Reviews

IN MOUNTAIN LAKELAND: by A. H. Griffin (Guardian Press. 216 pp. 49 photographs. 21/-).

This charming book should be read by every lover of the Lake District, old or young, experienced or novice, but more especially by those who walk the fells or climb the crags.

There can be no better introduction than Jack Longland’s opening sentence in the Foreword: “This is a good, a timely and above all a friendly book”.

There is much in the book that will be new, even to those who know Lakeland well, while for the novice there are valuable hints and friendly advice, be he walker, climber or skier, which he might not so easily find elsewhere.

There is a brief mention, on page 185, of Low Hall Garth in connection with the illicit distilling activities of Lanty Slee, about whom Harry Griffin wrote in Y.R.C.J., Vol. VII, No. 26, page 300, shortly after the opening of the Cottage.

A special feature of the book is its shape; slightly broader than most and so bound that the pages open easily and stay open where wanted.

The excellent photographs show the Fells, Crags and Tarns in all their moods and in all seasons; an appendix contains additional notes on these illustrations.
For the reader who has the misfortune not to know Lakeland intimately, a map and an index would have been a help.

H.G.W.

THE BRITISH SKI YEARBOOK

No. 43, 1962.

Patrick Lort-Phillips describes a winter crossing on ski of the mountains of Swedish Lapland from Tjamotis to Abisko, 185 miles, during the first half of April. The party carried their food, cooking utensils and camping equipment on ‘one-man pulkas’, small sledges attached to the skier by a leather belt round the hips, with rattan cane shafts giving easy control both up and down hill. No praise was high enough for these little sledges.

Commander Stocken, stationed at Gibraltar, explored the possibilities of ski touring in April in the Sierra Nevada. Based on a Spanish Ministry of Education hostel he climbed Veleta, 3392 m., Sabinal, 2962 m. on ski and Mulhacen, 3492 m. only the last 1000 ft. on foot. His best expedition was to Fraile de Veleta, 3201 m. In a reasonable season there is snow from December to April, but the district is rather v/ind-prone and a skier is of course very much on his own.

W. Kirstein, following up an advertisement in Les Alpes, spent Easter week touring in the Gemmi region with Otto Stoller, the owner or the Schwarenbach Hotel, above Kandersteg. This hotel, which was their base, lies at 6,500 ft,, midway between Stock and the head of the Gemmi Pass. He had glorious weather and is full of appreciation of the week of high level ski tours which Herr Stoller had selected for him.

Sir Arnold Lunn, in a review of John Kimche’s book, Spying for Peace (Weidenfeld & Nicholson. 21/-), gives an interesting account of Swiss ‘neutrality’ during the 1939/45 war and of the controversy between Pilet-Golaz, the President of the Confederation, who favoured Germany, and General Guisan, the Commander in Chief of the Swiss Army who, in June 1940, summoned all commanders to the historic meadow of Riitli and ordered them to preach to their troops the duty of uncompromising resistance to German Invasion.

No. 44, 1963.

This issue celebrates the Diamond Jubilee of the Ski Club of Great Britain, and starts with a brief history of the Club by Sir Arnold Lunn. There is a nostalgic section on Edwardian Ski-ing, when the narrow spore of bold schusses and the beauty of linked ‘S’ turns was the pattern imprinted by skiers on the radiant snowfields in the days before the dull exhausted surface of the modern piste.

Tribute is paid to “The Father of Modern Ski-ing”, Vivian Caul-field who, in How to Ski, first published in 1910, had already accurately investigated much of what we regard as having been discovered in the last decade. This was also a time when the British were making important contributions to the development of ski-mountaineering and Sir Arnold recalls how his writings in The Field on this subject irritated that distinguished winter mountaineer, the Rev. W. A. B. Cool-idge, ‘who had a weakness for ill-tempered controversy and could do anything with a hatchet except bury it’. (Cf. Y.R.C.J., Vol. VIII, No. 28, pp. 173—179.)

