2011 newsletter - The Alpine Ski Club

NEWS
AUTUMN 2011
Neal Gwynne
does a little
ice-bouldering
in Greenland
'
President’s Foreword
Our January meet in the Southern
Dolomites was very enjoyable and
attracted 20 members and guests.
The dinner and AGM last November, at the Old Dungeon Gill hotel
in Langdale went well, with an entertaining speech from our guest speaker, Club member Steve Goodwin,
who reminisced by pulling a few
skeletons from the cupboards of
memory.
During the last year membership
continued to grow slowly. The committee thinks that full membership
should be granted to those who have
‘served their apprenticeship’ in
unguided ski mountaineering. This
makes recruitment a bit more
demanding but our Aspirant system
provides a stepping stone towards
acquisition of the experience which
is our requirement for full membership. I urge all our aspirants to apply
for full membership as soon as they
have a proposer and the requisite
independent ski touring cv.
Ours is an old Club with history
and traditions but these alone are not
enough to sustain recruitment of
active ski mountaineers. Our Spring
and Autumn lecture soirées have
served us well but if the Club is to
thrive, more is needed. Clubs recruit
by their reputation. Be active, enjoy
your ski mountaineering and tell
others about it through short reports
in the ASC Newsletter, blogs, articles, lectures and tall stories in pubs.
We now have a new stock of club pin
badges showing skis and a slightly
more modern ice axe.
The ASC is above all a club for
amateurs. Our activities are member
driven and member organised. Our
reputation depends on what we do
in the mountains. I frequently meet
ski-mountaineers who complain how
difficult it is to find satisfactory
company for a trip. The future of the
ASC lies in ‘facilitating’ (to use the
fashionable word) contacts. For that,
we need volunteers to co-ordinate
meets in the Alps and elsewhere.
This Club’s members do not need
‘leaders’ but we do need meet convenors and group coordinators.
The system of alternating the
AGM-dinner event between London
and venues in the hills helps us to
keep in touch with members who
live beyond the ‘home counties’. The
vexed question remains, whether
black tie? Although it worked well
in the streets of Mürren for our
centenary celebrations, is this the
correct dress for a drink in the ODG
bar? Please communicate your opinions on this important topic by
responding to the questionnaire
which has circulated.
Now an appeal:. The Club’s
autumn dinner regularly causes problems. In recent years, the event has
been preceded by phone calls to
‘drum up’ support. Even those who
attend regularly sometimes leave
confirmation until later than necessary. The financial and logistical
arrangements have to be made
months in advance. To leave your
decision about whether to attend
until the last minute is unfair and
makes life for the organiser more
stressful than necessary. The dinner
Our new president demonstrating
the heel-pivot turn
Contents
ASC Meets..........................3
Members’ Tours.................5
Grants................................10
Members’ News................14
Forthcoming Events.........20
is arranged for you, as Members. If
you are not interested in the event,
please let me know and we will
modify our program accordingly.
Should we find that the dinner this
year does not have enough spontaneous support a couple of weeks
beforehand, we will review the viability of the event for next year.
There are many more useful things
for the Club to do with your subscriptions than to use them to subsidise a poorly supported social
function.
Congratulations to our long-standing member, Jeremy Whitehead who,
after a long career of ski mountaineering, was skiing 4000 metre peaks
during his 80th birthday celebrations
in April. Sadly, we have lost our
long-standing member and outstanding ski mountaineer, Alan Blackshaw. Alan’s ski mountaineering
activities, notably his traverse of the
Alps, is the stuff of legend. He will
be missed.
Finally, I would like to thank our
officers, committee and helpers for
all the work they put in behind the
scenes to make the ASC’s programme of activities possible.
John McMM
2
ASC Meets
Boat skiing in Norway 26 Feb – 5 Mar 2011
“How do you fancy boat skiing in
Norway?” The phone call was
from Robert my long time “skibuddy”. Over the years we have
shared many skiing adventures –
Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia (the Altai),
Lebanon, Morocco (Toubkal),
Japan (Hokkaido),
Kashmir
(Gulmarg), not to mention the
Pyrenees and the Alps.
ton, assembled in Trømso for our
week’s ski-touring in the Norwegian fjords. Among other things,
we had been promised and were
hoping for: “skiing up to 1,300
vertical meters of untracked snow
overlooking the sea” and the interesting prospect of: “traversing a
mountain, from fjord to fjord, with
the accommodation sailing around
sacks were lowered off the side and
it sped the 150m to shore with the
first of the group. It made two
more trips ferrying the party
ashore, each person having first
donned the obligatory life jacket
(though how effective it would
have been countering the full
weight of clothing and ski-boots I
don’t know) and then climbed
Our treasurer
surveying the
scene
“Well, I’ve never skied on a boat
but, as you know, I’ll try anything
once” was my reply. “No – stupid,
we’ll be based on a two mast
schooner, tour the Lyngen Alps,
land wherever we feel like it to
climb whatever takes our fancy.
But if you want to come you’ll
have to join the ASC.” Notwithstanding that in general my attitude
towards clubs is the same as
Groucho Marx’s, application form
completed and dispatched, some
weeks later Robert called again to
tell me that, having told a waivering committee that I had saved his
life not just once, but twice, I was
now an elected member of the
ASC. I was also signed up for
“boat skiing in Norway”.
Our party of 10, led by 5 times
Everest summiteer David Hamil-
3
to meet the group”.
“Skis and ski-boots stay on deck,
the ski-books in the forward deck
lockers. Below it’s always deck
shoes off – socks or slippers only.
Stow your kit neatly – this small
space can easily become a pig-sty
without some personal discipline.
You must wear a life jacket when
using the Zodiac to go ashore.
Make sure you sign for your drinks.
Oh, and by the way – the weather
forecast is not great.” Our briefing
over, we set sail and tucked in to a
delicious meal prepared by the
captain and owner of the S/Y
Goxsheim (www.gox.no), Charles
Wara, a good cook as well as very
competent skipper.
Skiing day one did go to plan –
well almost. After breakfast the
Zodiac was launched, skis and
gingerly down the ladder on the
side of the swaying boat into the
Zodiac.
Despite the heavy snow caused
by unseasonably warm weather and
recent rain, we had a pleasant
ascent, initially in blue sky visibility, through quite densely packed
trees that grew increasingly sparse
and gave way to open slopes. The
higher we got the cloudier it got
and the stronger the wind became
- a foretaste of things to come. As
a result we were turned back from
our modest summit objective and
returned to the shore and waiting
Zodiac after a pretty cruddy
descent, but some great views
And then it snowed…. And
snowed ….. And snowed. Not
benign vertical snow but vicious
horizontal blizzardy snow. In an
effort to find something do-able
we motored from mooring to
anchorage and back but despite
the skipper and David’s best
efforts we were forced to spend 3
whole days holed up below with
each other for company and a
whisky bottle for comfort.
We did get out a couple of times
for short excursions up sheltered
gullies but no summits and certainly no rendezvous with the boat
in the fjord on the other side of the
mountain. On our last day despite
starting off in heavy snow - mercifully vertical, the weather cleared
enough for us to enjoy a couple of
short descents in excellent deep
powder. A taste of what it could
have been like had we been luckier
with the weather…..
The party consisted of Roger
Upton, Mary Ann Edwards,
Gordon Nuttall, Richard Symes,
Stuart Gallagher, John Fairley,
Mike Esten, Patrick Bird, David
Hamilton and myself. And Robert?
Well, suffering from a bad back he
never made it – maybe he knew
something that we didn’t..…
Harley Nott
PS. In Armenia 6 weeks later the same thing
happened. High winds and blizzards for 8
days. Maybe 2011 just wasn’t my year. HN
Moena (South Dolomites) 22-29 January 2011
A sizable party of members and
guests, 20 in final total, assembled
at Hotel Cavalletto. Keith’s late
arrival, during supper followed a
difference of opinion with an
Italian train guard. In the course
of the week, sub-groups tackled
tours from many starting points.
In addition, some ski-ed the Sella
Ronda circuit, once or in some
cases, twice.
