Club Meets
1924. – The first meet of the year at the Hill Inn, February 9-10th, was distinguished by the discovery of a group of small caves near the Ribblehead Viaduct. Most of these were accounted for by an expedition in March. The Sunday was a perfect day, warm and sunny. Two large parties had splendid tramps to Kingsdale and Ling Gill.
The winter grew colder as it advanced, and heavy going in the snow was the experience of both the brilliant days of the Grassington Meet, March 8-9th.
The men who attended the Eskdale Meet at Easter (April 17th-22nd) at the Woolpack and Taw House were extremely pleased with their visit to this lovely dale. The Taw House party were very active, and very fine climbs on the Eskdale Dow Crags were led on Monday by Frankland and Addyman. The first two days were indifferent but the next three were delightfully warm.
The spring and summer did not fulfil the promise of Easter, and cave exploration was invariably accompanied by heavy rain, in spite of which the results were distinctly pleasing. The bad weather which set in abroad at the end of July was so marked in this country that neither August nor September were months to tempt people from home.
The Whitsuntide camp at Gaping Ghyll was well attended, and though the work involved much haste and some anxiety owing to descents being possible only for one day and a half instead of three days, everything went so well in the end that it is very pleasant to look back on. The engine for winding, over which C. E. Burrow took so much trouble, proved a complete success, in its improved condition being much superior to 1922.
Coniston in September attracted thirteen members, who in spite of broken weather had some enjoyable days on Dow Crags.
The December visit to Malham was also unlucky, though better than on the last occasion, and Sunday permitted a good tramp over to Arncliffe.
1925. – Seventeen men met at the “Falcon,” Arncliffe, on January 31st at the end of a wet week. Devenish and C. E. Burrow starting on Friday night had walked the whole forty odd miles from Leeds. A wild night settled into a glorious morning, though after noon the snow-covered heights were in mist. It was possible to bask in the warm sun for the first time since July.
Seven men ascended the snowy Penyghent. Many members drove up to tea, and the general departure by motor emphasized the changes of the last few years.
Winter Sundays seem to be generally fine, and we had another glorious day in February at the Hill Inn, Chapel-le-Dale. The Whernside ridge was covered with snow, and the easiest progress was found to be along the top of the drifted-up wall. Blue sky and fog banks in the valleys were features of a beautiful view.
The meet at Hawnby (March 21st-22nd) was preceded by a week of gloriously warm spring weather, and everyone was anticipating a great show of flowers in the North Riding. Saturday opened incredibly clear and very cold. The first party had not long passed Thirsk when they discovered the Hambledons had received heavy snow. The car was left at Sutton, Gormire and many primroses seen in sloppy snow, and Boltby Bank ascended past quite respectable drifts. On the top of the Hambledons and on the Hawnby side the most astonishing fall had taken place in the night, and there was a good hour of snowstorm again in the afternoon. Needless to say, the spring flowers were not seen at all, and it was two o’c1ock on Sunday before snow showers ceased and brilliant sun shone on the returning Ramblers.
At Easter, sixteen men assembled at Ogwen, all with one exception motoring there, arriving much more rapidly in most cases than by train. The Ogwen Cottage was plain and comfortable, the food abundant even for hungry climbers, and the first meet in Wales was voted a great success.
The first motor arrived at 6 p.m. Thursday, a bicycle at 10 p.m. and a second motor at 1.30 a.m. Much climbing was done on Tryfaen on Friday, on Lliwedd and Craig yr Ysfa on Saturday and Sunday, both gloriously warm and sunny days. The Amphitheatre Buttress was done by three parties, and Frankland led up the Central Gully, Craig yr Ysfa. Later in the week he led up the Devil’s Staircase and he and Beetham climbed Twll Du (Devil’s Kitchen).
The drive home of the last party on a beautiful day was turned into an ignominious retreat by train when the President damaged the gears of his car a few miles south of Rhyl.
