Chippings
Rescue Organization. — The accident in Gingling Hole might have had grave results, but for the happy chance that an experienced and determined party of some size was found at the first shot. Sixteen or seventeen men in all had to be called on to assist before the rescue was completed. Such an accident, though it could not have occurred in a more desperate place—Sunset Hole in 1910 was a simple problem in comparison—might have happened on Sunday afternoon, and every appeal have met with no response till a late hour.
The Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club could not avoid some responsibility for the present day popularity of cave exploring, and felt bound to support the view of the Northern Cavern & Fell Club, that something would have to be done, a view to which police officials gave hearty assent.
In February, 1935, these clubs with the Gritstone Club, Craven Pot-hole Club, Moor and Fell Club, Leeds Cave Club, Giggleswick School, and the Settle Division St. John’s Ambulance, formed the Central Rescue Organization.
Chairman and Treasurer : E. E. Roberts, 12, Southway, Harrogate.
Secretary: C. Downham, Kern Knotts, Stanhill, Accrington, for 1935.
Rescue Wardens :
N. Thornber, Rock House, Settle (Secretary 1936).
Tot. Lord, Settle.
R. Hainsworth, Moorgarth Hall, Ingleton. G. Wilson, Kern Knotts, Stainforth, Settle.
Settle S.J.A.B. Secretary: A. Beresford, Victoria Street, Settle.
With the expert assistance of Mr. Foster, Settle S.J.A.B., and Mr. Windle, Northern C. & F.C., a Neil Robertson Hammock Stretcher, surgical haversack, and other articles, were bought and placed in care of the Settle Division at the Drill Hall. The S.J.A.B. will provide blankets.
Procedure.—The police have the addresses of the four Rescue Wardens, and several telephone numbers for each club, the School and the S.J.A.B.
The first action, in case of necessity, is to inform the police
at Settle, who will hunt out a Rescue Warden to get an estimate of what numbers to call for from each club. The police will then telephone accordingly (and can call on the local police to send out a man). They will approach a doctor.
Should necessity arise in outlying districts, the best course is to call on the local police to telephone the Settle police, who will consult the Rescue Wardens as above.
It will be obvious that even if the Wardens know where to find a party at work in the district, men may find themselves on returning from a day’s outing called on for a night drive to take up the work in the early hours under the man they will find in charge. The sport has had a long spell of immunity, only five accidents in all are known to me, and the more men take up the study of First Aid, the better.
Do or Die. — Accidents are inevitable and have to be faced, but both on the hills and on the roads they are appalling in number and character. Mountaineering is being pursued abroad in a ” do or die ” spirit, frankly as a training for war, and formidable will be the leadership of the officers so trained.
The use of pitons seems to pot-holers unfair to the sport, unless no single route can be forced up a peak. Any fool can steeplejack up anywhere in a week or so, and it would seem that to-day people enjoy miserable bivouacs. The suggestion of the President of the Alpine Club that no piton route counts will, no doubt, be taken up by the British.
Many of the occurrences at home are most painful. It is one of the sad things in our sport that rash people are led to underestimate the British hills by the nonchalant way in which men, often alone, but fully equipped and with experience, wander about them in the worst of weather. The death in 1934 within 40 minutes of Wasdale Head and the deaths in the Cairngorms, probably due to insufficient clothing, were very sad, but the recent case of exposure for four nights within three or four miles of thronged roads and valleys is almost incredible.
We think that those who establish Youth Hostels in places like Black Sail and Glen Brittle have a great moral responsibility for attracting the reckless into places which can require hard struggling.
The Technique of Alpine Mountaineering.—Under this title the Association of British Members of the Swiss Alpine Club has adapted and published a translation of a little book issued by the Uto Section. Now that Claude Wilson’s Mountaineering is out of print and almost unknown, young climbers will find here in a handy form, information which is at present to be found only by perusing large volumes. Copies may be obtained from Mr. George Anderson, 32, Victoria Street, London, S.W.i, price 2/6, post free.
Place Names of the North Riding. — Under this title the English Place-Name Society published in 1928, their fifth volume, an authoritative and laborious survey, mainly the work of a single scholar, Mr. A. H. Smith. Since then the volumes have expanded enormously in scope, workers supplying much more thorough lists for each district. The twelfth volume, Essex, is twice the size of the North Riding book, and two counties, Devon and Sussex, have required two volumes each.
When the West Riding is reached it will be necessary to tackle the place-names of the Pennines much more thoroughly, and it would seem that an addition to the North Riding work will become necessary. In the Keld region, for example, we cannot find Kisdon, Nine Standards, Tailbrigg, Tan Hill, Uldale, Stockdale, Whitsundale, Swinnergill, Punchard Gill, Aygill, Catrake, Hollow Mill Cross, Lamps Moss, Blue John. We could add to this from Goathland, etc. The Scarth of Scaith can be solved by means of the vocabulary of main elements.
The North Riding was the first area where a Danish army settled, to be followed by waves of Norwegians from the N.W. The evidence of study emphasizes the admixture of Irish with the latter, one of the facts so conveniently forgotten by those who talk glibly of the ” Celtic fringe.”
