to discuss particular topics (e.g., training techniques), but for now let’s just use this Soapbox. The ‘Committee Matters’ forum can only be read
and modified by IMC members who are members of a usergroup called ‘The Committee’, and these are – surprise surprise – your committee.
Finally, I’m not a great user of online forums, so this is all a bit new to me. If there’s anything you think needs to be added, removed or changed then please tell me.
I need your advice on this.

The forum currently has 20 registered users (out of 132 members), who have posted 54 articles/comments. The articles so far include:
Why use a forum when we could use email to discuss things?, Why are some people frightened by “traditional” VD,
and the committee members are discussing the planning of Beginner’s meets.

Please try out the forum and send me email if you can suggest any way that it can be improved.

Over the Christmas break I plan to setup an image gallery on the IMC website. This will allow you all to add photos to the website. If you wish
you can add some descriptive text, and make comments about other members’ photos as well as vote for your favorites. I hope that this will keep the
photo album fresh and dynamic. Stay tuned …

Simon – IMC Webmeister

 

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The Committee

See the contacts page for list of the IMC committee members and a brief description of their roles.
There were a few changes in line up at our last AGM, with Louise and Peter Krug jointly taking over the role of secretary from Mervyn. Martin Hore was chosen as our Child Protection Officer, whilst Aaron Willis and Jo Southall are our youth representatives.

 

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Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details about
meetings and events that are currently planned by the Ipswich Mountaineering Club

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming
months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking
for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where
people would like to go. Please contact the meets coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the above or to make suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone
attending an official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a
member of the Ipswich Mountaineering Club or some other BMC
affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as any trip advertised on
the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the e-mail
facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

Madam’s Meanderings

Another prod and a poke of the elbow, a pursing of lips and then
finally ….

The magic words ….

“Yes, OK you can climb on it”.

Rappers had, at long last, given me the all clear to climb
but, as luck would have it, one disaster followed another and
I didn’t get out on the rock until the last Bank Holiday
in May. For those of you who haven’t heard, it was not
my most momentous and organised trip. I forgot any number of
things, including ropes, walking boots and head torch!
Fortunately someone had a spare rope and so the money saved by
not buying new ropes went on a new full suspension mountain
bike that was a much needed item and had been on my shopping
list for some time. Mr Hams would like a new Gear Fondling
award at the Christmas Curry as he does not think anyone will
beat his record. ☺

The recent Beginners’ trip saw an excellent turnout of
both leaders and newcomers and I would like, once again, to
express my personal thanks to all those people who gave their
time to show newcomers the ropes (pun decidedly intended!) The
weather played its part and there was a lovely atmosphere all
weekend. Judging by the emails I received afterwards everyone
had a good time. Thanks must go to Dave Tonks for getting the
whole thing together although sadly, at the last minute, he
could not join us.

The Beginners’ Multi-pitch weekend was also well
attended and many thanks to those who turned up and organised
the teams on the Saturday morning. Apologies for not managing
to turn up myself but I got caught by some nasty bug that laid
me low for a week. A good day was had on the Saturday and the
rain came in as most teams were getting off the crag. Sunday
was a slightly different matter and some folks turned up at
Idwal Slabs to discover that a shower had been installed and
the slabs were awash with running water. Some souls had
arrived earlier and were of course mid-climb and had the full
Welsh multi-pitch experience. J I am given to understand that
the services of Mountain Rescue were not required this time
but a certain gentleman did give cause for concern as he had
not returned to the campsite by 10pm. However, he was enjoying
a well-earned curry in town and not bacon and beans as per
last year.

Finally, just a quick note about some up and coming
events…

21-22 July — A relaxed climbing trip to Gower (Swansea). Contact Simon Chandler
to go on this trip.

2-5 August — Yorkshire Grit — climbing in
God’s Own Country. (Shush – don’t tell the
Sheffield Mafia) — I’m the contact for this trip.

25-27 August — Bank Holiday sees us off down to Devon
and Fraser Hale is your contact for this event.

And of course, don’t forget to commence squealing on
those lobs so that we can start compiling a list for Lob of
the Year but don’t forget injuries exclude contenders.

Climb well but safely

All the best

Caro
La Presidente

 

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Editor’s Erratum

The deadline comes; the deadline goes; and I wait. And I am rewarded – an article. That makes two. I wait again but, unlike buses, another article does not come along. Three is more fun, I’ve heard, so I join in and here we are – the July issue.

Lots has happened since I last wrote: Easter; two Bank Holidays in May; two Beginners’ weekends so I had rather hoped for more but mayhap the next issue will be the big one. I had wondered about the slight possibility that the unusual weather would mean that tales would be written because people couldn’t get outside though, if anything, it was more likely that I would hear how you entertain yourselves outdoors despite the rain, thunder and lightning. Again, perhaps next time.