The Whitsun Meet (May 31st) was aimed at the through route from Diccan Pot to Alum Pot, and fourteen men camped on the spot. The weather was unfavourable, a wet fortnight with heavy thunderstorms flooding the becks. The advance guard were glad to sleep on Friday night in Mr. Wilcox’s barn, but thereafter the weather slowly but steadily improved. The motors did the whole work of transport from Leeds, and two Standards took up huge loads to the lime kiln, ploughing great ruts in Mr. Wilcox’s home field.
On Sunday five men made a successful raid on Marble Steps Pot beyond Kingsdale, and the rest went into Sunset Hole. Alum Pot was done by all on Monday, and two Gritstone men reporting the discovery of Borrins Moor Cave, it was visited by the President on Tuesday evening.
The weather now settled down to be glorious throughout June and most of July. The two years during which bad weather viciously pursued the pot-holers having expired, Marble Steps was conquered by a night attack, and a descent made in the same way of Diccan Pot. The water even at its lowest remains a serious trouble in the latter, and if the through route is to be completed, a daytime attack or a second party in Alum Pot is necessary.
A very pleasant climbing meet was held at Coniston, September 6th. The winter set in early, and the frost and snow seemed to frighten people from Clapham (December 5th). The only visitor declares they made a bad mistake. He was very comfortable at the Flying Horseshoe, the days were glorious, and there was a fearful fog in Leeds.
1926. – Until recent years it has been out of the question to hold meets in the delightful dales of the eastern North Riding, but following Hawnby, new ground was broken at The Crown, Rosedale, February 27-28th, which is to be reached by an easy motor run of sixty miles. The nine men who turned up had two splendid Walks before making for home on an exquisite evening.
At Easter eight men took quarters at Torver, and seven at Coniston. Much climbing was done on Dow Crags and on Gimmer Crag.
An attack on Rowten Pot was made the feature of the Whitsuntide Meet, and the sub-committee solved the difficulties of organizing a large camp in Kingsdale by engaging Braida Garth Farm. The coal strike, however, had such an effect on the members that it was unnecessary to put up tents for sleeping, and the party of seven men and two ladies who occupied the farmhouse enjoyed a most luxurious and successful time.
The advance guard had a strenuous time portaging the tackle up from the road in intense heat on Saturday morning, but by the time the main body arrived, had discovered that, what with changes and fine weather, laddering deep down from the end of the watercourse was obviously sound. Further exploration confirmed this as the best course and two hours’ work put the ladders on the first and greatest drop.
Starting down at 10.30 a.m., Sunday, the bottom was reached at two o’clock by five men with almost dry clothes, and owing to the strenuous assistance from the surface of Barstow and his Harrogate party the ladders, etc., were all clear at 6.30 p.m. The telephone was of course not needed. It may be noted that the depth of the Bridge was measured as seventy feet (not one hundred).
An ideal morning was spent on Monday in the descent of Jingling Pot, which has a clear ladder climb of 146 feet with one small resting place. The Rowten Pot party and Slingsby all made the descent. A move was then made to the little Double Three Pot, and Frankland, Fred Booth, and E. E. Roberts next had a wet and comical time in Swinsto Hole (probably second descent) coming out into the frightful deluge which swept over the country that Bank Holiday afternoon.
Later in the week, Frankland and Roberts visited Dunald Mill Hole, near Carnforth, and descended Boggart’s Roaring Hole on Newby Moss. A prolonged storm on Friday night brought down so much water that for two days the normally dry Kingsdale watercourse could not be crossed, and the descent intended with Brown of Bull Pot was too miserable an affair to complete. It was made certain, however, that beyond the third pitch the cavern runs back under the upper fissure.
The July meet at Hawnby was again singularly ill attended, while the more popular Langdale Meet (September 11-12th) though very enjoyable suffered warm and wet weather and little was done. The Monday of return was one of the most marvellously fine days the writer has ever seen in this country. The misfortune of this meet was the more disappointing as otherwise the warm and fine weather of 1926 lasted right up to 13th October, in startling contrast to the dreadful late summers of 1924 and 1925.