Chippings
CLIMBING IN CLEVELAND. — That portion of the North Yorkshire Moors known as the Cleveland Hills had never, up to the last war, received much attention from the rock climber. There were of course the odd exceptions like E.E. Roberts, Barker and Evans, who in their solitary wanderings planned and executed routes on the virgin rocks they found ; but on the whole this paradise was spared the molestations of the multitude. This state of affairs remained until about 1950 when members of the post-war climbing generation, swept along by the general surge to the hills, sought an outlet for their pent-up energy nearer home than the Napes Ridges. They found it on their doorstep.
The obvious place to go was Wainstones because, except for a three quarter hour’s walk, it is easy of access from public transport. These rocks lie on the west end of Hasty Bank which is just beyond Great Broughton, near Stokesley. Given Grid Reference 558034, O.S. Sheet 92 a Yorkshire Rambler will locate them no matter what the weather. The rock is of sandstone and there are about 30 climbs of all standards from which to choose. The average length of climbing is 35 feet, the rock is clean and offers holds and routes very akin in character to those of Lakeland climbs. They are friendly rocks and there is no better place to be on a summer’s eve.
Little more than five minutes’ walk from the Wainstones along Hasty Bank is the escarpment known as Ravenscar. This crag has been developed only recently, such development being in no small measure due to the herculean efforts of “bulldozer” Wharldall, who personally removed many tons of earth and loose rock from its ledges. These rocks, facing north lying at a high angle and offering climbs up to 85 feet, are a tough proposition. Yet their very aspect is a challenge to the bold which cannot be ignored and, although only 14 routes are recorded to date, there is no doubt that many more remain to be done. The view across the Vale of Cleveland is superb and, on one memorable occasion, the writer found himself above the clouds on Ravenscar.
The more aristocratic possessed of private transport naturally sought pastures more remote. Their destination lay through the village of Swainby along sleepy Scugdale until, opposite Scugdale Hall, on Scot Crags, Barker’s Crags and Stony Wicks, they found solitude. They also found 150 climbs facing into the sun. The rocks here, although of the same composition as those aforementioned, are entirely different in character. The holds are small and many of the climbs are strenuous, the average height of 25 feet is often thankfully regarded as enough.
These are the main outcrops, but others which cannot escape mention are Park Nab above Kildale, Eston Nab (Eston) and High Cliff near Guisborough. Such is the interest now shown in all these groups that it only remains to be said that certain members of the Cleveland Mountaineering Club have been sufficiently inspired to compile a guide to the climbs in Cleveland now published and reviewed in the later pages of this Journal.
Maurice Wilson.
HIMALAYAN TRAVELLER BURIED IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. — The acquisition by the Club Library of Kenneth Mason’s “Abode of Snow,” published by Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955 at 25s., a book which will undoubtedly become a standard work of reference, is doubly interesting to students of Himalayan history and of the Lake District.
A book of the same name (‘Abode of Snow’ but with the definite article prefixed) was written by Andrew Wilson in 1875 and published by Blackwood and Sons ; a second edition quickly-followed. Alpine Journal VII contains a lengthy review of this at pages 338 to 342 by internal evidence written by D.W. Freshfield, who was the Editor of the A.J. at that time (1876). It is a great pity that Mason makes no reference to this book or to its author.
Wilson was not a climber and in fact latterly was a semi-invalid. He was the son of John Wilson (1804-1875) who, with his wife, was a noted missionary in India and was the founder of education for women in India. Both father and son figure at considerable length in the Dictionary of National Biography.
The son was a well-known journalist in India and also in China and travelled and wrote a great deal ; much of his work appeared in Blackwood. He spent the last years of his life at Howtown, Ullswater, and his grave, bearing the mention of his “The Abode of Snow,” is on the south side of the Old Church of St. Martin in Martindale. He was born in 1831 and died in 1881.
W. Allsup.
WETHERLAM LARGE SCALE O.S. SHEET PLACE-NAME ” HEN TOR.” — This is properly Hen Tab in dialect, i.e. “a Hen’s Toe” from the shape of the forked gill below. In this instance the gill is actually named Hen Foot Beck (O.S. 125,000 Sheet 35/20.).