We began with Ponte Ciadine
(2885m) and Monte Le Saline,
climbed in sunshine from Passo
San Pellegrino. Next we drove to
Passo di Valles and rode the Sussy
lifts to Col Margherita on the
Costabella ridge where we were
met by the kind of wind one might
encounter in the Cairngorms in
winter. A hardy band of 6 set out
along the ridge. The two kilometre
ridge to the Juribrutto(2697m) was
tougher than expected and
involved traverses across steep,
nerve-wracking slopes and a delicate ascent to the summit plateau.
All went well and the ski down to
the road was excellent.
Our next objective was the
Grasleitenpass in the Rosengarden
(Catinaccio)
massive. We
took a chairlift
from Pera and
then skinned
up the Val di
V a i o l e t ,
braving slopes
which were a
bit steeper than
some of us
liked.
The
descent was on
disappointingly
crusty snow
but this did not spoil the pleasure
of a great day among Dolomite
towers and faces.
Next we visited the Pale, using
the gondola from San Martino di
Castrozza. Some skinned to Cima
Rosetta (2743m) and others to the
Cima Tomé (2748m). A couple of
committed members skied the NW
face, watched by the rest from the
cable car. Next, starting from
Passo Rolle and Passo Costazza
we made a crusty descent of Val
Vengiotta. Four of the party skied
up to the Cima Vengiotta ridge,
followed by a steep forest descent
to beer and the cars.
For our last touring day, four of
the party drove westward to Joch
Grimm overlooking the Adige
Valley and skinned up the
Schwarzhorn and Weisshorn – two
entertaining 500m peaklets, to
round off an excellent week. On
the same day, three hardy
‘freestylers’ descended the Val di
Lasties in the Sella massive, using
the Pizzo Pordoi cable car.
The Fassane, Costa Bella, Pale
and Catinaccio Dolomites are great
areas for 500 to 1500m day tours
at ski grade 2 to 4. Numerous lifts
and drivable passes give access to
ridges and peaks which would be
difficult to reach directly from the
valley. The format of multiple
sub-groups and a choice of outings, worked well.
John Moore
4
Brecon Beacons, September 2011
This year’s autumn meet was held at
the rather superior Perth-y-Pia
centre, a converted barn in the Black
Mountains near Crickhowell. The
weather favoured us with a fine
Saturday, dry and not too hot perfect for a 27km ridge walk from
the door, taking in the old prehistoric
fort of Table Mountain; Pen Carrigcalch, Pen Allt-mawr; the very boggy
highest point, Waun Fach, at the
half-way stage. From here our return
path undulated gently along a parallel
ridge back to the local village of
Llanbedr.
The evening festivities started with
an entertaining talk by local author,
historian, hill walker and photographer, Chris Barber.
We were then able to take advantage of the excellent dining facilities
Sunday saw the dispersal of the
group into small parties heading in
all different directions, exploring
either the hills or a more leisurely
cultural tour of the churches, priories
and monasteries in the valley leading
over Gospel Pass to Hay-on-Wye.
This was a most excellent weekend,
albeit slightly under-subscribed.
ASC Members:
Alun Davies, Ingram Lloyd, Hywel
Lloyd, Roger Upton, Nigel Edwards,
Don Henderson, Roger Birnstingl,
John Kentish, Jon Mellor, Rowena
Mellor, Dave Wynne Jones
Leaning tower at Cwmyoy
Guests:
Isobel Davies, Mary Ann Edwards,
of Perth-y-Pia, notably a grand 16- Rhys Wynne-Jones.
seater table located in the spacious
open space of the upper barn - all
very conducive to chatting with
friends till late into the night.
Roger Upton
Members’ Tours
Chamonix day tours, February - April 2011
A ‘restructuring’ at work meant that
I suddenly found myself without a
job in late November 2010. Needing
something to look forward to, I
bought a Chamonix season pass,
taking advantage of the 40% discount available at the time.
My six weeks in Chamonix started
with the excellent ‘advanced skimountaineering course’ run for the
Eagle Ski Club by Andy Perkins
(mountain guide). This provided a
timely refresher in skills such as
route planning, assessing risks while
out on the mountain, crevasse
rescue and navigation, making me
more confident about taking friends
out and doing some easy tours on
my own.
Chamonix is well known to most
ASC members, so what follows is
simply a short description of some
of my favourite - perhaps less well
5
known - day tours, influenced by
this season's atypical conditions.
Little snow fell from February to
April with many hot, sunny days.
The snow pack remained shallow
(but generally stable), with exposed
rocks and crevasses barely filled in.
This made the Vallée Blanche and
other routes off the Aiguille du Midi
less appealing than usual.
One of my favourite straightforward 1000m day tours was across
the magnificent Argentière glacier
and a skin up to one of cols on the
other side, with stunning views of
bristling peaks, knife-edge ridges
and precipitous icy couloirs. The
Glacier des Améthystes (Col du
Tour Noir, 3535m) and the Glacier
du Tour Noir (Col d'Argentière,
3553m) are both lovely, the latter a
bit steeper and more crevassed, with
crooked rock fingers as you
approach the Col. They are less busy
than Col du Chardonnet or Col du
Passon - happily, you see more
Alpine choughs than people.
The Aiguilles Rouges - a lower,
less crevassed area, easily reached
from La Flégère - has many interesting day tours but can feel rather
crowded! A nice alternative to the
popular Col des Aiguilles CrochuesCol de Bérard route is to continue
up to the ridge leading to the Aiguille de Bérard, passing through the
notch (Brèche de Bérard, 2663m) to
its left. This drops you into the Le
Buet valley, with some wonderful
powder stretches - and rocky bands
to be avoided. The lower section
requires some ‘combat skiing’, negotiating streams and shrubs to reach
a well placed bar and train station.
Le Tour, often overlooked, has
some great off-piste day tours. With
stable snowpack, the Col
des Autannes (2777m) is a
fantastic route, involving
an increasingly steep skin
up to a rocky shoulder
which you follow on crampons, before a final steep
section to the Col and
wonderful views over the
Chamonix Valley. From
there, it's downhill all the
way to the small village of
Trient in Switzerland,
where the bus runs back to
Vallorcine. You can also traverse up
to the Glaciers de Bron and des
Grands, before skiing down to
Trient.
Another less frequented but beautiful area is the high plateau off the
SW side of Le Brévent. A short,
steep ski down from the top lift
brings you to a small lake, where you
put on skins to make your way up
through undulating terrain towards
the Aiguillettes des Houches
(2285m) and du Brévent (2310m).
It is worth following an anti-clockwise loop to make the most of the
downhill stretches on your way back
and staying high, following the cliff
edge before climbing back up into
resort. This is a gentle day
tour which offers wonderful panoramic views
sweeping across from Mt
Blanc to the Aravis.
When there's lots of
snow, you can ski on
down to Les Houches.
Lastly, a word on
accommodation. I fell on
my feet, staying at Gite La
Tapia, about 10 minutes
walk from Chamonix
centre (or 5 minutes walk
from the Micro-Brasserie). The gite
is small, well managed and clean,
with a large, convivial kitchen. It is
often used by visiting guides and ski
tourers, so a good place to hear
about conditions and hook up with
others.
Anne Pinney
North and South Tirol: Brenner from Stubai to Sterzing - Jan and March
This report describes 13 day tours,
made by permutations of a group of
ESC and Alpine Ski Club members,
some with German and Südtiroler
friends, during two visits to the
Austrian-Italian Tirol border area.
The Brenner Pass and its side
valleys are good winter and spring
touring areas. It is possible, by car,
to reach places from which hills up
to 2700m are accessible by climbs
of 700-1000m. The ski peaks resemble steeper Scottish mountains. The
conditions during our visits were
reasonable, although we had to
survive breakable crust, bottomless
‘porridge’, water, ice and concerns
about slope stability on a few occasions.