I would appreciate some feedback about the newsletter; constructive criticism, ideas, in fact any thoughts at all. I have one: how do you feel about moving the newsletter to the public part of the website, rather than the members only bit? Is there a privacy concern? Would we have to “vet” the articles thoroughly to avoid possibility of legal problems? Would I get more articles? Or fewer? Is the Newsletter a valued part of The IMC or an anachronism? Are trip reports the way to keep members informed of what had gone on and what could be expected from future trips. This is something I intend to bring up at the AGM so please let me know how you feel.

The deadline for the next issue is midnight Sunday September 30th

e-mail your contributions to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

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Name that Route

Three mystery routes for you in this edition. Can you identify these? If you need it, here’s a clue to the three problems …

 

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Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.
For other articles see the articles index.

• Gypsy by Steve Culverhouse
• The Madness of King May by Ian Thurgood
• Laughter and curses – just two ingredients of a great weekend by Guy Reid

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Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming months and
to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking for volunteers to
co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where people would like to go.
Please contact the meets coordinator
if you are interested in helping to organise any of the above or to make
suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone attending an
official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a member of the Ipswich
Mountaineering Club or some other BMC affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as
any trip advertised on the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the
e-mail facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

Madam’s Meanderings

There’s definitely a feeling of Spring in the air. A few weeks ago it felt all
Spring-like and the frogs were making the most of the warm weather; then the snow
came again and it looks like the spawn may have suffered from the cold snap. But
the feeling of Spring and warm weather to come has certainly been in the air this
weekend. Climbing trips are being organised, the usual fest of who will get the
most attendees between the ‘official’ Easter trip and the ‘splitters’ is underway,
and the climbing partner has called round this evening for a pouring over Classic
Rock to ascertain potential routes for our first trip out of the year.

Of course, some members have already had a couple of trips out on the rock and
have even sustained the first injury of the year. It would have been overly harsh
to point out that any injury excludes them from Lob of the Year but, it would
appear that, this year, this individual plans to be a serious contender. You know
who you are!!

After the various Easter trips, Ian Thurgood is organising a trip to the Peaks on
21/22 April and the Holiday weekends in May are taken up by a trip to Pembroke and
a trip to the Lakes. The Beginners’ Weekend will now take place on 9/10 June
followed swiftly by the Beginners’ Multi-pitch weekend on 23/24 June. Full details
are on the Meets page of the website.

So much is afoot and those of you (like me) who have been lax over their winter
training take heed, the climbing season is upon us. Time to put away the winter
hobbies of jigsaws, cross stitch, mountain bikes etc and start fettling gear,
ensuring that mice or (in some cases) the washing machine haven’t eaten the ropes
over the off season and writing those important shopping lists for Action
Outdoors, CCC, Stuart Cunningham, Cotswolds and Outside. Other outdoor retailers
are, of course, available J

I wish you all the best for the start of the season and, just as soon as Rappers
lets me, I’ll be happy to join you all on the crag.

But .. let’s be careful out there

All the best

All the best
Caro
La Presidente

 

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Editor’s Erratum

As always, a big thank-you to the contributors without whom we would not have a
newsletter; however I really would like to be in the enviable position of having to
thank more people so please, one and all, sharpen your pencils and prepare for the
next deadline.

The main article in this edition should certainly excite those with a taste for
unusual but quite fantastic destinations. Read and be thrilled.

You may remember my call for “two things-quickly” to try to capture a year in
the life on The IMC. Unfortunately after an encouraging start – for which, responders, I
thank you – things quietened down . . . to silence; in fact if replies were pixels there
weren’t enough for an on-screen icon let alone a snapshot. But hey ho, look for the
positive.

In brief – and it will be – the very varied responses showed that fun can be had
anywhere, doing anything at any grade. First leads at a new grade were prominent
though not exclusively the single favourite moment of the year but particularly
pleasing was one of our youngest members telling me of her first trad lead – man, can
you remember that feeling?

And the coming year? Hmm. Disagreement about whether ticks lists are a good
thing – discuss. Also classics, the next grade step and in the more long term – big
expeditions to farther flung places.

There’s a lot been going on and a lot being thought about – can you share some of
it with the rest of us? That’d be good.

Owing to the lateness of this edition the next deadline will be
shorter – well it should get you focused – and it is midnight Sunday July 1st.

e-mail to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

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Name that Route

Three mystery routes for you in this edition. Can you identify these?

 

 

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Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.
For other articles see the articles index.

