Chippings

In his first adventure surfing the world wide web David Smith, perhaps predictably, searched for the acronym ‘YRC’ and was rewarded with the URL of a page which has since been removed from the Univerity of Lancaster server. RefeiTing to Dan-yr-Ogof the text, contibuted by the South Wales Caving Club, included…

It was not until 1936, when cavers from Yorkshire and Somerset arrived on the scene, that speleology “took firm roots in Wales.

The names of Ernest Roberts and Gerard Platten are prominent in the early explorations, during which members of the Mendip Exploration Society, Yorkshire Ramblers’ and Wessex Cave Club declared, their interest in Welsh caves by forming the ‘Dragon Group'”

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Dr. S.A. Craven writes after recently consulting our archives…

The romantic topographer, Edmund Bogg, has featured in several recent issues of the Yorkshire Rambler (numbers 3, 4, 5 & 7). Readers will remember that Bogg and the YRC had a symbiotic relationship which lasted until the first YRC Journal appeared in 1899.

On looking through the YRC minutes I was surprised to discover that on 9 December 1924 Bogg was proposed for honorary membership. The motion was lost after “considerable opposition”.

In retrospect this was a wise decision. Bogg may well have been a successful author and businessman, but his mountaineering and caving exploits hardly matched those of other honorary members such as Edward Whymper, Cecil Slingsby, Martin Conway, Edouard Martel and others.

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On offer at just £1 each are tax-disk style, full-colour car stickers in the traditional rose design with the Club’s name and, optionally, the words ‘a mountaineering and caving club – founded in 1892’. They are available from Ian Crowther either on meets or by post on strictly cash-and-stamped-addressed-envelope-with-your-order terms.

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For a number of years Jack Holmes has been organising a monthly pub lunch in Appletreewick for senior members and their wives. At the January gathering a unique anniversary was marked when John Barton and Irene celebrated their Golden Wedding, and John clocked up 50 years with the YRC. ‘A Golden Double’ reports Alan Brown.

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The letters from E. E. Roberts to Geoff Scovell, which form an article elsewhere in this issue were passed to David Smith by Mary Scovell at another of these monthly meetings.

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Kjetil  Tveranger,  our Norwegian member, spent four days, with two friends, rambling in the Jotunheimen based on a camp placed at 2100m on a glacier on Galdhopiggen and recommends the tour.

“It  was a wonderful place with splendid weather.  Sunshine all days. The view was terrific, and we could see the mountains in Hurrungane with Store Skagastelstind and in the north-east Lodalskapa.  We were upon all the mountains and climbed all the ridges in the area.”

Before dismissing it on grounds of age and lack of fitness, note that Kjetil started by driving to Juvvasshytta at about 1800m. and the summits surrounding the camp are at about 2300m., which makes it all much more manageable. Running out of fuel they resorted to a fire made from the timbers of an abandoned hut, so it had all  the  characteristics  of a good outing.

Next year Kjetil is thinking of repeating Slingsby’s route from the coast across Alfotbreen (1895) to Straumbotn which I think can be split into two clays by using the Flora Turlag hut, Blabrebu. By all accounts it is an interesting route.

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The early spring saw various members active in Norway. Kevin Brown, David Hall and Howard Papworth were thwarted in a plan to ski a long route from the far north by an accident which injured Howard’s leg and unsuitable fuel for their stove. Derek Smithson was moving from hut to hut on cross-country ski and a week later Michael Smith was skiing around Geilo.

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The Ernest Forbes, member of the Leeds Savage Club, mentioned in issue number three and the ensuing discussions was featured, by Bill Mitchell the principal guest at our 1996 Dinner, in the Dalesman. See the September 1997 issue for the story of this solitary, handsome and athletic newspaper cartoonist from Leeds.

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Under the title ‘Going to Pot for Fine Port and Fat Cigars’, in the January 1998 issue of the Dalesman, Bill Mitchell remembers the life and times of Ernest Roberts, ‘last of the gentleman pot-holers’. It includes the tale of a fire in Mere Gill and draws on the contributions of John Lovett and Stanley Marsden. Since this is likely to have been of interest to many members the article has been reproduced in this issue.

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Dennis Armstrong draws our attention to a review of a book which appeared in the Economist Review on 6 September 1997, pl7-8. It is the story of the disastrous Everest expedition of May 1996 on which nine died. Racily written and already selling well in America, it explores the combination of chaperoned, fee-paying chents and the problems of high altitude ascents. The book is hito Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer (Macmillan, 387 pages, £16.99).

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To walk up and down is less wearying than to walk on the flat. Aristotle

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Five years of visits to the Haute Savoie have paid off for some of our leading cavers. At first the local French cavers were not very keen on having them about but last winter the diver Jean Bottazzi made contact with them. They subsequently went to the Savoie area caving with him and he also accompanied Ged Campion and others to the Oman last February. Eventually they were asked to join up with the French team to help out as they have difficulty finding people with the ability to descend the cave, especially as they had to ski to it! Graham Salmon reports that once they got the call that conditions were right for an attempt they left England by plane from Luton Airport, about 7am, bound for Geneva. By about Lunchtime on Friday 23rd January they were in a cafe in Samoins having hired a car. Two hours, and a helicopter trip, later they were by the cave entrance on the Montague de Criou.

Over 100 hours underground included our members reaching the ‘old’ bottom (1520m down), giving assistance moving the diving gear, a bivi c 1050m down) and Graham’s first experience of sleeping in hammock. A translation of the French cave diver’s press release is copied here.