We began in January with a couple
of well-known tours on the Austrian
side of the border. The Vennspitz,
an Innsbruckers’ Sunday lunch
outing, was a pleasant 700m ascent
and after a steep scramble from the
ski depot to the summit gave a
great ski down through excellent
off-piste terrain, ending with lunch
at the Steckholzer Gasthof. The
Grubenkopf on the national border
is another mountain with open
slopes and lots of choice for descent
routes back to the car park in the
forest.
Our ramble from The Serlesbahn
lift at Mieders to the Maria Waldrast
Monastery, ended late when we got
lost in the woods and missed the last
bus but at least we had the consolation of an enjoyable Weizen beer in
the monks’ bar. Before leaving Austria, we used the Schlick lifts to get
access to the Schlicker Schartl.
Several good tours can be made
from the Schlick ski area, even early
in the season.
We then moved to the Italian side
of the border and tackled a selection
of tours, recommended or accompanied by Günter Strickner, a
member of the local mountain
rescue team. Local advice is a great
advantage as we discovered, after
skiing powder (on the Madratschspitz) while all around others were
struggling with breakable crust.
Many of the tours start with a
sizeable climb through thick forest
to get to open terrain on the upper
slopes. It would have been impossible for us to find the way up through
dense pine woods and undergrowth,
interspersed with avalanche debris
piles, to the bunkers and gun
emplacements on the icy and windy
summit of the Hohe Lorenzenberg,
without local knowledge of
Mussolini’s military tracks. On
another outing, even Günter’s
instructions did not save us from
getting well and truly lost in the
woods while trying to find the way
down from the Fleckner back to
Ratschingtal. The steep and densely
forested lower slopes mean that care
needs to be taken in selecting access
routes and particularly when choosing descent lines which can begin as
6
enjoyable romps through open
scrub and, for the careless, end in
vertical jungle. Foresters’ tracks are
generally a safe, if sometimes tediously meandering way to escape
back to the valley. Even on
the forestry trails, hard
packed snow and rutted
water ice can make skiing
without space to turn,
both tiring and painful for
ageing knees.
Our outings also had
their share of excitement
as, for example, when one
of Phil’s skis departed at
high speed from the
summit of the Fleckner
and disappeared over a
cliff some hundreds of
metres below. It was recovered,
impaled in the snow, by Nick after
a delicate descent. The slope was
steep and in the hot sun, a little
worrying.
On the Martschspitz our enthusiasm to follow the up-track of a
super-fit local brought us to a standstill on steep ice, with a drop of
several hundred metres waiting to
reward the first slip. After a very
delicate ‘teeter’ across the slope,
Nick bravely forced the last 100m
to the summit on harscheisen.
The highlights of our tours were
two ascents of the Weiss-spitz above
tain (‘Hausberg’), visible from the
north side as an elegant cone and a
wonderful viewpoint for all the
South Stubai and Sarntaler hills.
After an exciting drive up icy farm
tracks, we parked at the
hamlet of Gospeneid and
skinned to the Gospeneiderjochl. From there it was a
windy traverse along the
ridge to the summit.
The side valleys between
Stubai and Sterzing are a
first class area for day tours.
Bagging a peak a day is
straightforward for those
who like Scottish scale hills.
The atmosphere is Teutonic
and ski-mountaineering can
be combined with excellent
Sterzing. On both occasions, we had Tirolese (and Italian) food, wine and
the help of a local farmer with a beer.
skidoo and trailer sled to bring us Participants – at various times
from the car park to within 1000m ESC/ASC: John Moore, Robin
of the summit. The snow was good Chapman, Nick Danby, Phil Budden,
and we ended back at the farm for Nick Putnam, Roger Birnstingl,
Günter Strickner.
beer and Kaiserschmarrn, an enjoyable end to a couple of great outings Guests: Tom Putnam, German &
Südtiroler friends.
on opposite sides of the mountain.
The Zinzeler was another excellent
John Moore
peak. It is Sterzing’s backyard moun-
Ski Creise, mostly on foot
Driving past the White Corries and
Kings House Hotel it’s hard to see
the gem that is the east face of
Creise. Anyone stood on top of
Meall á Bhùiridh on a good day can’t
help but notice a Scottish off piste
must do.
Dot and I opted out of the chair
lift and set off bog trotting from the
Kings House road end into the Càm
Ghleann After a long walk high into
the end of the glen we finally got
skis and skins on. It began to feel
like ski mountaineering. For added
atmosphere the cloud level lowered
and the wind started to pick up. It
began to feel like Scottish ski mountaineering. We put in a track on
7
good snow to the col and up the
ridge, only booting the last few feet
to the plateau. We skied on to the
summit and watching through
breaks in the cloud we figured the
best place to descend was just a few
yards beyond the cairn.
With a buried ski belay set back
from the cornice we abseiled down
onto the south east facing slope.
Through a few breaks in the cloud
we picked our line of descent. Back
at the belay it started to snow as we
set about digging the skis out.
I side slipped over the cornice and
after a couple of steep turns skied
across to a band of rocks. By now it
had got extra specially cloudy. Dot
quickly followed and skied into view
through the clag. As we skied on
down the cloud got thinner but so
did the snow cover, it wasn’t long
before we were rock dodging. Off
came the skis and we walked down
the remainder of the slope into the
head of the Càm Ghleann.
We stopped to rest and sort out
gear ready for the long tromp out of
the glen to the road. As we looked
back up the slope the cloud lifted to
give a clear view of the slope. Hey
ho, that’s Scottish ski touring for
you!
The Party: Dorota Bankowska, Ken
Marsden
Ken Marsden
Stubai Tour. 6 - 12 March 2011
My starting point for this tour was
Bill O'Connor's Stubai High Level
Route. Only three of the huts he
recommends are open in March, but
they are amongst the most comfortable huts in the Alps, with no shortage of interesting objectives nearby.
The Franz Senn hut (2147m) is
easily accessible from the Stubai
valley, a leisurely 2-3 hours skin up
from the snowline at Seduck (a short
taxi ride beyond Neustift).
Our first full day involved a gentle
tour 3km south of the hut, to the
wide powder-filled slopes below the
Innere Sommerwand (3122m). An
exposed,
rocky
scramble up to the
summit provided
the first of many
opportunities to use
ice axe and crampons.
The next day, we
followed
an
O'Connor route up
to
the
Wildes
Hinterbergl
(3288m). After a
long, steady skin up
the lower slopes of
the Alpeinerferner
glacier, we sweated
our way in hot sunshine to a pass at
3154m (the Wilderturmscharte), where
we were grateful to find fixed rope.
This left a gentle kilometre on to the
summit, with spectacular views all
around. The route down prompted
some debate, with the lure of
untracked powder on the steepest,
most crevassed slope. We opted for
a more cautious route down the
Turmferner glacier, attacking the
heavy snow crust with varying
degrees of style!
Another big day followed, with an
ascent of the Ruderhofspitz (3473m)
en route to the Amberger hut. We
set off again up the Alpeinerferner
for several hours, before turning
east to reach a point below the
Obere Holltalscharte. There we left
our skis and continued on crampons
up the long, exposed ridge to the
summit (photo). Returning to the
glacier, we made a high traverse to
the Schwarzenbergjoch, scrambled
up a few metres of icy scree, then
skied a steep, cruddy pitch down to
the glacier. It should have been an
easy run down to the hut, but thick
crust over un-bonded snow proved
hard work for tired legs.
Sulztalferner glacier. There we
swapped skis for crampons to
scramble up a short stretch of ridge
to the Windacher Daunkogel
(3351m); a large cornice prevented
us from standing on the summit.
Back on the glacier, we traversed a
crevassed zone to our final pass, the
Daunscharte - a steep, awkward skin
up through degraded snow. A few
careful turns brought us down to the
Stubai Glacier resort, speeding on
to the comforts of the Dresdner hut
(2303m). Next morning we were
tempted to go for one last summit the Zuckerhutl (3432m), a short tour
from the lift
system - but the
fine weather we
had enjoyed all
week was finally
breaking.
Party members:
Anne Pinney
(organiser), Lulu
Pinney, David
Kirton, Chris
Handley, Sam
Handley,
Catherine
Mangham (ESC).
