Saturday 28 February 1970 - A Walk in the Glyders

Today's posting was inspired by an email received yesterday from Neil Barrass, entitled "We are the 'old days'!" Neil provided a link to a wonderful old (1948) film entitled 'Youth on the Hills'. What he found striking was the similarity between the equipment used in 1948 and that which we were using in the early 1970s, and he appended one of my photos from that era by way of illustration.

The photo concerned was taken on 28 February 1970 during a Tech Domski Hiking and Hostelling Club (TDHHC) weekend at Idwal Cottage YHA. This may have been my first visit to Idwal Cottage, and a version of the Saturday walk over the Glyders has become one of my favourite excursions, walked many times over the years, and not always without incident (as, for example, described here!).

I have a recollection of arriving at the hostel and being directed to a dormitory that may have been in an outhouse. I do recall being on the top bunk. It was a long way down. The bunks were in three tiers!

Anyway, my archives have jogged the memory of an excellent weekend in good company. Very few pictures were taken on my old Zorki 4 camera, and a scan of the negatives may produce better results than these scans of the photos, but given they are from over 50 years ago, and the negatives are not immediately to hand, so please bear with me.

Who were all these people gathered at a sheltered point on the Glyder plateau?

Well, from left to right: Kate Thompson (sitting), Roddy Burns, Gaspar Sanvicens, Howard Gee (RIP), Gary Beighton, Kev Hall, Neil Barrass and Pete Palmer.

Below, at the time I captioned this photo as 'Steeper than it looks'. 'Gas' is in the lead, with (L to R) Roddy, Mike Hope, and far right in the background - Gary Beighton and John Clark.

There was an impressive amount of frost on the summit pinnacles, below which Gas is posing.

I'm not sure which route we took, maybe Neil will remember, but there's certainly not an ice axe or a crampon in sight.

Glissading is good, but safer with an axe, and the enthusiasts amongst us were soon equipped with wooden shafted ice axes that were very similar to those seen in the 1948 film. (I still have mine, and I have an even earlier war department axe made in Cannock that's very similar but has a longer shaft.)

 

Here's the photo that Neil used in his email to illustrate how winter gear may have changed. Ian Taylor is being followed by Howard Gee and Don Waye.

We had great fun, but the weather was cold. On getting back down we realised that Pete Palmer was suffering from exposure. It took some time to nurse him back to health, though unlike Sue's experience with a friend in the same place in the 1980s, no hospitalization was necessary. 

I can only find one picture from the following day - there are five more somewhere. We walked into Betws-y-Coed from Capel Curig, pausing for some time en route to make our mark on a beech tree.

Here's another picture from the early 1970s, showing our gear at the time.

From L to R: Beryl, Roger Freeman, John Clark, Roger's friend who drove around in a Morris Minor estate car with a corrugated roof * Stuart Mellanby, Gary Beighton, and me. I still have that anorak, which in its day completed about twenty Lyke Wake Walks (40 miles across the North Yorkshire Moors).

Whilst I've been writing this, ears must have been burning, as - not having heard from him for many months - a message from Roger with some photos attached popped up. This shows our garb in the mid 1970s, at a time when Hellyhansen and Henri-Lloyd moved into the outdoors market. They were specialists in sailing equipment and their non-breathable waterproofs for active walkers, who soon become drenched in sweat, was possibly a retrograde step.

I'm pictured above in my 'Helly', flanked by Roger, and Dave Scruby.

Another friend of ours, Mike Parsons, lived through all this and has recently co-authored 'Keeping Dry & Staying Warm', that I wrote about here. This is the place for you, if you have an interest in the technicalities.

Lots of good memories, also for my mother, who will enjoy reading about some old names that will 'ring bells' when she turns on her computer tomorrow.

Feel free to comment...

* I'm getting confused here - the chap with the Morris Minor was Richard Thompson. He's not in this picture - I think I have confused him with Stuart Mellanby, who came on a few trips. I now think the person on the right in the picture above is Dave Scruby, not John Mansell. Thanks to Roger for attempting to clarify this.

22 June to 4 July 1970 - A Trip to Scotland

 

Having posted an entry for the 'Suilven' day - the highlight of this trip - I've decided that having processed the rest of the images, I may as well make them public. I'm sure Conrad will appreciate them.

 

The header image, if you can read it (click on it), is what amounted, together with a few captions, to my diary of this trip, so I'm certainly spared the effort of transcribing a diary!

 

On 23 June we travelled from Glasgow - probably from Robin's parents' house, as I think the car we used was Robin's father's vehicle. We set up camp some way north of Ullapool, in the Inverpolly Nature Reserve, in the Aird of Coigach area. [By Loch Lurgainn, below Stac Pollaidh, according to Neil, and that makes sense.] Ben Mor Coigach is the mountain behind Jim and Cathy's luxury accommodation. I think I used a Blacks Good Companion tent.

 

 

On 24 June, we climbed Stac Pollaidh, possibly directly from our camping spot.

 

 

In those days we used Walter Poucher's 'The Scottish Peaks' 1965 edition as our guide book, if any. He refers to a picture of the 'Lobster's Claw' pinnacle taken in 1948, and claims to have been unable to find it subsequently. Despite the mist, I'd like to think we did find it, though a small boulder on the top of the right hand part of the claw seems to have been eroded between 1948 and 1970, possibly due to winter frosts.

 

 

On 25 June we travelled to Durness, where Jim completed his journey by tricycle.

 

 

We visited Smoo cave [where Neil reckons we played football out of the rain], and Sango Bay. I have no record of a campsite. Perhaps we stayed in the Youth Hostel.