A section describes the British contribution to competitive ski-ing, the foundation of clubs such as the Downhill Only and the Kandahar, the enthusiasm of British ski racers between the wars and the struggle to get international recognition for Downhill and Slalom racing rules, finally approved by the F.I.S. in 1930.

The President, Brigadier Gueterbock, after stating the ten objects of the S.C.G.B., expresses anxiety about finance, and the rising cost of racing. He points out that in the winter of 1962/63 some 250,000 British skiers visited the Alps, yet the membership of the Club remains static at about 15,000. He outlines a plan for increasing membership.

Roland Huntford, a fortnight after leaving Chamonix, ‘that grim citadel of organised Alpinism’, found himself, in mid-March, at Vala-dalen, in the Swedish province of Jamtland, ‘the pine-fragrant north’. His ski tour, all on natural snow of every variety, was ‘seven worlds away from the mechanised clank of the Alpine resorts’. In the huts conversation was easy, acquaintance pleasant and after lights out there was silence; consideration for one’s neighbour being more developed than in Alpine huts.

Still based on Gibraltar, Commander Stocken explored the High Atlas in February. From the Weltner Hut, 3,200 m., he climbed four peaks of over 4,000 m., two of them on ski, the most enjoyable being the Tadaft, 4,010 m. He found life spartan, mountaineering hazards less than those in the Alps, but once again, felt very much on his own.

Ivan Waller, with 37 years of personal experience, traces the development of ski technique over the 60 years of the Club’s history. He lists 15 factors which during this time have brought their influence to bear. He sums up by saying that the young take naturally to the modern technique of the Parallel Christiana, and all that goes with it, while the old, who ought to know better, continue to lean back, leave their weight on the inside ski, edge much too hard and try to turn too sharply. ‘At least it’s fun to have to go on learning till you die.’

John Curie has explored ski-ing possibilities in Greece. Nearest to Athens is Mount Parnes, more reliable is the 8,000 ft. Mount Ziria in the Northern Peloponnese where, if there is enough snow, 5,000 ft. of running finishes above the village of Ano Trikala and one can round off the day with a swim in the Aegean on the way back to Athens. He also skied on Parnassus, at Vermeion in Macedonia and on the mountains of the Pindus range.

The equipment section contains a useful safety bindings assessment table and some valuable hints on how to adjust the better known makes.

Ski Notes and Queries for December 1963 includes a note by C. C. Bosanquet about a traverse on ski of the North York Moors from Ravenscar to Osmotherley, following the route of the Lyke Wake Walk.

H.G.W.

LA MONTAGNE DANS LA PEINTURE: by Ulrich Chris-toff el. (Published by the Swiss Alpine Club).

A. sumptuous publication to mark the centenary of the Swiss Alpine Club. Dr. Christoffel discusses the painting of mountains, either as direct subjects or as backgrounds for other scenes and incidents, from the murals of Pompeii and Rome, the mosaics of Ravenna, and the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages to Oskar Kokoschka. It is surprising to find how many of the greatest names in art occur as depicters of mountains; Giotto, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Pisanello, Mantegna, Van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Diirer, Griinewald, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto—and so the roll continues. It is interesting too to see how differently the mountains appear as man’s attitude to nature in general and mountains in particular has changed over the centuries. There are fifty-six splendid plates as illustrations, and thirty-two of these are in colour. The Swiss Alpine Club is to be congratulated and thanked for its centenary gift to mountaineers.

A.B.C.

INSTRUCTIONS IN ROCK CLIMBING: by Anthony Greenbank. 1963 Museum Press, 15/-.

It is stated in the preface that this is a book “for the young rock-climber, from his—or her—first days as second on the rope, to when he eventually begins to lead complete routes on high crags”. It is a good book for this purpose. It deals clearly and sensibly with most things that a beginner might wish to know—with clothing and equipment, route finding, ropes and knots, belays, guide books, abseiling, the sequence of climbing, the main types of rock feature encountered and techniques of overcoming them, and the psychological factors in leading. It puts a sensible emphasis on safety in climbing methods, and throughout the text Mr. Greenbank treats rock-climbing not as an end in itself but in its proper perspective as an element, an essential and most enjoyable element, in the wider field of mountaineering.