From the Amberger hut (at
2135m), we did a shorter day tour
to the Kuhscheibenspitz (3189m),
finding the same heavy, breakable
crust on the lower sections. Beyond
this, it was a pleasant route through
undulating terrain, on to steeper
north-facing slopes leading up to the
summit, which offered some nice
stretches of powder.
On our last full day, we headed
south from the Amberger hut, skinning steadily to the head of the
Guidebook: Bill
O'Connor
(2003), Alpine
Ski
Mountaineering,
Volume 2:
Central and
Eastern Alps,
Cicerone
Map: Alpenvereinskarte 31/1, Stubaier
Alpen: Hochstubai (Skirouten). This map
is hard to find in UK, Innsbruck or
Neustift but can be ordered from the
Austrian Alpine Club (reduced price).
Anne Pinney
8
Le Tour Soleil Trio
We’d left Realp in warm sunshine a
few days before. After a couple of
days touring in warm spring conditions, we left the Rifugio Claudio e
Bruno above Lago del Sabione as
the clouds began to gather. We
made our way up the Hohsandgletscher with a bitter wind blowing out
of the col. At the Mittlebürgpass we
took a quick left turn for the last 140
metres to the summit of the
Hohsandhorn. No hanging about on
this one. The day before we’d been
happy to soak up the sun on the
Blinnenhorn. Today it was quick
photo and then ski off back to the
col before the cold wind really bit.
A steep descent down the south
side of the col was followed by
contouring round east and south
and skiing down south west. We
picked up a high level trail leading
to the Mittlenbärghütte. Helpful
marker wands proved we were on
the right track. The first sight of the
hut is when you all but ski over the
roof. A tricky one to find in poor
weather.
Recently refurbished the hut only
sleeps about 25 people in what could
9
be described
as cosy proximity. With
its small size,
perched location and intim a t e
friendliness
the Mittlenbärghütte is
quite charming. Arriving
early we got
the best beds
and
had
plenty of time to relax and enjoy, eat
and drink.
The following morning change
was definitely in the air. We’d been
told by another group there was
good skiing to be had by going
behind the Bochtehorn and Grosses
Schinhorn then skiing down to Fäld.
Skiing down towards Blatt the cloud
was already building. As we headed
south and started to make our way
up we could make out lots of tracks
coming down from the col. A track
following the ridge gave out as it
went off west but we needed to
carry on southwards. We came
round the ridge and put in our own
track but it was obvious that we
were repeating the feature of the
tour: skinning up good ski-able
fluffy stuff which meant we were
going down the other side on concrete or crud. We spread out to
minimise the loading on the slope.
As we approached the narrow Passo
di Valdeserta the clag got thicker
and thicker. Somehow I found
myself in the mist performing a kick
turn on a shelf of rock to make the
final steps over the lip of the col and
drop into a hollow out of the wind.
The map, compass and GPS came
out and we set course to the Mittlebergpass, taking care not to do a left
turn down to Alp Dèvero. Again
plenty of ski tracks going the other
way. Catherine took up the task of
track setting into the clag up the
final slopes to the col.
Skiing out of the col into clear
weather, to be fair, the snow was
reasonable. As we descended the
skiing got better. No hurry, just
enjoy the views and the skiing. Soon
we entered the forest and picked up
a broad forest track which lead us
all the way to Fäld. With skis on
sacks a brisk walk down the road
brought us to Binn on a Sunday
afternoon. Luckily the local pension
was open to while away the hours
until the post bus arrived.
The Party: Catherine Mangham, John
Kentish, Ken Marsden
The Tour: Tour Soleil from Realp to
Binn
The Route: Witenwasserenpass,
Sidelenlücke, Cornopass,
Blinnenhorn, Mittlebürgpass, Passo di
Valdeserta & Mittelbergpass
Huts: Rotondohütte, Corno Gries,
Claudio e Bruno, Mittlenbärghütte
Maps: 265S Nufenenpass 1:50K, 1251
Val Bedretto 1:25K, 1270 Binntal
1:25K
Ken Marsden
Grants
British Geikie Plateau Expedition 2011
The Geikie Plateau is an ice cap south
of Scoresbysund, in East Greenland.
It first came to the attention of
members of the team as an area with
expedition potential during a return
flight from Constable Pynt to Iceland
in 2006. The imposing mountains
bordering the Scoresbysund coast and
icecap beyond are a distinctive panorama well known to those who fly
into Constable Pynt airstrip.
The Geikie Plateau was mapped
and named by Lauge Koch during
flights in 1933 on the 1931–34
Treårseks-peditionen. The name
commemorates Archibald Geikie
[1835–1924], a Scottish igneous
petrologist and
strati-grapher,
professor of geology at the University
of Edinburgh from 1871 to 1881, and
director of the British Geological
Survey from 1882 to 1901.
The first recorded expedition to the
region was undertaken by Italians in
1934 when a five man
team spent seven days
exploring a number of
mountains and glaciers
behind Volquart Boon
Kyst. Since then, there
have been a handful of
other expeditions to
the area. Most expeditions have passed
through the west of the
plateau area en route to
other objectives and
appear to have spent
little time exploring
and climbing in the
locality – particularly in the mid to east
area.
The objectives of the British Geikie
Plateau Expedition were to gain
access to the Geikie Plateau from the
south Scoresbysund coast; to explore
the Geikie Plateau travelling on ski
and pulling pulks and to identify and
climb the most significant mountains
in the area.
We arrived at Constable Pynt in the
sun. However, the last few flights had
struggled to make it in and out
because of the weather. The poor
conditions had meant that Tangent
Expeditions, who were to deliver us
across Scoresbysund with skidoos,
had a mammoth day delivering
another party who had been sitting
out the bad weather. In the meantime, we spent the first day ski touring
locally in the sun. The following day
we were off and it was quickly noticeable how much the skidoos were
struggling with waist deep powder
crossing Scoresbysund. After a bitterly cold journey, we spent the last
few hours of the day wading ourselves, and our kit, to a camp near the
base of the Vestre Borggletcher that
runs up onto the Geikie plateau.
The following three days were spent
enveloped in mist and snow storms
whilst moving around the base of the
glacier looking for an access route.
Finally we spent a whole day in an
attempt to get just one of the four
pulks as far up the glacier as possible.
Expedition Grants
The ASC awarded two expedition
grants in 2011. The first went to
Neal Gwynne, for an expedition
to the Geikie Plateau in East
Greenland.
The second award was given to
Oliver Lyons for a traverse of the
Juneau Icefield in Alaska.
Training Grants
A training grant was awarded to
Neil Phillips for attendance at the
Introduction to Alpine Ski Mountaineering course run by the Eagle
Ski Club.
After crossing the unstable tidal zone
it was possible to dig a trail through
seemingly bottomless snow on a steep
slope. The snow was so deep that it
was over our heads in places and the
only way to gain progress was to stab
skis above us, laying the poles
between them and pulling up whilst
using our knees to
tamp down the
powder. After that
we built a ski belay
to hoist up the pulk.
This put us onto
easier angled ground
and, whilst two team
members broke trail,
the other two
endured characterrevealing pulk-pulling along the side of
the glacier. Mid-afternoon and a late
lunch at 210m above
sea level saw the realization that we
could spend two weeks doing this and
still not even make the top of the
glacier with all four pulks.
Back in camp a conversation with
Tangent Expeditions ended with the
recommendation that we start pulking
10
for home as, with the continued
snowfall since the skidoo drop-off, it
was unlikely that it would be possible
for us to be collected again. Scoresbysund is the largest fjord system in
the world: it was mostly frozen and
littered with stunning and enormous
icebergs. It was also buried under feet
of powder and we repeatedly plunged
through the trail others were breaking.
After examining some fresh polar
tracks we pressed on and towards the
end of that day we found a shallow
path across the surface of the snow.