 

 

On 26 June, we took the ferry across the Kyle of Durness, then the minibus to Cape Wrath. I think this ferry may now have been superseded.

 

 

Lunch was taken at Cape Wrath, with surf crashing on the rocks below.

 

 

After returning to Durness, we travelled via the Kylesku ferry and the scenic back roads to Inverkirkaig, just beyond Lochinver.

 

En route, we paused at a viewpoint where Canisp and Suilven were displayed before us. (The Standard Vanguard Estate car was something of an improvement over Howard's Austin A40 Devon Estate car that we'd used on an earlier trip.)

 

 

Some year's later, the view remains the same but the car has moved on... and that was 15 years ago.

 

 

On 28 June, after our day up Suilven, we drove via Ullapool to the remote location of Slaggan Bay. This included the first of many pauses in journeys for me at the Corrieshalloch Gorge, where the car park always seems to be full of chaffinches ready to mop up any crumbs - there were quite a few of those on this occasion by the look of it!

 

 

Here's our camp at Slaggan, I think the tents are almost visible in the picture of the bay below.

 

 

 

From here, on 29 June, we took a stroll to Greenstone Point, and we watched otters frolicking in Slaggan Bay.

I'm not normally a 'Poser', but I do remember setting up this self-timed picture. It may have been in my 'Zorki 4' camera period.

 

 

On 30 June we had a day out to An Teallach, which we got part way up before Jim's ambition to become a Waterworks Engineer took precedence over any mountain climbing objective.

 

 

1 July saw us heading down to Glencoe, via Inverness, and of course via the Ballachulish Ferry, there being no bridge in those days. We stayed at the Red Squirrel site, as on future visits.

 

 

We ambled around on 2 July, here beside the River Coe, with the intimidating ridge of Aonach Eagach unavailable due to a cloak of cloud. [Neil adds: We, Neil, Martin, Robin, hired a small yacht on Loch Leven for an hour or so.]

 

 

We drove to Glasgow on 3 July, and then on 4 July I must have got a lift to Brampton, where in a call to my parents I discovered that I'd failed my biochemistry finals.

 

 

Never mind. I got the train home to Guisborough, and after a few months as a fork lift truck driver at the Blackett Hutton steel foundry, I (re-)learnt the metabolic pathways that provided the certificate which gained me a position as an Articled Clerk (£70 a month - wow!) with the firm of accountants where I spent the rest of my working career.

 

Later: here are three more pictures, perhaps taken by me, but supplied by Jim:

 

At the Inverpolly campsite

Neil 'climbing'

At the Red Squirrel campsite in Glencoe

 

 

 

 

Even later, here are some more pictures, provided this time by Robin. Thanks Robin.

 

 Cape Wrath

 

 Dam building at Slaggan

 

 Falls of Kirkaig

 

 Neil on Rubha Mor

 

 Smoo Cave

Saturday 27 June 1970 - Suilven

 

I apologise on at least three counts:

 

1. The dilatory nature of this report, 2. the lack of colour (I may have some colour slides somewhere, but probably not), and 3. the poor quality of the scanned pictures (albeit much improved thanks to Photoshop, as the silk paper on which they were printed leaves lots of small white dots and other imperfections when scanned).

 

I'm pleased to report that all my companions on this trip are alive and well, and I thank Anne Butler for putting me in touch with Robin. The other members of the party were Neil, Jim and Cath. I hope you all enjoy this short report, and the Dropbox file for the entire trip, via a separate link. I'll probably do a further posting with just one or two images from each day.

 

Note that you can click on any of the pictures to view a slideshow.

 

We started from the camping spot (I'm not sure whether the term 'site' applies [see below, I think it does apply]) at Inverkirkaig*, soon rising above the tents and the coast, as viewed above. After a little over 3 km we reached the Falls of Kirkaig.

 

 

Soon after that we got our first view towards our objective. It looked very high. I hadn't been up it before. Nor, I think, had the others.

 

 

The path doubled back to get around Fionn Loch, which provided a pleasing foreground for the mountain.

 

 

It's not a short walk in.

 

 

Time for a brew, before the steep ascent to Bealach Mor, which at about 560 metres lies between the mountain's two summits.

 

 

Having reached the col, we set about ascending the lower of the summits, Meall Meadhonach (723 metres), resting here before the final scramble to the top. [I'll leave it to Neil to describe his feelings!]

 

 

The next picture on my film (films offered a finite number of pictures in those days, and in order to avoid running out of film, careful rationing of pictures was necessary) shows Robin on the top of the higher summit, Caisteal Liath (731 metres).

 

 

Looking back to Meall Meadhonach, you get an impression of the excitement offered by this mountain, despite its modest height.

 

 

Back at or near the col, another brew stop. That primus is still somewhere amongst my camping gear, I think.

 

 

It started to rain. Stac Pollaidh was just about visible through the mist.

 

 

We descended to the north, very steeply at first, returning to camp via Lochinver, where I suspect we succumbed to 'ample refreshments'.

 

 

The circuit we took is shown below. It's about 30 km, with around 1500 metres of ascent. A longish day out. This trip formed a template in my mind, and all my subsequent ascents of Suilven (so far as I can recall - none is recent) have been by this same route, usually with me leaving my companions in the pub in Lochinver whilst I jogged back to Inverkirkaig to collect the car!

 

 

I hope that Jim and Cath, Robin, and Neil all enjoy these reminiscences, and feel free to provide additional comments (and corrections?) based on your own memories.

 

* Neil comments: The lady owner charged 1/- (shilling). When we asked was that 1/- each she said "No, just a shilling." [Wow, what a memory!]