• Backpacking in Greenland by John Penny
• Mud by Louise Burness
• Andy’s Plans by Andy Hansler

 

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

No new crossword this time, but the answers to the January 2007 crossword can be seen here.

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The Committee

For a list of committee members, see the contacts page

 

---

Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming months and
to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking for volunteers to
co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where people would like to go.
Please contact the meets coordinator
if you are interested in helping to organise any of the above or to make
suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone attending an
official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a member of the Ipswich
Mountaineering Club or some other BMC affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as
any trip advertised on the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the
e-mail facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

Madam’s Meanderings

As many of you will know I have taken up a new hobby this year – it’s called
walking the dog. No, not break dancing and spinning on my head ☺ but grabbing the
lead and the nappy sacks and heading out the door with canine friend in tow, or
more frequently with me in tow! The one thing this activity has given me is a
daily walk in the open air, watching my manic hound race round and round the
fields, trees and bushes and totally enjoy the freedom of running around being
completely worry free. Watching her has been very therapeutic and relaxing.
Training my first dog has also been quite a journey and as the year draws to an
end I’ve been wandering along with the dog thinking about the journey the rest of
my life has taken over the past year. One cannot deny that it has been an eventful
year! I have moved home twice, got a dog, lead my first E1 and become President of
the IMC. I have also seemed to spend a lot of time racing round the country, at
Easter alone I managed to clock over 1,000 miles before I found somewhere to spend
the holiday period and the week before and the week after Easter I organised and
hosted work related events at Heathrow. Life was completely manic.

Fortunately over the last few months things have slowed down completely and I have
been able to take stock and, to use an old fashioned phrase, take time to smell
the roses. It made me wonder how many of us give ourselves this kind of release.
How many of us let ourselves totally relax and chill out. The pace of modern life
seems so frenetic that few of us seem to have a moment to call our own. One of my
New Year’s resolutions will be to take more chill time
☺

It was lovely to see the Christmas Curry so well attended and many thanks to
Carole Harbottle for organising it for us. Adrian Fagg has relinquished his Lob of
the Year title to the ubiquitous style of Mr Culverhouse and I hope that next year
we can look forward to some equally exciting but injury free antics on the rocks.

I would also like to thank all the folks who have taken time out to organise the
many trips that we have had this year. Top of my personal list must be the trip to
Lundy – despite the foot problems I had a fantastic time and can’t wait to go
again. Thanks for organising that one Mr Chandler.

So I’ll depart by wishing one and all the very best New Year possible. I hope you
all get to do the routes you want to climb successfully and with style and if we
as a club could trouble Mountain Rescue a little less next year than we have done
this year that would be good too
☺

All the best
Caroline
La Presidente

 

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Editor’s Erratum

The king is dead; long live the king. Or something like that. Well it’s all change
at the top but the rest of us are pretty much the same.

The final issue of 2006 has become, through no fault of its own, the first issue
of 2007. I would first like to thank all those who have contributed over the last
year but I really would like to hear from more of you. I do appreciate that you
are all busy and that you’d all rather be doing than writing, however The
Newsletter can only survive through input from the members. Two things have been
said before: first, I look forward to seeing what you have all been up to – it
inspires me, helps me to make my choices and I hope it does so for others; and
second, if everyone wrote one article a year – I’d have far too many. But seriously,
if everyone wrote just one thing – and it doesn’t have to be long – every couple of
years we would have a packed edition every time. Oh, and I still harbour hopes for
a Lundy supplement but I have had to stop holding my breath – Julie didn’t like the
blue colour I was turning.

If I don’t hear from you I fear the next issue may contain reports of sightings of
the first cuckoo and more on Jordan and Peter’s goings – on. Be warned.

I would like to publish before the Easter weekend so I am setting the deadline as
Sunday 25th March 2007. Early submissions will be gratefully accepted to spread
the workload at this end. Photographs always enhance the articles but please could
they be sent separately rather than embedded as, again, this makes it easier for
The Webmaster.

e-mail to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

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Name that Route

Two more mystery routes for you. Can you identify these?

 

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Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.
For other articles see the articles index.

• Lob of the Year, 2006 by Peter Krug
• Climbing back into the cockpit by Guy Reid
• The Magic of Lundy by Ian Thurgood
• Voyage of the Gift Shop Dingy: A Lundy Rest Day by Simon Chandler
• Lundy 2006 by Alex Purser

 

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

The answers to the October 2006 crossword can be seen here.

We have another crossword for you in this edition. Send your answers by email.