Any number of interesting points could be selected,— Aysgarth once contained k, so that the first syllable is ” oak,” Hambledon has not a satisfactory solution yet, and it is hard to see how ” bruff ” and ” borough ” can both come down from burh, a fort,
Afforestation. — The Friends of the Lake District have vigorously attacked the proposals of the Forestry Commission to plant firs in Upper Eskdale. It is a sad thing that the only woodland it pays to plant is a pfnetum, though one is always hearing that the world is threatened with a famine in hardwoods. Nevertheless there are many tracts of the country where woods of fir, spruce, or larch are to be preferred to no trees at all, where even the bushes seem to be exterminated. Upper Teesdale is one case, contrasting with the Alston side, and in Lakeland there can be no denying that the plantations are going to turn Whinlatter Pass into a glorious sight, instead of a bare, unnatural one.
Many people are quite angry about the young woods in Ennerdale which they seem to think is a dale of abnormal height above sea which ought to be kept bare and bleak. Much of it is quite low and even at Black Sail foot it does not reach the height of Braemar or Alston. We should all prefer, if it could have been, to have seen Ennerdale covered with scrub and scattered groups of trees, but many of us have seen’ too striking a resemblance to a valley from which the blight of industrialism has been recently withdrawn and welcome the planter who brings the trees again.
Exactly what is objected to in Upper Eskdale I do not know, but there is a great deal of it that planting of any kind must improve. What worries me is whether sufficient rides will be left to enable one to get at the fells, and to prevent ridiculous charges of damage, caused by stupidity of lay-out. Glen Nevis looks delightful in the spring nowadays with drifts of green on the larch woods, but it is very difficult to get down into.
Warned Off. — In consequence of some strong remarks about the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club made by the proprietor of the Blue John Cavern to Platten in September, 1934, the Editor and Platten at once interviewed him. Very definite and specific charges were made that after failing to find Trey Cliff Cave in the dark in April, 1933, the Y.R.C. men went along to Blue John Mine and broke in doing damage to the extent of ten pounds. Vague charges were also made against other clubs, including the Alpine Club ! Enquiry was at once made of the men involved, and a stiff letter was sent to the proprietor by the Secretary. Probably acting under legal advice, he denied having ever made any charge against the Yorkshire Ramblers. Chadwick had a scorching letter in hand, but owing to his unfortunate illness, it was so delayed that the matter was dropped.
The afternoon after our painful interview, Platten and I went to see Poole’s Cavern, Buxton. On being asked if there was a plan for sale, and then if a party would be allowed to explore the cavern, this proprietor became, first indignant, and then truculent. From a curious previous experience, I am inclined to think there is a second entrance to Poole’s Cavern on other property.
People should be very careful in dealing with both these men, or they may find themselves in difficulties.
A fortnight later I called on one Guy, at a house named The Caves, Banwell (Somerset) and left him a nice note asking permission to view the well known cave in his garden. He did not reply.
At Easter, 1935, the Club found that the eight bedrooms engaged early at the Victoria Hotel, Buttermere, had been let, and would have had a good case for legal proceedings.
Before going to Somerset last autumn I wrote for leave to explore the worth-while part of Gough’s Cave, Cheddar, and was refused. The Manager added, ” We are doing a good deal of work and for obvious reasons it is not desired that information should leak out.” The artificial character of Gough’s Cave, contrasted with Cox’s, has been a joke for nearly thirty years, and we can now imagine people casting stalactites in some patent material, for what else can there be to hide !
To crown this dismal catalogue, to the undisguised delight of my companions I was refused entrance to White Scar this January.
Compass Deviation.—It is not so easy as is generally assumed to discover the exact difference between magnetic bearing and true bearing for any particular place. The officers of the Royal Magnetic Observatory, Abinger, Surrey
(not at Greenwich) have courteously given much information, and supplied the correction to be added for Ingleborough to the Greenwich figures for each year to be found in Whitaker’s Almanack.
Survey of 1891, + 1° 50′ further W. than Greenwich.
” ” 1915, + 1° 49′
” ” 1925, + 1° 48′
A list for Abinger is 14′ up on Greenwich.
Gowing has calculated the following deviations for Ingleborough, correct to the nearest five minutes :—
| 1895 . . 18° 45′ W. 1900 . . 18° 20′ 1905 .. 18°0′ 1910 .. 17° 30′ 1915 .. 16° 50′ |
| | | | | |
1920 . . 16° 0′ 1925 .. 15° 0′ 1930 .. 14° 0′ 1935 .. 13° 0′ 1940 .. 12° 10′ |
Admiralty Chart 3,755 gives the lines of equal deviation in 1932 for the Atlantic Ocean and Europe. There appears to be no similar map on a larger scale for this country, in which the variation remains constant along lines running roughly S.W. and N.E.
Assuming the decrease, which is fortunately much the same for the places chosen, remains at 10′ or n’, deviations at the following places in 1940 will be (values for 1932 in brackets) roughly :—
| Coolins . . 15° (16½°) Ben Nevis 14½° (16°) Kendal .. 12½° (14°) London .. 10¼° (11¾°) Corsica .. 5¼° (6¾°) Bergen .. 9½° (11°) |
| | | | | | |
Edinburgh,Lochnagar .. 13½° (15°) Snowdon, Lakes. . 13° (14½°) Leeds, Whitby .. 11½° (13°) Berne . . . . 6° (7½°) Pyrenees, 8° to 9½° (9½°to 11°) Horungtinder . . 7½° (9°) |
Personal. — Allsup, who should be home in May on leave from Assam, has published Notes on Walking round Shillong (87 pp., 1 rupee).
Pilkington-Rogers has presented his book, Days on Dartmoor, 1930, to the Library, but, though the title under which it was catalogued might suggest it, he has been neither warder nor schoolmaster at the prison.
The tail-pieces of pot-holing we owe to Yates.