Chippings
WHERE DID HANNIBAL CROSS THE ALPS? Rudolf Fischer, Die Alpen, 2nd Quarter 1969 p. 65, makes a study of the writings of Polybios, 2nd cent. B.C., and Livy, 1st cent A.D., both probably taken from a lost source, Silenos, who accompanied Hannibal. He concludes that Hannibal, in the autumn of 218 B.C. left the Rhone in the neighbourhood of Valence, followed the Isere as far as Pontcharra, passed through La Rochette and over the Col du Grand Cucheron into the Valley of the Arc, and so up the Maurienne through Modane to Bramans. Here he had to leave the valley, because the Gauls rolled rocks on to his army from the heights, and keep to the high ground south of the Ambin valley, which he crossed at Le Planey. Leaving the Col du Petit Mont Cenis (2182 m) to the north-east he followed the Savine valley to a little lake where he rested two days to await his baggage train. Of all the passes that historians have named as probable, it is almost certain that the actual crossing was over the Col de Savine-Coche (2,520 m) which separates the valleys of the Savine and the Giaglione and from which Hannibal could look down into the plain of the Po. Thence to Susa his infantry followed the Giaglione while the pack animals and elephants had to pass over high ground to the south to avoid an impassable rock-fall in the valley. The whole crossing from Pontcharra to Susa took 15 days and half the army was lost on the way, leaving him with 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry.
THE DANGER OF LIGHTNING IN THE MOUNTAINS. Alvin E. Peters, Les Alpes, 2nd Qr. 1969 p. 119. Although according to the statistics lightning does not constitute a major climbing danger, it is as well to know where and how lightning may strike, and to take certain elementary precautions. The article, with 8 diagrams, describes how best the climber should place himself so as to avoid or minimise the danger of being struck. This article is a translation into French of one which originally appeared in the American Alpine Journal.
GAELIC NAMES. The authors of articles on Scotland may feel surprise, or even indignation, when they find that in the printed Journal their spelling of Gaelic names have been brutally handled. The Hon Editor should perhaps explain that he makes a point of checking the name of any Scottish mountain more than 2,500 feet high in Munro’s Tables, 1953, edition and of adopting Munro’s spelling. It is appropriate to quote from page 11 of this work:
“The Ordnance Survey spelling, even when obviously wrong, is always followed, as it is considered that the Tables to be of practical use must correspond with the standard maps”. As is well-known the O.S. spelling is very incorrect, the same word being often spelt in different ways, even on the same sheet. The names, too, in the O.S. often differ from those locally used. Wherever a name is given on the O.S. map, however, it has been retained in the Tables.”
Climber and Rambler, Vol. 8, No. 11, Nov. 1969, contains a ski-ing supplement. R. Rickard describes 3 areas of Scotland, Cairngorm, Glencoe, Spey Valley and Glenshee, illustrated by clear maps.
BEARS IN THE VAUDOIS ALPS. Die Alpen, for the 4th quarter of 1969, contains a suggestion by Daniel Ruchet that bears should be re-established in the more remote regions of Canton Vaud. He points out that the Alpine bear, Ursus Arctos, never deliberately attacks man, unless a foolish approach is made to its young. It feeds on such small things as ants, wood-worms, grubs and grass. It is only 133 years since the last bear was killed in Vaud, and in the Jura north of Geneva, three were shot in 1851.
APOLOGY. In No. 34 of this Journal, facing page 253, to illustrate an article entitled Cave Exploration in South Wales, a preliminary survey was included of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu II and III. The Hon. Editor very much regrets that no acknowledgement was made to the South Wales Caving Club by whom this survey was prepared and trusts that they will accept his apology for this unfortunate omission.
DECIMATION OF THE MONROS. A fringe benefit of metrication could be a shortened course for the peak baggers of the British
Isles. Multiplying mountain heights in feet by point 3048 to convert to altitudes in metres applied to Monro’s Tables for Scotland leaves 130 separate mountains included among 239 tops over 1,000 metres. The remaining one thousanders are four in Wales and two in Ireland.