Across 1. Corner to corner in the pass. (8) 4 & 16 Down. Didn’t get your fix? It’s all part of the 26th. (4, 6) 8. So not not so. That’s tough. (5) 10. The French train is all over the place but it’s an interesting route. (7) 11. Lied or misrepresented? In truth, it really does involve part of a unicorn. (6) 12. Don’t pick this route. (4) 13. Pardon. (2) 15 & 15 Down. SORRY – NO CLUE! 18. Can everybody can make a hole up at Stanage Popular. (3) 19 & 29 Across. Sounds like you did a noble gesture at Staden, but in fact that’s elsewhere. (4,4) 21 & 7 Down. Tall Lars rots, decomposes and then wanders into the stars. (6,6) 23. Redcaps. (3) 25. Not the point of a needle, but you’d see one at Rivelin. (3) 26. Arrange meets or finding a single route at Millstone-Rockfax helps. (7) 27. It’s not hard in the cow’s mouth. (5) 29. See 19 Across 30 & 14 Down. Gary, rather unusually, is by the pool, and there’s fun to be had. (5,5)		Down 1. One lucky bishop’s area. (7) 2. Darts I threw trying to find a route came up with a cracker. (6) 3. Something only a medium can see? No, Carrington, Rouse and Hall saw it in 1975. (4) 5. He wanted more at Stoney. (6) 6. Mixed druid seed is a delicacy in Pembroke. (6,3) 7. See 21 Across 9. A serving of ice cream-or two at The Napoleonic Tower. (5) 14. See 30 Across 15. Plates spilt arranged again show the ingredients for a Lewondowski delicacy. (4,7) 16. See 4 Across 17. Original sticky man? Have yourself a point (or a pint) for his name (without Google’s help). (2) 20. Have you found it? I have. Up at Kinder. (6) 20. Eclectic music programme in a while. (5) 24. Implies the dining room is unhygienic. (4) 28. And the Romans would have understood I reckon. (2)

Answers

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From The Secretary

Current membership is 125, of which 41 are new members, 78 are renewals from last
year, 6 are returners from earlier years, and 14 are under-18. 33 of last year’s
111 members did not renew this year.

Our YHA group membership has been renewed to 30 September 2007. The IMC membership
number is 018-7652217 and can be used by all IMC members when making bookings.

Paper correspondence received:

• Kendal Mountain Festivals programme 10-19 November 2006. See
  www.mountainfilm.co.uk for more info.
• Brochure from Traverse Holidays advertising Walking in the Pyrenees. See
  www.traverseholidays.co.uk for more info.
• Pure Winter/07 catalogue from Snow+Rock. See also www.snowandrock.com.
• 3 Summit-43 magazines from BMC.
• 2007 activities from Glenmorelodge, Scotland’s national outdoor training
  centre. See also www.glenmorelodge.org.uk.
• YHA Triangle magazine.
• Holiday Foundation walking holidays brochure with a covering letter
  inviting applications from experienced walkers to join their panel of Walk
  Leaders. Anyone interested go to www.walkleaders.co.uk.

All enquiries and correspondence should be directed to the Secretary.

Mervyn Lamacraft,
11 St Georges Road,
Felixstowe,
IP11 9PL

Tel: 01394 277050 or send email to mervynlamacraft@hotmail.com.

 

---

Website News

Thanks to work by James Andrews a new facility has been added to the IMC website.
If you are organising a meeting
you can now advertise it on the IMC Meetings Webpage
simply by completing an online form.
If you have a look at the meetings webpage you’ll see that it’s very easy to use so no instructions are really required.
Please try out this service and send me email if
you can suggest any way that it can be improved.

But why advertise your meetings on the webpage? Why not just send everyone an
email using the members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk mailing
list? Firstly email doesn’t always reach the intended recipient – or at least get
their attention. With so much email (& spam) flying into our intrays these
days it’s easy for items to be overlooked. When IMC members want to know what’s planned they
can simply
go to the meetings page to see what’s on the calendar. Secondly, meetings advertised through
the website can be seen by the general public who – seeing what a full and exciting calendar
we have – may be attracted to join us. Our website is a great showcase to
the general public of what an active bunch we are. We should be proud of that.

One side-effect of this change is that the address of the meets page has changed to

http://ipswich-m-c.co.uk/meets.cgi

You may wish to update any links or bookmarks to the IMC meetings page, although the old
address will redirect you to the new one.

Simon

 

---

The Committee

For a list of committee members, see the contacts page

 

---

Diary Dates

Please put a note in your diaries that the AGM will be on the evening of 16th November
2006 in the Dove Street Inn
(formally “The Dove”), 76 St. Helens St, Ipswich.