A.B.C.

CLIMBS ON YORKSHIRE LIMESTONE: by Michael A. Mitchell. Dalesman Publishing Co. 1963. 3/6.

Free and artificial climbs on Kilnsey Crag, Dib Scar, Bull Scar, Gordale Scar, Giggleswick Scar, Malham Cove, Attermire Scar, Great Close Scar, Crummackdale, Trow Gill, Moughton Scar, Norber and Trailers Gill. References to loose rock are frequent. The time given for the Central Wall of Malham Cove, 270 feet, is “possibly several days” (the first pitch took 22 hours on the first ascent): no route is given “as the route is clearly marked by previous ascents” and depends entirely on Rawlplugs and golos. Technically the hardest route listed is the overhanging North Buttress on Kilnsey: in the first pitch of 90 feet there are 23 screws and brackets. The last section is a guide to the gritstone climbs on Pen-y-ghent. On the limestone routes standards are high and exposure generally severe.

A.B.C.

CAVING AND POTHOLING: by David Robinson and Anthony Greenbank. Constable 1964. 30/-.

This is the most practical book on caving and potholing that has yet appeared. It is the first book to describe systematically standard practices underground and to deal with techniques in detail. In so far as techniques can be learned from reading without experience this book will certainly give a beginner a very clear idea of what will be expected of him, what he should wear, what equipment he should use and what kind of tackle he will need.

There are chapters on discovery, mapping, photography, rescue, all severely practical. There are also brief descriptions of formations, underground life and a very brief guide to the main caving areas. A very commendable book.

A.B.C.

RUCKSACK CLUB JOURNAL 1963. Vol. XIV, No. 4. Issue 56.

Ralph Jones describes the 1962 Alpine Club and S.M.C. expedi tion to the Pamirs with Sir John Hunt as leader, which was marred by the deaths of Noyce and Smith. Like other accounts this one comments on the Russian attitude of competition in mountaineering. “A full week” by Len Stubbs is a modest title for a week which began with the three summits—Snowdon, Scafell, Ben Nevis—took in an impressive number of Scottish tops and finished with the Lancet Edge on Aonach Beag. Tom Waghorn is equally modest as yo-yo man to Brown, Whillans and Moseley on Clogwyn, Red Wall on Craig Rhaidr, White Ghyll, Aonach Dubh, Kilnsey and Gordale, the last mentioned including “aping” across the gorge on two etriers. At a less exalted level B. R. Goodfellow describes the West Ridge on Piz Badret, S.W. Ridge on Piz Morteratsch and N.N.E. Ridge on Disgrazia, and B. Bowker outlines his first Alpine season. Finally, on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee in 1962, E. Moss surveys the Club’s last ten years, a period which includes Joe Walmsley’s expeditions to Masherbrum, 1957, and Nuptse, 1961, the Tan Hill/Cat and Fiddle walks of 1952 and 1953 (120 miles and 20,000 feet of ascent) and the Scottish Four-thousand walks of 1954 and 1955; an impressive record.

A.B.C.

SCOTTISH MOUNTAINEERING CLUB JOURNAL, No. 154, Vol. XXVII.

This number begins with an eloquent plea for the preservation of Scotland’s natural beauty and national asset by W. H. Murray. A nostalgic article by John Nimlin follows on the small Glasgow climbing clubs of the 1930’s, the Creagh Dhu, Lomond, Ptarmigan, on howffs by Craigallion Loch, with no money, no sleep and very little tackle. D. J. Bennet writes on the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon; Adam Watson on a Cairngorm Langlauf and Malcolm Slesser provides a note on the British-Soviet Pamirs expedition of 1962. The number concludes with R. Grieve’s “A great day” on Arran, from Pirnmill to Glen Rosa, climbing on Rosa Pinnacle, and back; plus of course the invaluable list of new climbs and analysis of accidents.