This was our skidoos’ trail - now
mostly buried. It made for easier
skiing, but was difficult to follow in
the disorientating light. We camped
on it to wake up the next day to
whiteout conditions. After twenty
minutes tapping the buried trail with
our poles like blind men we lost it back to wading.
Several days later and the wind
firmed up the snow enough to make
enjoyable skiing conditions. We
camped near some icebergs the size
of a Glasgow tenement block and
some members of the team couldn't
resist a little ‘ice-bouldering’. Days of
sun alternated with whiteout and
storms of blown spindrift. Nevertheless, we made it to dry land and
followed dogsled tracks on the north
side of the fjord. This culminated in
a day in a maze of canyons in a
whiteout with only the occasional dog
pee stain visible through the spindrift
to let us know we were on the right
track for an Inuit hut.
After a day spent in the rather
squalid hut in bad weather, the
skidoos were still unable to travel.
Therefore, late in our second day
there, we decided to ski on further
that evening. The flight was due the
next day and, with some distance still
to go, things weren't looking great.
Remarkably, the weather cleared on
the final morning and a last minute
dash from Tangent's skidoos picked
us up and swooped us into the airport
where they were waiting for our bags.
We had a few minutes in a snowy
hanger emptying pulks and packing
bags and ended up on the plane still
wearing all of our frozen skiing kit.
Things became a little pungent as we
thawed out on the fight to Iceland,
but airplane food never tasted so
good. A quick overnight in Iceland
and we were passing through Heathrow and Glasgow airports (where our
rifle was handed back to us by a
baggage handler with ‘PSYCHO’
written on his jacket - welcome
home!).
So our ‘mountaineering’ expedition
attained a highpoint of a mere 210m
and became a struggle just to get
home. This was mostly due to the
unseasonably large amounts of snow.
But the trip was far from boring as we
managed to undertake a tough
journey in a truly stunning place.
Thanks to the Alpine Ski Club, the
Gino Watkins Memorial Fund and
Berghaus for their support.
Neal Gwynne.
Juneau Icefield. The south east
Couloir of the Devil’s Paw
It was day ten and 2am. The alarm
sounded, buried somewhere in my
five jackets and two sleeping bags.
Scrambling to find it, I was
restricted by all the insulation. It
is freezing in the tent and there is
a layer of ice on the inside too.
Every movement threatens a
morning ice shower.
I reached inside my sleeping bag
for the gas bottle which I had
warmed overnight, screwed it into
the jet boil and sparked the
morning’s liquid breakfast: coffee.
We take turns to get ready in the
tent. You have to take off your
layers as you will be hot with
exercise but the cold outside your
sleeping bag dissuades you. Even
with no food involved it always
11
takes over
an hour to
get ready.
We left
base at 3.30.
It was dark
since it was
still April
but by May
there will be
almost 24
hours
of
light here. For a minute we could
make out our objective: the south
east couloir on the Devil’s Paw.
Then it was hidden in a total white
out.
My legs were still stiff from
breaking trail on the 1200m west
couloir two days before, and I was
the last one to make it to the base
of the route. My skins stuck to the
crisp snow on the first section up
through steep avalanche debris,
but I soon caught the other three.
The slope quickly became too
steep to skin. I took skis off,
strapped them to my bag and
clamped crampons to ski boots,
taking my ice axe out (which I use
alongside my ski pole that has an
axe built in the top of it). This is
great for ascending, but not to fall
on when descending.
The snow at the bottom was
dead. With every step we sank to
our knees but it improved as we
side-stepped up the slope aiming
for the avalanche debris which was
rock solid and quicker to
move on.
We climbed solo without
ropes and as the bottom half
of the route was very icy we
relied on crampons and ice
axes. A mistake would send
us hurtling down the slope
with no chance of rescue.
Our position was remote.
Our doctor, Tom Francis,
was a way behind. As agreed
the previous night, he
descended from quarter of
the way up the route. He
was having snowboard problems and had fallen 100m
down the southwest couloir
two days before, managing
to self arrest with his ice axe.
So now there was Ben and
Alex and me. I waited for
them to catch up. We
climbed close together and
changed the lead every five minutes. Ben was on telemark skis. He
works as a ski instructor in Whistler. Alex was on a split-board. He
works as an engineer in California.
The weather was menacing. Sluff
started to flow like a small river
down the gulley which had formed
in the middle of the slope. This
was followed by rime flying down
the route. It was windy and we
were in a total white out: a bubble
with no more than 50m visibility.
After ten minutes up front Ben
and Alex decided to stop and go
down. Although they are both
great ski and snowboarders this
was really exposed mountaineering, in which they had less experience.
My legs were feeling good and I
kept my energy levels up by stopping every 40mins to unwrap a
boiled sweet; my only food intake
for the day. The debris flying down
the route worsened as I ascended.
There were massive mushrooms of
rime all around, but I remained
confident knowing it was well
below freezing. I kept pushing on,
looking above for flying missiles.
The higher I climbed the more
the mountain threw at me. Waves
of sluff poured down and I
plunged the axe deep into the ice
and lay on it, covering my head
with my pack. It was like being in
a running river with arms being
buried by snow and bangs of rime
hitting my pack. As it slowed I
would carefully peer up to see if all
was clear.
I was in a zone and it was brilliant. It was the perfect moment;
concentrating on every movement
precisely and at speed knowing
that one mistake would have big
consequences. It felt like the
mountain was testing me to see
what I had got.
It got steeper, switch back after
switch back. The snow was getting
better for skiing, but harder to
ascend, sinking down with every
step.
As with everything in Alaska the
scale was huge. I set the
goal to make it to the next
rock but half an hour later
I had hardly changed my
perspective on it.
The slope was towards
sixty degrees: at the limit
of skiing, and I constantly
looked down in my 50m
visibility-bubble to see if
it still looked ski-able.
The atmosphere slowly
started to change and
there was no more sluff
pouring down. In a haze
of light ahead everything
tailed off. I was thinking
there must be more. It was
now only forty degrees
steep but very windy with
rime everywhere. Then I
realized I was at the top!
I shouted in joy for the
first time ever on a
summit. I had had a picture of this
couloir on my wall for the last year,
dreaming about it. Every session
in the pool or gym I would visualize the route for motivation, and
now I had done it!
There was a cliff face with
cornice on the opposite side at the
top so I had to be careful not to
break through. The top was a
precarious rime mushroom. I
clambered up and got everything
ready.
It was so windy that my camera
lenses iced up instantly. My eye lids
were frozen and feet numb. There
was no time to waste, skis straight
12
on and time to go. I had to wipe
the ice off my face so my goggles
would fit. I turned on my video
camera and went.
Skiing felt easy, everything
effortless. The snow was good but
I had to stop frequently to rest my
legs, warm my hands and wipe my
goggles which iced up on the
outside after every few turns. It
was so windy I was getting ice face
shots and when I turned particles
of ice were picked up and blown
back up the hill. The top half was
brilliant snow conditions but the
bottom half, in stark contrast, was
like skiing in a resort with thousands of basketball sized ice
chunks glued to the surface.
I saw Ben and Alex waiting for
me at the bottom but had to stop
twice before reaching them. I
rushed down and gave them both
a hug. I was ecstatic and exhausted, collapsing onto the snow in
one piece and alive. This was a
milestone in my life: a feeling I
have only had a few times. The
possibility that I was the first
person ever to have done this
couloir really intensified the experience.
Back at base we celebrated with
whisky. I was ready for bed. It
was still white out and blowing but
we needed to move camp and start
our 200km traverse. We travelled
for over two hours. By the time
we stopped it had been over fourteen hours since the alarm sounded. We camped in position to ski
our next objective; Couloir Peak.
This was just one day of the trip
that was a great adventure. We
went on to make five major possible first descents, traverse the ice
field for another twenty-four days
covering over 200km, have a near
miss setting off a large avalanche.
I became violently ill as I was
allergic to some of the food, and
we battled -25°C conditions. We
had major battery issues, losing our
sat phone and spot device and with
it all communication to the outside
world for the trip. We did not
know whether our food drop
would ever arrive…
I would like to thank everyone
involved for making this such an
unforgettable experience.