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming
months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking
for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where
people would like to go. Please contact the meets
coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the
above or to make suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone
attending an official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a
member of the Ipswich Mountaineering Club or some other BMC
affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as any trip advertised on
the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the e-mail
facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

 

President’s Prattle

Wotcha folks. Hope all is going well out in reader-land. Well, the end of season
is well and truly nigh. Certainly the nights are drawing in and I was just
thinking about putting some lights on me bike last week for the ride home when I
found some scrote had gone and nicked it! So if somebody sees a dark grey, red and
white Ideal bike for sale somewhere, let me know and I will go around and make my
feelings known!

Now that I have got that out of my system let’s get on with the Prattle. As I have
noted above the summer is well and truly over but as usual I won’t be letting the
grass grow under my feet and fully intend to carry on climbing as long as me hands
can stand the cold (now that I think have got my climbing head back) and then
there are all those days in the saddle to look forward to, and hill-walking, and
even now thoughts are turning towards another Scotland trip (note the thousand
yard stare that you can’t see at this particular moment!).

There is not much on the meets calendar at the moment so please keep an eye out
for any e-mails advising of possible ad hoc trips

Looking back at the hazy dazy days of summer I will as usual try to thank the
organisers, and please forgive me if I have missed anyone out.

I think a big thanks should go to Martin Hore and Sally Southall for organising
the Beginners Multi-pitch and Beginners Follow-through Meets.

You remember July was a month of record temperatures so quite how we found
ourselves racing off the hill (or in some cases staying on the hill for
hours waiting for mountain rescue) in the pouring rain I do not know. It was
certainly a good introduction to some of the problems you might encounter on the
bigger mountain routes!

I gather the weather was much more clement on the follow-through so well done
Sally (you can organise a p***-up in a brewery!). I must not forget to thank all
the “leaders” for helping out at the various beginners meets . . . your help is
much appreciated.

Big thanks should also go to Simon Chandler for organising what I gather was a
superb week on Lundy and you will no doubt have seen an email from Martin Hore
scheduling another IMC invasion for 2009! I would like to thank Mike Hams for
trying to organise the August Bank Holiday Meet.

Furthermore, thanks should go to Steve Culverhouse for organising (and he has done
a lot of organising this year) the Swanage meet.

There were a few other trips but I can’t remember them so apologies to those
organisers.

Whilst I remember, thanks should go to all those IMCers who helped out this year’s
Hospital Abseil. I would also like to thank Adrian Fagg for presenting the first
slide show of the autumn. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Now for the tricky bit. Unlike our man at “Number 10” I have decided that it is
time to hand the reins to somebody new and I will even set a date – 16 November 2006
at the AGM. Are there any budding Gordon Browns out there raring to go?

I might as well take this opportunity, as I have already mentioned the AGM, to ask
that if you have any issues that you would like to raise then to please let me
know.

That’s all for now. As I have mentioned please keep an eye out for ad hoc meetings
and if you are thinking about going away on a particular weekend why not ask you
friends in the IMC to join you?

Take care.

Cheers

El Presidente (for the last time)

 

---

Editor’s Erratum

This is a slightly thinner issue than usual but no less rich for that.

The touching article from Mike Hams and the photographs from Kearton Rees
highlight one of the club’s strengths – that of helping and encouraging fledgling
climbers. This is borne out by the e-mails from some very happy attendees that
follow the ‘beginners’ and ‘follow-on’ weekends: and I can further attest to this
from hearing people at the wall sounding really fulfilled after said weekends. As
El Pres says, all those involved in the organising, instructing and generally
helping should pat themselves on the back. Well done.

Having read Fraser’s article I‘ve made a resolution to get up to Orford Ness
sooner rather than later and won’t be surprised to see other IMC bods there too.

But the meat of this issue has to be ‘The Return to Great Gully: a story of four
doughty fellows and their tribulations in Wildest Wales’. A great read with the
added twist of having the two accounts that tell the story from different
viewpoints. Excellent.

Please see From The Secretary to note the steady increase in membership-topping
last year’s total. The pattern is, apparently, standard, and it will be
interesting to watch the figures next year.

I am setting the deadline for the December issue as ‘just after The Christmas
Curry’ so that news from that occasion can be included along with any stirring
stories that come my way before then.

I look forward to hearing from you

The deadline for the next edition is: Monday 18th December 2006

e-mail to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

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Name that Route

Two more mystery routes for you. Can you identify these?

 

---

Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links.
For other articles see the articles index.

• The not so Great Escape by Adrian Fagg
• It’s a gully but is it great? : Part 2 – reflections on being rescued by Mike Bayley
• Shingled out by Fraser Hale
• New upper body fitness routine by Kearton
• It’s not the grade: Beginners weekend and my best day out ever by Mike Hams

 

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

Congratulations to Steve Culverhouse who was the first person to send correct answers to June’s crossword competition.