SLOPE. Another result of Europeanisation concerns capital letter C. 10°C should be called ten degrees Celsius in distinction from ten degrees centigrade which means a gradient of ten in a hundred.
CHAMPION COMMUTER. A former member of the Club has done the Marsden-Edale walk more than one hundred times — for a bet “dinner on the house” at an inn in Edale, though, sad to relate, the free dinner did not materialise owing to a change of tenancy. Wear and tear has necessitated the renewal of a hip joint with a plastic implant, but our hero vowed that he would have Christmas dinner at Edale.
SECOND ASCENT by J. H. Hooper. The climb really started at the top of the vertical red wall after a slight overhang. The angle was easy, a mere forty-five degrees, but after about eight feet on good holds progress halted. Although the angle remained the same now every slight ledge was undercut; not a hold in sight, just a smooth expanse sloping upward.
The only chance now of gaining the summit was by a narrow ridge leading at an angle to my present route. A traverse of a few feet relying on the friction of the gritty surface and I was astride the ridge, but still no holds. Only smooth roundness! The only way upwards was by gripping the ridge between my knees, feet, and hands. At last after several more feet in this manner the summit ridge was attained, and there on the final stack marking the first ascent of the ridge was the aluminium pole with one strand hanging from it.
Standing upright now I could see under the clear blue sky Great Whernside and Buckden Pike; ninety degrees east lay the White Horse of Kilburn and the Yorkshire Moors.
Now grasping the pole with one hand I realised I had the answer to the question, “Why do we climb?” It was, “To remove my television aerial which the wind damaged last night!”
The moral to this narration is: if any fellow Rambler wishes to climb to his chimney stack let him first procure a roof ladder which reaches all the way to the ridge, because descending is more terrifying than ascending.
BLAYSHAW GILL POT (Nidderdale). A trip down this rather interesting pothole in early March 1969 by D. R. Smith and J. R. Middleton resulted in an extension of about 100 metres to the middle series. After moving a few boulders at the end a way into the stream was found and after a tight crawl a long section of hands and knees crawling and stooping led to a siphon. Several small cross rifts bisected the passage. No signs of previous exploration could be found and in the absence of any survey we could only presume this to be new.
RISKS IN DAILY LIFE. In an assessment of the risks of nuclear power plants in Physics Today (v. 23 No. 5 p. 32) Dr. W. H. Jordan of Oak Ridge National Laboratory quotes the following table:
| Type of risk | Death rate per 10° hr (about 60 y) of exposure |
| Riding in a private car (USA) | 0.95 |
| Riding on railroads and buses | 0.08 |
| Flying on a scheduled airline | 2.4 |
| Riding on a motorcycle | 6.6 |
| Death due to disease, old age | 1.0 |
| Smoking cigarettes | 1.2 |
| Rock climbing | 40.0 |
| Radiation at rate of 5 rem/y (extrapolated linearly from experiments at high-dose rate) | 0.05 |
TAFF FECHAN. Mountaineering, Vol. V. No. 5, 1969. contains a supplement by Peter Leyshon and Cledwyn Jones describing in detail the 37 climbs on Taff Fechan. The map reference is Sheet 141 of the 1″ O.S., Brecon, SO.062104. Diagrams by Elaine Jones and Peter Leyshon.
GLENBRITTLE (same number). R. H. Stainforth gives some valuable advice to all intending to use the Hut in Glenbrittle But Comment; he was Hut Warden in May and September, 1968.
SCOTTISH CLIMBING CLUB HUTS. Mountaineering, Vol. V. No. 6, 1969, page 41, gives a list of 13 Huts and 4 Bothies in Scotland which the A.S.C.C. are prepared to make available to other A.S.C.C. and B.M.C. Clubs when not required by their own members. Full details are included.
LOCH CORUISK. The S.M.C. Journal, May 1969, contains a salutary editorial resume of the Coruisk affair.
W. C. SLINGSBY. In Die Alpen, 3rd quarter, 1969, there is a commemorative article by H. H. Ther, of Ulm, on Cecil Slingsby, “the father of Norwegian Alpinism”, “a man who remains almost unknown among us, but whose name ought to be equated with those of Whymper and Mummery.”