This has been carefully checked by old Coniston residents of whom two generations were miners and quarrymen, and they are quite definite on this point. Also confirmed by J. Coulton, a pre-1914 Barrow/Coniston climber who farmed Cockely Beck in the nineteen twenties.
For a similar place-name see Y.R.C. Journal, Vol.11 page 344 where, in a review of L.J. Oppenheimer’s “The Heart of Lakeland,” T. Gray, the then Editor, criticised the new name of “Bowfell Buttress,” stating that an old local name similar to the Wetherlam instance already existed.
There are no “Tors” in the actual Lake District ; a Torpenhow and a Cleator exist on the fringes as place names for villages. See English Place-Name Society ” Cumberland” Volume Nos. XXI and XXII.
W. Allsup.
TWO RAMBLERS ON THE SAME PAGE OF THE TIMES.—Oliver Stonehouse sent us a cutting from a page of The Times of Tuesday, 13 th March, 1956, and asked if this was a record.
At the head of the page is a photograph of five men with beards standing by a station wagon talking to two men without beards. Under the photograph is the caption —
“Bearded students from Oxford and Cambridge who left London last September by car on a journey to Singapore and back being greeted on their arrival in Singapore. From the left they are T.P. Slessor, W.H.M. Nott, J.A. Cowell, P.J. Murphy (partly hidden by a well-wisher), and N. Newbery.”
The double column immediately below this picture carries the headline —
SETTLING IN ON SOUTH GEORGIA
Survey Expedition’s Preparations for Plateau Journey
and near the bottom of the first column is the passage :—
“This meant that Bomford (first surveyor) and Spenceley (photographer) would be able to make an acclimatisation trip with Captain Hauge of the sealer Albatross next time she was in, and that we could all count on being put ashore at the head of Fortuna Bay early in October for the start of the Kohl-Larsen plateau journey.”
H.G.W.
GOUFFRE BERGER, DEEPEST POT-HOLE. — France has produced a cavern to beat the Dent de Crolles of Chevalier and Pierre St. Martin of Loubens. It is not far from Grenoble, its waters running to Sassenage, four miles off and is near the wild gorges of Engins, on the plateau of Sornin-en-Vercors.
It is called after its discoverer and first assailant, M. Jo Berger. The Grenoble men have delivered assaults of a type which make ours into child’s play. In July, 1955, nine nights were spent underground. The first was at 500 m. (1,640 feet), reached in six to eight hours over prepared ground, and tackle ran out at 900 m. (2,953 feet) on the 8th day.
In August, 1956, even more nights were endured and the water was pursued to an impasse by MM. Potie, Schneider, Gorby and Aldo at 1,135 m. (3,724 feet). Incredible! A rather vague account with superb pictures appears in the Paris-Match of 22nd September 1956.
A furious dispute has arisen between Grenoble and Lyons, the Maire d’ Engins having forbidden access to the latter.
Revision of Depths.
La Preta was re-explored by the Mabans in 1954 and 26 m. added, but the total depth was knocked down from 637 m. to 594 m. (1,949 feet.).
The difference in level of the Dent de Crolles Cavern is from 1,333 m. (1953 survey) at Guiers Mort to 1,936 m. at the top as surveyed, net 602 m. (1,978 feet) some 50 m. less than estimated. C.N.S. Bulletin, 4th yr. No. 4.
One must expect that the Gouffre Berger will suffer later reduction but such cannot affect the massive figure seriously.
E.E.R.
LARGE PARTIES. — Safe as the mountains can be in the best of weather, the enthusiasts who tempt novices in bands on high mountains always run the risk of losing one or two. The sad results of 28 instead of 29 at tea in Glen Nevis, and of a School excursion to Scafell are fresh in memory.
The Christmas 1954 disaster on Ben Nevis emphasises how truly Alpine the great Mountain can be. Such conditions insist that the parties be small, independent, and each with a leader going his own way. The great East slope of the Ben is easily found if the N.E. Buttress is given a wide berth, but while the main slope will go well, the slopes leading from it down to the left into Corrie Lias must be expected to be hard and require cutting, though they may look ideal for glissading.
E.E.R.