We have another crossword for you in this edition, and again the winner will receive a mystery prize so send your answers by email.

Across 1. I log beams- it’s boring, but after a change there’s fun to be had in Avon. (9) 6. Belgian town gives a basic qualification. (3) 8. The commando that The IMC took on a few Easters back. (5) 9. Across and 11 Down. After a hard day in the office Colin Root changes for some fun within Sheffield city boundary. (6,3) 12. A jumble of grit is a useful point when mapmaking, (4). 13. Roll up for a combined attempt. (5) 16. Semaphoric four seek assistance. (4) 17. A first-thing-in-the-morning experience though it’s not always up to much. (4) 18. Too much-in a chemical sense. (2) 20. Mangled testes sound jolly painful but just make you sleepy at Gardoms. (6) 23. Fiat cracks. (3) 24. Parrot-fashion. (4) 26. Jacket seen in the Karakorum. (5) 28. Go upstream from Oxford and then down to Swanage to find the fertility goddess. (4) 29. A small bit of inside intelligence leads to a difficult outing on Stanage. (5) 32. Joe Brown lead the re-organisation of a local convenience store; it ended up being quite rough. (4) 34. Leah and Enid make the front page climbing on Lundy. (8) 35. Stick this for a smell. (4) 36. See 27 Down 37. From Festival of Britain to Llanberis with no visible means of support. (6)		Down 1. Play? Work? Rest? And under the light! This should help. (4) 2. Ivar went extremely well here-the first time ever. (6) 3. A cone is re-shaped for fun on Lundy. (5) 4. Irritation at Tremadog. (4) 5. Do this and at least there’s one sin you can’t be accused of. (5) 7. Onomatopoeic table game can be enjoyed above The River Wye. (8) 10. Three of these make a fine time by the pond. (4) 11. See 9 Across 13. Joan’s disorganised but at Elidir that’ll raise a smile. (5) 14. Went without a will up at Kinder. (9) 15. Would you expect to see Phil belaying Liz here? (4) 19. A lot hinges on this at Bosigran. (8) 21. Nicotine leaves its mark. (5) 22. Definitely hesitation. (2) 23. See the blue berets at Bowles Rocks. (2) 24. Tear that you won’t see for yourself. (3) 25. Maria told us it was a drink with jam and bread. (2) 27 & 36 across. A timer I set up for falls. (3,4) 30. It’s me or the talking horse. (2) 31. Is there where Chris Craggs got his mobile? (4) 33. It wasn’t Boney who led the Admiral to some bad times up at Birchen. (4) 35. At Boulder Ruckle it’s almost all joy. (2)

Answers

---

IMC Bits ‘n’ Pieces Competition

By Simon Chandler – October 2006

The response to my music competition in the last newsletter was disappointing; however, the only person who did send me their answers
thoroughly deserves to be the winner. Mike Turner scored 20 out of a possible 22 points! One point was scored for
identifying the artist, and one point for the title of the track. Mike couldn’t identify the third tune, but got all the rest.
Amazing!

Here are the answers:

1. Rock Lobster – B52s
2. It Feels So Good – Sonique
3. Rock and a Hard Place – Rolling Stones
4. Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
5. Bad Mama Jama – Car Carlton
6. Protection – Massive Attack
7. Another Place to Fall – K T Tunstall
8. On a Rope – Rocket from the Crypt
9. Superstylin’ – Groove Armada
10. Special K – Placebo
11. With a Little Help From My Friends – The Beatles

With numbers 2 and 11 the climbing link is in the lyrics.

---

From The Secretary

Current membership is 125, of which 41 are new members, 78 are renewals from last
year, 6 are returners from earlier years, and 14 are under-18. 33 of last year’s
111 members did not renew this year.

Our YHA group membership has been renewed to 30 September 2007. The IMC membership
number is 018-7652217 and can be used by all IMC members when making bookings.

Paper correspondence received:

• Kendal Mountain Festivals programme 10-19 November 2006. See
  www.mountainfilm.co.uk for more info.
• Brochure from Traverse Holidays advertising Walking in the Pyrenees. See
  www.traverseholidays.co.uk for more info.
• Pure Winter/07 catalogue from Snow+Rock. See also www.snowandrock.com.
• 3 Summit-43 magazines from BMC.
• 2007 activities from Glenmorelodge, Scotland’s national outdoor training
  centre. See also www.glenmorelodge.org.uk.
• YHA Triangle magazine.
• Holiday Foundation walking holidays brochure with a covering letter
  inviting applications from experienced walkers to join their panel of Walk
  Leaders. Anyone interested go to www.walkleaders.co.uk.

All enquiries and correspondence should be directed to the Secretary.