Oliver Lyon
Introduction to Alpine Ski Mountaineering, Arolla 2011
Our week kicked off with Andy
making sure we could stand on skis
without chopping other skiers down
and a recap of some general piste
skiing technique. The fun really
started when we were introduced to
jump turns, in which everybody’s
elegant style quickly fell by the way
side! The jump turns weren’t the only
off piste skill we were introduced to
on that day. We also covered kick
turns, up hill and just to show off
everybody’s perfect balance, also
downhill.
To consolidate on what we had
learnt the previous day we went for a
short tour to a summit just north of
the Pas de Chèvres, at 3000m. I made
the ‘never again’ mistake of not
wearing a hat. I paid for this later
when I put my head under the
shower. Ouch!
All of this was leading toward a two
day tour, with an overnight stay in a
hut. The first day, it snowed non-stop
13
providing excellent skiing the next The following day we left the hut at
day.
06:30 and made our way up to the Col
de Serpertine, making good time. By
11:00 we arrived at the top of the
Pigne d’Arolla with amazing views to
the Matterhorn in one direction and
Mont Blanc in the other. Fantastic!
However the top is only half way and,
after negotiating the crevasses on the
slope which leads down to the
Vignettes hut, we were blessed with
an awesome descent: a fantastic way
to conclude a fantastic week.
A special thanks to the Alpine Ski
Club, the Eagles Ski Club, Andy
Teasdale and the rest of the group.
The Gang: Andy Teasdale (Guide),
Jeremy Williams, Andy Cave, Tony
Page, Colin Bulled, Neil Phillips, Tom
We skied over to the Dix hut over- Page, Jonathan Bulled
looked by the pyramidal north face of
Mont Blanc de Cheilon. Getting to
the hut involved negotiating the
ladders from the col, down to the
glacier.
Neil Phillips
Member’s News
Two New Honorary Members in 2011
Transceiver News
In recognition of their long-standing contributions to the Club, John Last season saw a significant
Fairley and Rupert Hoare have been awarded Honorary Membership.
increase in hires to non-ASC
members although hires to Club
members collapsed. The scheme is
still very healthy: presumably the
reductions in hires to members is
because most members have their
own. Next season the hire charge
will probably remain the same - £10
John Fairley has tirelessly
per week plus £5 per extra week for
worked to encourage and
members. Postal charges will nudge
facilitate Club activities. He
up a little to reflect Post Office
constructed the Club's first
increases.
web site, actively supported
We urgently need a new Tracker
the Mürren Centenary celePacker to replace Tracey Quine.
brations, has carefully
Please would anyone at all who
managed the Club's transcould do this work ring me and
ceiver hire scheme and has
discuss possibilities (019467 25216).
always shown great concern
I am very easy and flexible to work
for the Club's ethos of prowith!
moting safe skiing in the
During the last season, reports
mountains.
came in that the guides at Jackson
Hole had discovered an occasional
John with Peter Lunn in Mürren for the
fault in some of their Tracker2s:
club’s centenary celebrations.
they cease to transmit without giving
any warning due to build up of
static. Back Country Access (BCA),
the manufacturers, reacted very
Rupert Hoare, whose obituary notice will be
Rupert on his last Munro quickly and modified the software
found elsewhere in this Newsletter, was Club
to avoid the problem. All the Club’s
secretary twice (1989 and 1995),
Trackers have been updated with
Vice President (1998) and
this new software version by local
President (2002). During
BCA agents Anatom.
all these years Rupert
It is thought that static build up is
readily took on roles
exacerbated by taking a Tracker out
when there was no one
of its holster and carrying it in a
else willing or able to do
pocket. This is not a good idea – and
so, amongst other things
not just from a static point of view.
organizing all our documenThe holster is designed to ensure
tation, and the Club would not
that you and your beacon stay
be what it is today without all that he
together if you are caught in an
did. Rupert was always willing to act as conavalanche.
venor for Club meets and was generous in his
If any club member has bought a
support and kindness to all Club members.
Tracker2 recently they can easily
check if they have the latest version
of the software. Put the batteries in
and as the last one is fitted the
14
Tracker will switch on and go Introducing … the ASC’s own Honorary Hungarian
through a start up check in which
the display shows ‘t2’, then ‘r’ and Consul for Wales
then ’4’ before showing the battery Hungarians visiting Wales can now sleep soundly. ASC member, Alun
state and switching off. If you have Davies is there to resolve their diplomatic problems.
an earlier version check your next
move at:
www.backcountryaccess.com.
Last year the Club bought 2 Avalanche Balls for members to trial.
Take-up was disappointing
The committee is considering
ways in which the cost of trials could
be reduced. Any members who
would like information on them
should access the web site:
www.lawinenball.com for further
details. There is an English version!
Paddy O’Neill
Obituaries
Alan Blackshaw O.B.E., V.R.D.
Alan Blackshaw was born in Liverpool on 7th April 1933. He joined
the Alpine Ski Club in 1968, became
Vice President in 1979 and was
elected to Honorary Membership.
He was appointed OBE in 1992 for
services to mountaineering and died
on 4th August 2011 in Raigmore
Hospital, Inverness.
“I know of no one with whom I
feel more confidence and comradeship on a rope”. Thus wrote Sir
John Hunt about him in his Foreword
to
“Mountaineering”,
Blackshaw’s classic Penguin Handbook, still the bible for many wouldbe climbers.
War-time evacuation to a Welsh
hill-farm had given Alan a first taste
for the hills, to be followed after the
War when, at the age of 15, he
walked the whole of the Mamore
mountains, having cycled from his
15
Merseyside home to Scotland to do
so. Two years later he joined the
Wayfarers Club, by which time he
was already climbing on Clogwyn
D’Ur Arddu, in those days relatively
little frequented. Then in 1951 came
an opportunity to visit Chamonix
where, like so many aspiring Alpinists, he climbed the Aiguille de l’M,
his first Alpine summit.
Starting at Oxford that same year
he joined the University Mountaineering Club. The five years to 1955,
embracing Alan’s membership of
the OUMC and his subsequent
National Service in the Royal
Marines, saw a blossoming of mountaineering talent when the leading
‘Oxbridge’ climbers formed much
of the van of a post-war renaissance
of British Alpinism, Blackshaw
among them. Having successfully
tackled various ‘TD’ routes, he
joined Hamish Nicol in what was
supposedly the first British ascent
of an ‘ED’ route in the Western
Alps, the West Face of Point Albert.
This, like his later hard Alpine
climbs, lay in the Mt Blanc range and
were essentially rock routes but Alan
also found himself drawn to steep
snow and ice, typically the North
Face of the Aiguille d’Argentiere.
Then in 1955, with Bob Downes, a
similarly brilliant Cambridge climber, he made the first British ascent
of the North face of the Aiguille de
Triolet, the pair moving together on
much of the steep ice of the upper
part of the face. That same year, in
what he later described as his best
season, he added other major routes
in the Mt Blanc range as well as the
first British ascent of the ‘ED’ NE
face of the Piz Badile, sharing leads
with Geoffrey Sutton. But only a
year later, a fatal accident resulting
in the deaths of two close
friends persuaded him that,
in his own words, “the very
hard forms of mountaineering no longer held quite the
same appeal”. He turned to
expeditions, notably with
John Hunt in the Caucasus
and Greenland, to mountain
warfare instruction in the
Royal Marines Reserve, and
to ski-touring and ski-mountaineering. It was in NE
Greenland, on a ridge in the
Staunings Alps that, roped
together, his instant reaction
had enabled him to hold
Hunt as he was precipitated
head-first down the flank of
the mountain by a collapsing
cornice. Alan had simply
thrown himself down the
opposite side of the ridge.
He was indeed nothing if
not reliable. Immensely determined
and of great courage, moral and
physical, he was very clear about
what was right and what was wrong.
