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SDMC Peak Sept 2022
It has become something of a SDMC tradition in recent year to hold a Peak climbing meet in Sept, when the bracken begins to turn a fiery red and the early morning air is cool to the touch. This year's...
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New Horizons
The tricky approach to the top of the Long Slab, Baggy Point *I had been trying for a while to get a group together to travel over to Baggy, and it all came together the week before the August Bank...
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SDMC Christmas Climbing Quiz 2022 Answers
Round 1 – General Mountaineering1. When the A.E.Robertson completed the very first round of the Munros in 1901, on which peak did he finish? (Interestingly without any intent it was my first Munro!)....
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10 Must Read Mountaineering Books
Killing Dragons The Conquest of the Alps– Fergus FlemingA diverting, popular history of the first men and women who scrambled among the Alps, that begins with the first explorers to the Alps who were...
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FAKE NEWS (Style, Ethics and Making the Grade)
"If you’re going to lie, make it a BIG one"Josef StalinWally Herbert with support, was really the first man to reach the North Pole on foot in 1969 Not so long ago the Australian Cricket team have been...
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Climbing & Mountaineering May 2023
Ross leads Inkerman Groove at ChudleighThe CC hut, The Old Schoolhouse, GrangeThe approach to Gillercombe Buttress via Sour Milk GhyllThe Crux pitch on Gillercombe ButtressRupert below Gillercombe...
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The first attempt to climb all the Munros in one continious round
I was munching through my cornflakes this morning when a news item on the radio grabbed my attention. A lady had apparently completed a round of all 282 Munros in the staggering time of 31 days 23...
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The Matterhorn
The Matterhorn, (Italian) Monte Cervino, (French) Mont Cervin, one of the most recognisable mountains in the world at 4,478 metres (14,692 feet ) and the last of the major alpine peaks to be...
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ABODE OF THE PERENIAL SNOWS - THE ALPINE 4000 METRE PEAKS
The Finsteraarhorn, one of the more difficult 4000 mtr peaks It was in 1906 that Karl Blodig an Austrian mountaineer, optician, and writer was the first to successfully climb all 65 Alpine peaks of...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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