Mervyn Lamacraft,
11 St Georges Road,
Felixstowe,
IP11 9PL

Tel: 01394 277050 or send email to mervynlamacraft@hotmail.com.

 

---

The Committee

For a list of committee members, see the contacts page

 

---

Diary Dates

Please put a note in your diaries that the AGM will be on the evening of 16th November
2006 in the Dove Street Inn
(formally “The Dove”), 76 St. Helens St, Ipswich.

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming
months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking
for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where
people would like to go. Please contact the meets coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the
above or to make suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone
attending an official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a
member of the Ipswich Mountaineering Club or some other BMC
affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as any trip advertised on
the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the e-mail
facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

President’s Prattle

As I write the Summer Solstice is almost upon us so I am assuming it is summer! I am probably not the only one thinking it’s a bit late but let’s enjoy it now that it has arrived and keep our fingers crossed that it is hopefully here to stay. It certainly looks like hosepipe bans are sweeping the country but that has more to do with dry winters than long hot early summer weather! And if you thought things were late down here having just returned from Scotland (where it was nice not to have my eyes assaulted by seeing up to five England flags on every other bleeding car) it looks like the snow has only just cleared the tops (indeed there was plenty still in the more sheltered/shaded gullies).

I think the first thing to comment on was the well-attended beginners meet organised, as usual, by Dave Tonks. As is customary the weather misbehaved despite an unusually pleasant start (i.e. we were comfortably sitting outside the Travellers Rest at 11 pm on Friday night!) as Saturday was quite moist and Sunday was only marginally better! I believe that there was some outside stuff done on both days but can anyone confirm whether or not Stanage was found? Nevertheless, big thanks go to Dave for organising the event.

Apart from that, with the plethora of Bank Holidays that abound during spring IMC parties, both official and splitters (for the lame and the incapable!), were to be found all over the place. Thanks go to Caroline Goldsworthy for organising the Easter meet in Cornwall; Martin Hore for organising the May Day weekend meet in Pembroke; Louise Farr for organising the Lakes trip on Whitsun Bank Holiday and Steve Culverhouse for sorting the Yorkshire meet last weekend. From what I hear weather has been mixed but plenty of good stuff has already been done with some people climbing extremely well and pushing their grades, some people doing first leads which is great and others just having fun which is what it is all about!

I suppose there is a down side to what we do in that every now and then things don’t go quite as planned and one example of this is Guy’s recent fracas with the rocks at Swanage. It serves as a reminder to us all that things do go wrong even when we feel confident and are climbing well. I hope Guy recovers soon and is up to his usual “E- silly” antics sooner rather than later!

Looking ahead the next thing on the official meet horizon is the “All-comers Multi-pitch weekend” in North Wales on the weekend 7/8 July, which is being organised by Martin Hore. Please let him know as soon as possible if you are interested in attending, and whether as a beginner or an experienced multi-pitch climber. We will need as many experienced hands as possible as it is nigh on impossible for any leader to have more than one beginner when climbing.

This is closely followed by the Hospital Abseil the following weekend (14/5 July) and it would be nice if we can top last year’s excellent turn-out of IMC folk. The more people that can help the easier it is for everyone as there will be more opportunity for helpers to rest that will make the event even safer than it already is. Please let Dave Tonks know as soon as possible if and when you can make it.

There are other meets scheduled for the summer that require organisers so please feel free to put yourselves forward to organise them, that way you get to choose where you want to climb!

Looking even further ahead I need people to do slideshows which are due to start in September so please let me know if you can entertain the IMC masses!

That’s all I have to say for now. Stay safe and take care!

Cheers

El Presidente

 

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Editor’s Erratum

You lot, you are too good to me. Another packed Newsletter; and, as before, you can sense a slight shift from simple trip reports to articles with a certain “je ne sais qoui” that makes you think, and that in turn inspires. I like it; I hope you all do too.

Can I just take this opportunity to thank you all again for your kind wishes; I will be back.

The deadline for the next edition is: Sunday 24th September 2006

e-mail to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

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Before		After
Helmets? I’m glad I was wearing mine.

 

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IMC Bits ‘n’ Pieces Competition

By Simon Chandler – June 2006

On a lighter note, some of you may remember that the Radio 1 roadshows from the 80s and 90s had a competition each day to identify tracks of music from short samples that were ‘stitched’ together. Well, here’s my take on that competition … this time with a climbing theme. There are 11 tracks taken from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s and today. How many can you identify? I’ll give one point for each correct artist and one point for each correct track title. Some are easy, others difficult.

I doubt that anyone will get the full 22 points, so however well or badly you think you do send me your answers.