A.B.C.

GRITSTONE CLUB JOURNAL, 1963.

It is a great pleasure to see again a Gritstone Club Journal after a lapse of 13 years. No one could accuse them of over-publishing and the gap is certainly not due to lack of activity. E. Griffiths provides notes on the early history of the Club, on its founder, Cecil Wood, and the legendary 6.32 a.m. train on Sundays from Bradford calling at all stations to Morecambe; tackle for the first pothole, Rift Pot, in 1922 included 100 feet of green blind cord and a recruit at this meet was a schoolboy named Reg Hainsworth. There are two articles by C. R. Ambler on ski-ing techniques which are very much to the point both for beginners and for more experienced skiers. There are guides also by Ambler to Gritstone climbs at Horse Hold Scout, and Hepton-stall Quarry, both near Hebden Bridge. J. R. Sutcliffe describes the Caves at Ribblehead and provides a guide to climbs at Ash Head Rocks, Colsterdale. There are notes on Ellerbeck Hole and High Rigg Cave, Birkwith and a tantalising article by Falkingham on what makes a walk a nice walk. Also a nice contrast between two club parties who did the Fiamma in the Bregaglia in 1939 and 1962, the first party without artificial aids of any kind. Altogether a splendid comeback.

A.B.C.

FELL AND ROCK CLIMBING CLUB JOURNAL, No. 57. Vol. XX, No. 1.

Extracts from Sir John Hunt’s diary of the 1962 British Soviet Pamirs Expedition which made 4 major ascents, including the highest point in the U.S.S.R., a new route on a 20,000 ft. peak and a first ascent of one of 19,000 ft. He raises interesting points, e.g., the Russians move as a single group and do not use the method of summit and support groups—hence no food or gear left behind for use on return or retreat. Corsica 1962, by Nancy Murray: the party consisted of Harry Stembridge, Dick Cook, the writer and her husband and obviously had an enjoyable time. N. J. Soper recounts the three eras of development on Clogwyn du’r Arddu: pre-1939, the Brown era (particularly 1951-2), and post-Brown in which he himself has been prominent; there are some fine photographs with this article. Anthony Greenbank describes the Sud Grat route on Salbitschigen which he rates harder than the Spigolo Nord on the Badile and technically as hard as the Cassin route on the N.E. Face of the Badile, more exposed than either but not as serious for rockfalls, storms, etc. Other articles are: J. P. O’F. Lynan on the Bara Shigri, 1961, with a party that included one Wayfarer and one from the Rucksack Club; a tribute from Lord Chorley of Kendal to Lord Birkett’s lifelong defence of Lakeland’s beauty and traditions; Robert Lewis’s letter from Grahamland; and Nancy Smith’s account of the all-female (barring the Sherpas) Jagdula Expedition in the Kanjiroba Himal.

A.B.C.

CRAVEN POTHOLE CLUB JOURNAL. Vol. 3, No. 3. 1963.

A. Mitchell raises the currently very serious problem of potholing and public relations, quoting the editorial from the last C.P.C. Journal: “It would be a grave error to assume that all is well in the caving world . . . there are a number of subjects which require our earnest consideration. Perhaps at the head of the list it would be correct to place our relationships with landowners and farmers”. The C.P.C. places its confidence in personal contact, rather than any association of caving clubs. There are accounts of Gaping Gill 1963 by P. Leakey, when 136 people made 255 descents during a very wet week “and some serious potholing was also done”; Gaping Gill 25 years ago, by A. S. Birkett; and a plea for Jib Tunnel as the easiest way down by A. Mitchell. D. M. Judson contributes articles on the Oxford/ Derbyshire Speleological Expedition to N.W. Spain (30 miles S.E. of Oviedo), which got down five shafts, the deepest 600 ft. and returned convinced that large systems do exist in the area; on Ludwell Fairy Holes, Weardale, giving notes on crawls and boulder chambers beyond the Grave Chamber; and on an unsuccessful attempt to blast through the final choke in the Stream End Caverns in Mossdale Caverns. R. G. Coe suggests another way into Mere Gill and describes Spectacle Pot (with plan). S. A. Craven writes of “spelunking in the U.S.A.”, in Alabama, Indiana and Georgia where show caves have parks for 5,000 cars. N. Platts reports on the Club’s Irish meet at Manorhamil-ton in Fermanagh and there is one mountaineering article by N. E. Haighton on the Bernese Oberland.