These attributes coloured his whole
life, in his career as a Civil Servant,
latterly in important senior appointments, in the mountains on foot and
on skis, and in his invaluable voluntary work on the national and international scene in support of
mountaineering generally and access
in particular. An ‘open scholar’ at
Wadham College, Oxford, his formidable intellect, far sightedness and
analytical thinking together with a
disciplined capacity for hard work
plus a rare talent for administration
recommended him as tailor-made to
lead; the first and obvious choice as
chairman or president of many
national and international organisations too numerous to itemise fully
here. Most relevant to this Club
must be his Presidency of the BMC,
the Scottish National Ski Council,
and the SCGB, and his Chairmanship of the British Ski Federation.
On the wider stage his contribution
to the International Mountaineering
and Climbing Federation (UIAA)
was of paramount importance: as
President of its Mountaineering
Commission he proposed the UIAA
Summit Charter for the International year of Mountains 2002 and
introduced Ski Mountaineering as
well as Competition Climbing to the
UIAA’s schedule. In Scotland, his
adopted home, Blackshaw’s lasting
memorial will surely be the Land
Reform (Scotland) Act, 2003, so
convincingly informed by the evidence he gave the Scottish Parliament in the course of its
deliberations leading to this vitally
important piece of access legislation.
Throughout the latter years of his
life his recreation revolved around
ski touring and ski mountaineering.
A one-time President of the Eagle
Ski Club and a ‘Golden Eagle’, his
possibly unique achievement was to
ski the length of the Scandinavian
peninsular with various companions
over a series of visits between 1973
and ’78. Others are far better
qualified to tell of this epic
endeavour but it might well
not have happened without
Alan’s 1972 end-to-end ski
traverse of the European
Alps. Pioneered by the
Italian guide Bonatti, similar
journeys had been made subsequently by only two other
parties: an international
group of five professional
mountain guides and an Austrian military party. Alan’s
ambition was fired by the
tales told by Denis Bertholet,
one of the guides in that
second group, with whom
Alan and I were fortunate to
ski in the early ‘70s; it was
Alan’s idea to attempt the
traverse with an amateur
party, a British ‘first’. He
shared the lead with Michael
de Pret Roose, an accomplished
skier who at the time ran the annual
Ski Club’s Reps’ Course. Dr
Hamish Nicol, Alan’s one time
Oxford climbing partner, made four
and a further four were soon recruited, along with Gerry Finch, then the
recently retired Hon. Treasurer of
the ASC, as back-up, complete with
Range Rover by courtesy of British
Leyland. And we were to be joined
from time to time by a BBC TV
crew, including such climbing stars
as Dougal Haston and Mike Burke
- as porters, no less.
Our intended route lay from
Kaprun, just north of the Gross-
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glockner, through the Ost Tirol, the
Graubunden Alpen, across the
Oberland and south to the Valais;
then west over the classic Haute
Route and thence to the Oisans and
finally south till the snow ran out,
with ascents of the more important
peaks along the way. We anticipated
taking some eight weeks for the five
hundred miles straight line distance.
That we achieved all this in good
order, in a season of very unsettled
weather, suffering neither accident
nor avalanche, was due not only to
Alan’s expert navigation but particularly to his and Michael’s cool and
careful leadership, commanding the
respect and confidence of us all.
Alan’s mountaineering judgement
was impeccable, while his charming
ability to disarm contention with a
good humoured smile endeared him
to each and every one of us. He
provided a master-class in leadership, his fine judgement and determination best illustrated right at the
end when, denied an earlier ascent
of Mt Blanc by the weather, we
returned to Chamonix, hoping for a
final attempt. In what he was later
to admit were somewhat marginal
conditions, only Alan’s rope of three
made it to the summit. “Well,” he
explained, “I thought we would give
it ten minutes more and then, if
things seemed no worse, we’d press
on.” He was right.
And that was Alan, in a nutshell.
He will be sorely missed, not only
for his company, wisdom and sage
counsel but for his transparent
honesty in all things, his quiet
humour, his generous and genuine
friendship and his sheer love of life,
his mountains and his fellow men.
We extend our deepest sympathy to
his wife Elspeth and his family
whose loss is so much greater than
ours.
John Peacock
Rupert Hoare (1956 – 2011)
Rupert was born in to the Hoare
banking family in 1956. His enthusiasm for the mountains was fired
while at school at Winchester, and
encouraged by a British Schools
Exploring Society expedition to
Arctic Norway.
It was an infectious enthusiasm:
the mountains were rarely far from
his mind or conversation. As a
geologist, he spent much of his
professional life studying rocks
under the surface, but at weekends
he studied routes and the big outdoors. In his 20s and 30s life followed a regular climber’s routine of
weekend drives to Wales, Dorset or
the Peak District, and holidays
camping in the Swiss Alps, interspersed with periods when his job
took him to the deserts of Libya or
Australia.
He loved the bigger mountains:
the climbs he most often talked
about were the Biancograt on Piz
Bernina, the Weisshorn and Finsteraarhorn, the Matterhorn and the
Grandes Jorasses, all climbed in the
1980s. He revelled in challenging
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trips: to the Himalayas, Japan or
Borneo. He also enjoyed technical
climbing, particularly sea-traverses
which included a rather unconventional ascent of the Isle of Wight
Needles.
Rupert started ski-touring in the
mid-1980s; early on he was signed
up to the Alpine Ski Club by its then
Secretary, the Rev. Fred Jenkins. He
went on to become Secretary (in
1989 and in 1995), Vice President in
1998 and, from 2002 to 2005, President of the Club.
His first major tour was to Greenland, on a trip organised by Derek
Fordham, but most of his touring
was done Alpine-style. Although
never a graceful skier, he was
extremely effective both uphill and
down: his small build, careful planning and long experience allowed
him to tour with a very small and
light pack, which was often the envy
of his companions. He quickly
graduated from the well-worn tracks
of the Vallée Blanche and Haute
Route to more adventurous skimountaineering in the Swiss and
Italian Alps, Pyrenees and India.
In 1994 Rupert was crossing the
Aonach Mor plateau in a white-out,
walking on a carefully-set compassbearing from the top of the lifts.
Sadly the top station was not where
the OS map indicated, and he fell
75m vertically and then about 200m
down snow-slopes; he was lucky to
survive and did not even have his
knee reconstructed afterwards. But
when he finally married Jay just over
a year later, many of us wondered
whether Jay’s desire to keep him on
a slightly shorter rope had helped to
clinch this long courtship!
Rupert always loved the Scottish
hills, and in 2002 he and Jay moved
close to Aberdeen, where they were
able to climb most weekends, on
foot and on ski. They continued to
visit the Alps regularly and he celebrated his fiftieth birthday (a few
weeks late) by climbing Mont Blanc
on ski with his friend Ken White
and a local guide. In 2009 he organised a memorable tour to the Lyngen
Alps in Norway.
His diagnosis of pancreatic cancer
in January 2011 was a bolt from the
blue. At first there seemed good
hope that drastic surgery would be
effective, but it proved too late. He
used the last months to write a
well-crafted and beautifully-illustrated book of his climbs, ski-tours
and favourite places which is a
fitting memorial to a real lover of
the mountains and enthusiast for
their enjoyment.
Mike Hendry
Rev. Jim Harrison (1930-2011)
Jim died suddenly but peacefully on
Saturday 23rd July whilst reading in
the library of the Savile Club. I had
dined with him on the previous two
evenings, John Moore having joined
us on the first.
Jim was a reticent man who rarely
spoke about his family, achievements
or his childhood; my grateful thanks
go to the Reverends John Crippin
and Ronald Archer for filling in the
resulting gaps in my knowledge of
his life.
Born on 3rd May 1930 Jim was
raised in Edinburgh with one sister.
He attended the Royal High School
but contracted TB necessitating time
in a sanatorium; this prevented him
from taking Highers. He worked for
a while in a newspaper office and
then emigrated to Canada to work
for a Montreal newspaper, the RCA
record company and BBC radio.
Returning to Scotland he re-entered
education, studying for his Highers.
It was here that he met Maud, his
English teacher, and so began a
loving partnership that lasted until
Maud’s death in 2007.