To hear the competition just click the link that’s suitable for your internet connection speed …

• High Quality for Broadband Connections
• Lo-Fi for Dial-Up Connections

I hope you enjoy this. By the way, to create the bits ‘n’ pieces I encoded the tracks using the free daddy of all mp3 players, iTunes, then I edited the resulting mp3 files using the basic free version of the excellent WavePad. Samples from the old Radio 1 competition (the intro and track-separating sound) I took by using WavePad to cut out sections of genuine bits ‘n’ pieces competitions from 1989 and 1992.

 

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Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links. For other articles see the articles index.

• The Perspiration Innovation by Alex Purser
• Coaching by Caroline Goldsworthy
• And Now For Something Completely Different by Peter Krug
• It’s a gully, but is it great? by Anonymous
• Lurching off The Hill (The full Scottish) by Mike Hams
• Chalking it up to experience by Caroline Goldsworthy
• Hello trees, hello birds, hello sky…. by Fraser Hale

 

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IMC Climbing Crossword

By Guy Reid

Congratulations to Mike Turner who was the first person to email the answers to April’s crossword competition. The mystery prize is in the post 😉 Well done also to Steve Culverhouse, whose answers arrived only minutres after Mike’s.

We have another crossword for you in this edition, and again the winner will receive a mystery prize so send your answers by email. Answers will be given in the next newsletter.

Across 1. Fletcher’s choice: loose yourself and fly straight up without a quiver. (5) 4. Bottom to top. (6) 8. Ninety degrees gives you a three star outing down at The Gurnard’s Head. (5,5) 11. Briefly Vietnam, Australia and Britain each do a turn to give some great entertainment down at Stennis Head. (7) 12. See 8 across 14. Clear profit is not gross. (3) 15. A pair of these would make a nice skirt for a cheerleader. (3) 16. Dyslexic dance master taught two a dance from The Friendly Isles. (5) 18. What we used to do in the gymnasium before we were teenagers. (1,1) 21. Strange but true that the earth goddess could stand for genetic engineering. (2) 23. Keep the birds satisfied? Well, an IMC bod knows how to keep this type happy at the very least. (8) 25. Whether at Swanage or St. Govans’s it runs rings around Jupiter. (2) 26. A friend’s real name isn’t half so interesting. (4) 27. Sun god gets his own route at Carn Barra. (2) 29. One is taught to respect such things as this Joe Brown crack. (5) 30. Hoy and Stoer; and even Gannet’s rock just scrapes in. (5) 31. Monkeying around? An extensive index would be useful. (3) 32. Sounds like I’m hesitating. No, I’m sure; if you took a slight tumble in Yosemite you’d end up here. (1,1) 34. ‘A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork’ is, according to Dillinger, also a way of spelling it; perhaps that’s why this city never sleeps. (1,1) 35. I received two letters to say that nobody was up before me. (1,1) 36. Lubricating 40? (2) 37. Not a busy as you’d been led to believe. Well, at E2 5c are you surprised. (10) 38. Chaotic place is a much sought-after stateside destination for climbers. (2,3)		Down 1. Loaded at Birchen. (4) 2. Drum roll for Richard Starkey as he tops out at Burbage North. (5) 3. The hand you don’t expect at Bamford. (5) 4. The sound of a jug. (2) 5. Beam me up Scotty. Well, it is the only way I’ll top out here at Stanage Plantation. (4,4) 6. Pieces of a beautiful rounded figure. (5) 7. See 5 Down 9. This Swedish giant, though more often seen around the home, can be found amongst the warlike and fearsome. (4) 10. See 24 Down 13. See Plan E end, when properly organised, as a classic rock tick in The Lakes. (5) 17. See 13 Down. (6) 19. Touchpaper at Birchen. (4) 20. What’s being hunted could be somewhere to climb, but it’s not natural. (5) 21. Primary volume of refreshment required after a hard day’s presidenting. (8) 22. Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Johnny Dawes? (4,4) 23. You’ve done it? Up at Stanage End? You sure? Can you prove it? Not pulling my leg? When was that then? Anybody see you? (7) 24. Urge gent in disarray to get organised and have fun on a three-star outing at Froggatt. (5,3) 28. Climber’s conserve. (3) 33. See 38 Across

Answers

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The Committee

For a list of committee members, see the contacts page

 

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Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where people would like to go. Please contact the meets coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the above or to make suggestions for future meets.

A quick reminder regarding attendance: Please note that anyone attending an official Ipswich Mountaineering Club meet must be a member of the Ipswich Mountaineering Club or some other BMC affiliated club. A “meet” being defined as any trip advertised on the website or newsletter or announced/advertised via the e-mail facility (i.e. members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk).

 

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