A.B.C.

MIDLAND ASSOCIATION OF MOUNTAINEERS. JOURNAL 1963.

At home there is D.P. Penfold’s description of the Lyke Wake Walk, taken from Ravenscar to Osmotherley, and Neil A. Ferrett’s painful Welsh three-thousands in new boots. Abroad, a nicely mixed bag. In Spain Richard Southall writes of the Picos de Europe in the triangle Santander-Leon-Oviedo. In the Alps there is R. L. B. Colledge on the Ryan-Lochmatter route on the Aiguille du Plan and the Cassin route on the N.E. face of the Badile in wet conditions; also Roger Wallis on the Lyskamm by Christian Kluckner’s original line in the first ascent of 1890. In the Dolomites Walter Reizes-Reid covers the Club’s Alpine meet at Cortina in 1962 with an impressive list of ascents. D.P. Davis contributes personal recollections of the 1961 Nuptse expedition in which he reached the summit with the 50 year old Sherpa Tashi. And the only lady to contribute is Anna Osmaston with “Safari on Mount Elgon” in Uganda.

A.B.C.

ALPINE CLUB JOURNAL. Vol. LXVIII. No. 306. May 1963.

The Second Indian Expedition to Mount Everest, 1962, was turned back by bad weather just short of the South Summit. One man spent six nights on the South Col, five without oxygen, and one party were two nights at 27,650 feet without oxygen. The article is by Harry Dang. Michael Ward discusses the desperate descent from Makalu in 1961 and some medical aspects of high altitude climbing. Ian Clough writes on the Solleder route on the N.W. Wall of the Civetta, Jan Mostowski on the Tatra and Clough again on his ascent of the Eiger-wand in 1962 with Bonington. G. O. Dyhrenfurth gives hints for Himalayan aspirants with notes and bibliographies on unclimbed 7,000 metre and attractive 6,000 metre peaks in the Himalayas and Kara-koram. There is a further fascinating analysis by Hugh Merrick and L. R. Wager of the position and origin of the highest Chinese photograph taken on Everest. Robert Pettigrew provides the second part of his account of the Derbyshire Himalayan Expedition, 1961 to the Kulu area of Ladakh, and Denise Evans an account of the Jagdula Expedition 1962 to the Kanjiroba Himal in West Nepal. The Pakistan-British Forces Karakoram Expedition to Khinyang Chhish in 1962 was abandoned when Major Mills and M. R. F. Jones were killed by an avalanche; the account of it is by Dr. P. J. Horniblow. There is a v/elcome new Longland name—John Longland on the Westgrat, Alphubel. Outside the Alps and Himalaya there is A. C. Carter on a winter expedition to the Spanish Sierra Nevada, Philip Temple On the Carstenz Mountains, the snow peaks of West New Guinea, and Sir John Hunt contributes the first of two articles on the British-Soviet Pamirs Expedition, 1962. Fosco Maraini has written up an account by Riccardo Cassin of the South Face of Mount McKinley, which is of interest both for its hard mountaineering and technically because aeroplanes have to take the place of Sherpas, Bhutias, etc., and all carries from the glacier have to be done by the climbers.

A.B.C.

ALPINE CLUB JOURNAL. Vol. LXVIII. No. 307. November 1963.

