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Lakes & Skye Climbing June 2026
Mixed fortunes with the weather this year, although to be truthful, it is always a gamble with the weather on Skye, and more especially the Black Cuillin. I travelled up with John Gilbertson and Dan...
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New Year in the Lakes
What with all the rain before and after New Year I couldn't believe out luck when we arrived in the Lakes just before New Year to endless blue skies and no rain. It was cold, very cold, but with...
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Cenotaph Corner
Rusty Baillie halfway on Cenotaph Corner. Photo: John Cleare “Sometime around July 1965/6, I entered the porch of the Gorphwysfa Hotel and was immediately captivated by a large black and white poster...
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A Winter's Tale
James Williams in Spindrift on Ben NevisNo charging bears or sharp exits left required in the tale. However with all the recent news about a Polar vortex over the Arctic it seems that winter might be...
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Better Mountain Photography
Commando Ridge, Bosigran, Cornwall. ASA 200. f9 @ 1/800 sec. 12-24mmThe reason behind the article was a response to correspondents, both at UKClimbing.com, but also in various photographic magazines....
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SDMC Midweek climbing meets 2025
Ryan on the Flyer (E1,5c), Lowman, Haytor Tom on Empire of the Sun (F7b), Anstey's CoveSteve on Cocytus (F6c+), Anstey's CoveSteve on Black Spring (F6B+), Chudleigh NorthSteve on Aramis (VS),...
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Poverty and Squalor in 2025
Over 59 years ago I travelled around Birmingham with a camera recording visually those that lived on the margins of society, the 'dollar poor' to use an American term of the time. Surely today in this...
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In Sunny Lakeland
The original plan was to snatch some time away in June, but problems with the house-sitter resulted in a change of date and what a brilliant decision that was. Throughout our 24 day break, we never saw...
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Recent Climbs, Anstey's Cove & Bosigran
The first outdoor climbs of the year coincided with a dramatic upturn in the weather to something approaching Spring, although sea mist and drizzle did spoil the Saturday in Cornwall. But when the sun...
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Away from the Flock
A very remote place, the Letterewe Forest “Away from the Flock’ is a floor-based sculpture by Damien Hurst from 1994, consisting of a glass-walled tank filled with formaldehyde solution in which a...
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Wintery Glencoe, February 2025
The promise of fine weather encouraged myself and John Gilbertson to head north to Glencoe. We were fortunate to book the Fell & Rock CC hut, Water's Cottage at Kinlochleven. Rain when we arrived...
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Mallory and Irvine: Well, did they or didn’t they?
Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine & George Mallory On 15 December 1920, the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, telegraphed to the India Office as follows:“Bell telegraphs that he has explained to Dalai Lama...
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The 10 Greatest Rock Climbs in the UK
Sean on Lost Horizon I can only discuss this selection from my own personal experience. There will be many classics that merit consideration but unclimbed by myself, Left Wall for one This final choice...
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EXTOL
The first hard moves on the main pitch. About the same position as Bonington in his Hard Rock photoThere are rock climbs and there are rock climbs,mostly memorable, mostly forgettable. Extol defies...
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Musings on the development of UK Rock-climbing Grades
The Napes Needle It all started with Walter Parry Haskett-Smith. His solo ascent of the Napes Needle in 1886 kick-started rock-climbing in Britain as we know it today.“Napes Needle — A rock of very...
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Drumochter wanderings
Approaching Geal Charn cairn in fine weatherThe week had started well with a quick wintery circuit of the Creag Meagaidh Munros which included an ice-climb up the imposing cliffs, all in a little less...
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SDMC New Year's Quiz 2024 Answers
Round 1. Match the author to the book (note: only 10 authors required)Book titles 1. Alone on the Wall 2. Beyond the Mountain 3. Cold Wars 4. Conquistadors of the Useless 5....
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SDMC New Year's Quiz 2024
Round 1. Match the author to the book (note: only 10 authors required)Book titles· Alone on the Wall· Beyond the Mountain · Cold Wars · Conquistadors of the Useless ·...
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THE SLOTH
Dictionary definition of Sloth: 1. “A habitual disinclination to exertion”2. “A slow-moving tropical American mammal that hangs upside down from the branches of trees, using its long limbs and hooked...
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Gem Street Back to Backs
The Birmingham Industrial School, Gem Street, opened in 1850 to cater for the children of indigent parents, orphans, and neglected children. It was this building that was part of Birmingham College of...
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