After Highers he graduated in
English and entered teaching. Jim
and Maud returned to Canada and
both taught in Nova Scotia. Feeling
a call to the ministry he returned to
Scotland where he attended a seminary for a year. In 1972 he left again
for Canada to attend the Knox College, Toronto, graduating a Master
of Divinity in 1975 and was ordained
by the Presbyterian Church of
Canada, becoming a minister for
about a year and a half.
Returning to Scotland, he taught
R.E. in the East Lothian School
system for many years and was
adviser in R.E. to the Edinburgh
schools, also lecturing in English and
Communication at Napier University. Jim continued working for the
BBC as an independent interviewer,
giving the morning ‘Thought for the
Day’ on many occasions.
Jim took up skiing and climbing in
Canada and continued with his ski
mountaineering back in the UK. He
attended and arranged many Eagle
Ski Club meets in Scotland including
the popular Dinner Meets, where he
would give a Robert Burns grace in
his inimitable style. He was an
amusing after dinner speaker. Jim
toured regularly in the Alps with,
amongst others, Mike Bennett and
Walter Mann whose leadership and
skiing skills he greatly admired. His
accomplished photographs graced
E.S.C. journals.
Jim was Vice President of the Eagle
Ski Club from 1991-1997 and President 1997-2000. He presided over
the 75th Anniversary Dinner at
Maloja in 2000 with his usual entertaining style and memorable literary
quotations. He was made an Honorary member of the Alpine Ski Club
in 1995 and Secretary from 19962002. He became a member of The
Alpine Club in 1991.
Frequently visiting London, Jim
was elected to the Savile Club in
1996. He had a wide circle of friends
many of whom, like myself, enjoyed
warm hospitality at his home in
Edinburgh. His humour was epitomised for me by a quote from the
1983 E.S.C. Journal. When cheerily
greeted one morning in the Franz
Senn Hut before an early start he
replied. “It may be God’s good
morning but He doesn’t have to get
up!”
Jim did not suffer fools gladly but
was a kind man whose modest
charm, conversation and mischievous sense of humour will be greatly
missed by us all.
Robin Chapman
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Ronald Edwin Naar (1955 – 2011)
Ronald Naar, who died on Cho Oyu
on 22 May 2011, was elected an
Honorary Member of the Club in
1990 in recognition of his exceptional achievements as a mountaineer and ski-mountaineer. Born in
The Hague on 19 April 1955, he
quickly graduated from the Stubai
to the great Alpine north faces.
Before the age of twenty he had
climbed those of the Eiger, Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses. In 1980,
he made the first ascent of Chacraraju Este, a challenging peak in the
Peruvian Andes. The following year
he climbed Nanga Parbat solo and
thereafter led a series of expeditions
to the greater ranges including K2.
In 1992 he led a 14 man Dutch party
on Everest when he became the
seventh man to have climbed the
highest mountain in each of the
seven continents. First ascents
included Peak 6393 in the Karakoram, Dio Drake in Bhutan, Tilleketinda in Greenland and Duivelsei
in Surinam.
By 1979 he had become hooked
on exploratory ski mountaineering.
From the Alps he turned his attentions to the Spanish Picos, Lappland, Norway, Iceland, Svalbard,
Corsica, Bulgaria’s Rila and Pirin
mountains, Greece and even the
Cairngorms, with an Eagle Ski Club
meet. Thereafter, his skis took him
to all seven continents for traverses
of Andean volcanoes and the Patagonian ice cap, a descent of the
Carstenz glacier in New Guinea,
forays into Antarctica and much else.
For many years, he and his wife
Tilleke ran Adventure Communications,
a firm specialising in motivational,
management and communications
training. He was an outstanding
photographer, lectured extensively
and wrote several mountaineering
books.
I first met up with Ronald on
Mount Olympus in 1985. Later in
Corsica and, not wholly unexpectedly, in the middle of Turkey’s Kackar
Dag in 1991, when both our parties
were traversing that grand range on
ski. Tough, ambitious and imaginative, he was the greatest Dutch
mountaineer of his time combining
these qualities with humour and
charm. Above all, he possessed a
buccaneering spirit for adventure in
spades.
J.G.R. Harding
Robin Day OBE
Robin was a highly acclaimed
designer whose career took off
shortly after the end of World War 2
when he won first prize in a competition in New York (beating Utzon,
the designer of the Sydney Opera
House, into second place). His work
ranged from the JLP monogram of
the John Lewis Partnership to the
interior of the VC10 aircraft, but he
is best associated with seats of
various kinds – as for the London
underground trains, concert halls,
and a highly successful stacking chair
which sold over 10,000,000.
But for ASC members he is better
known for his ski mountaineering
which he once said he only started in
his mid 40s, so busy was he in build19
ing his career, and so spent much of
the rest of his long life making up for
lost time. He undertook often more
than one alpine tour each year, but
once he had discovered Norway
much of his touring was spent there,
Nordic style. His most ambitious
achievement was as a member of
Alan Blackshaw’s team that skied the
2,000 miles along the whole length
of Norway in the 1970s, especially
remarkable when he was 20 years
older than any of the others. He was
a very strong walker, often walking
40 miles at a stretch, and a competent
climber despite coming very late to
this. He was proud of being, at 76,
the oldest man to have climbed Mt
Kenya.
He was happy in his long marriage
to Lucienne, an award winning
designer of fabrics, who also skied.
Robin was as strong and determined
in the mountains as he clearly was in
his career. Many skiers have had
reason to be grateful for his skills at
running repairs on tours, and he was
famous for his attention to detail –
even cutting holes in tooth brush
handles to save weight.
He was a most delightful and disarmingly modest companion in the
mountains, with a beguiling chuckle.
A famous man in his career, and an
accomplished ski mountaineer.
Patrick Fagan
From the Editor
Forthcoming events
Articles for the newsletter
2011
For the newsletter we are looking
for a mix of more short articles
together with a few longer ones.
Please do tell us where you have
been touring throughout the season.
And if you have been somewhere
particularly adventurous, then
perhaps send in a longer article with
some stunning photos.
November 16:
The AGM and Annual Dinner are being held at the Army and Navy Club,
Pall Mall, London. Cost for dinner, including wine, is £70.
Short articles;
200-400 words with 1 or 2 photos
Long articles:
No more than 1200 words with
3 or 4 photos
Photographs:
These must be high resolution (at
least 1500x2000 pixels) and include
a caption and the photographer.
Photos may be uploaded to this link;
sent by email, preferably as zipped
files; or on CD to the editor.
December 10-11:
The 4th Ski Symposium , organised by Alpine Ski Club, Eagle Ski Club and
Alpine Club is to be held at Plas-y-Brenin. Places are still available,
2012
February 9-12:
ASC Meet, Scotland. Jonty Mills is organising a long weekend meet in the
Cairngorms, based at Boat of Garden.
Late February:
ASC Meet in the Pyrenees. Contact Sam Handley.
March:
ASC Meet to the Kazbegi region, Georgia. Contact Bruce Packard.
May 11:
Spring Lecture. Speaker TBA.
September UK Meet:
We are looking for an organiser for this meet.
October 12:
Autumn Lecture. Speaker TBA.
Robert Borgerhoff Mulder
editor@alpineskiclub.org.uk November 17/18 or 24/25:
Weekend meet incorporating AGM and Annual Dinner. This will not be
Black Tie, following the recent survey of members.
ASC Officers and Committee 2011
President
John Moore
Transceiver Manager
Paddy O’Neill
Vice Presidents
Bruce Packard
Transceiver Assistant
Vacant
Robin Chapman
Awards Convener
Sam Handley
Honorary Treasurer
Roger Upton
Web-site Manager
David Kirton
Honorary Secretary
Ingram Lloyd
Newsletter Editor
Committee
John Kentish
Archivists
Robert Borgerhoff
Mulder
Hywel Lloyd
Ingram Lloyd
The committee needs new members to help spread the load of the work. Do you have
PR/publishing/editing skills? IT skills? Want to help with coordinating the ASC Meets program?
Then please get in touch.
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