C.J.S. Bonington recounts the successful ascent of the Central Tower of Paine. Following this come two accounts of small Himalayan parties. J. D. M. Roberts with four Sherpas and a Sherpa liaison officer had an enjoyable but unsuccessful attempt on the unclimbed Dhaula Himal and P. R. Steele with his wife, another girl, two Sherpas and six Tamang coolies visited the same area, to climb and map Hiunchuli Patan. The next two articles touch on the history of Alpine climbing, Arnold Lunn writing on the Swiss pioneers from the late eighteenth century to 1850, and Herbert Carr on Swiss prints and illustrations in accounts of ascents of Mont Blanc to 1853. R. H. F. Hunter writes on the Reading University Andean Expedition, 1962, which made 25 ascents in the Cordillera Real in Bolivia, all over 17,000 feet, including the 6,000 metre Chiaroco. Peter Crew describes a series of grade V and VI routes done with Alan Wright—Cassin route on the Cima Ovest, Tissi route on the Torre Venezia, West Ridge of the Torre Trieste, the Solleder route on the North Face of the Civetta, the South face of the Busazza, the Philipp-Flam route, and, from Chamonix, the Bonatti Pillar, with two bivouacs in mist, wind and hailstorms. Eric Shipton provides further travels in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. As a contrast to the small expeditions above there is J. O. M. Roberts’ account of the mammoth American Mount Everest Expedition, with its twenty members, 37 high altitude Sherpas and 900 porters: the Sherpas are described as a “highly competent bunch of toughs”, and 19 of them carried to over 27,000 feet. I. G McNaught-Davis completes the account of the British Soviet Pamirs Expedition 1962, including the ascent of the Peak of Communism (24,600 ft.) in 15 days up and down from a base camp at 9,000 ft. and over 20 miles away—a classical high speed Russian ascent. Trevor Braham comes back to the small expedition, a solo trip with an armed escort and six sepoys to Swat and Indus Kohistan in what was the N.W. Frontier Province. But A. G. Smythe and Barrie Biven attempting the Moose’s Tooth discovered that Alaska was not the place for a party of two, and almost came to grief in a river which was rising one inch every ten minutes at a time when they had been four days without food. Finally, contributed by T. S. Blakeney there is a list of applicants for membership of the Club who were not elected, the list running up to the end of the First World War “with such remarks as are given in the original documents”. Among the names is R. J. Farrer of Ingleborough, Clapham, and of another candidate it is said, “if this man comes up again a few years hence his list will require careful scrutiny as he appears to have been walking up fairly big mountains alone”.

A.B.C.

KINDRED CLUB JOURNALS

The Librarian gratefully acknowledges the receipt of the journals of the following Clubs, and regrets that limitation of space will not allow him to include reviews of them: —

Appalachia, 1962, 1963; Appalachia Bulletins, 1962, 1963; Bristol University Speleological Society Proceedings, 1962-63; Birmingham University Mountaineering Club Journal 1962, 1963; Cambridge Mountaineering 1963; Cuba Lattabana, No. 5; Deutschen Alpen-vereins, Jugend am Berg, 1962, 1963; Equipe speleo de Bruxelles, Bulletin d’information, 1963; Federation Speleologique de Belgique, Bulletin d’information, No. 1, 1963; Friends of the Lake District, Report and Newsletter, July 1963; Himalayan Journal, 1961; Lancashire Caving and Climbing Club Journal 1963; Manchester University Mountaineering Club Journal, 1958—61; Mountain Club of South Africa Journal, 1962; National Speleological Society Bulletins, 1962, 1963; National Speleological Society, Newsletter, 1962, 1963; Oxford Mountaineering, 1963; Swiss Alpine Club, Bulletins, 1962, 1963; Reviews, 1962, 1963; Societe speleologique de France, Annales 1958; Societe Speleologique de France, Spelunca, 1962, 1963; South Wales Caving Club Newsletter, 1962, 1963; Speleo Club Bologne, Sotto terra, 1963; Speleo Club de la Seine, L’Aven, 1962, 1963.