York Alpine Club Blog

The last meet saw us heading to Crianlarich. Unfortunately, the ideal winter climbing conditions did not last and there was a thaw just before our visit.  However, that did not deter Rob, Will & Paul from heading up a day early. After a not particularly early start they headed up to Ben Nevis and climbed 2 pitches of The Curtain (IV, 5) before an abseil retreat.

By the time they […] Read the rest

We spent most of Saturday running across snow covered moors in the Peak District on the first RAB Mini Mountain Marathon of the season. Which isn't really relevant to this blog, but I have to mention it so I can drop in the fact that I finished 9th out of 183 – success is rare so I need to make the most of it when I can!

Anyway, after this […] Read the rest

The sun was shining on Saturday morning so I fired off a quick email to the club and rushed off to Slipstones for a spot of bouldering. Despite only being 25 minutes from my front door, Rob and Paul miraculously managed to get there before me - probably something to do with the fact that they were on route to the Goat (apparently the weather was rather gloomy in York) when they saw my email. That and the small matter of a cooked breakfast and second pot of tea between emailing and leaving the house!

It's time for YAC to enter the 21st Century, Rob and I headed to Blea Water Crag, with a video camera in the pack. ....

another good turn out at harrogate last night with a dozen members and prospectives pairing up to climb. With no new routes since last week we ticked a whole range of grades, Peri managed not to scare any young boys, C3 spanned the arch of doom and dave d attempted a 6c. What is the world coming to.

Greens 6 : Rob 0
Last week The Goat changed yellows, blues and greens and on a short trip on Monday evening I failed on every new green route :-( I can usually puff my way up about half of the greens so I was a tad disappointed with my performance.

We didn't have the best of preparation for this year's Dark Mountains. First Carmen went down with her annual cold/cough, then I duly caught it and turned it into full blown man flu. A week off work was followed by another week wishing I was off work, then the morning of the race I was so tired I thought about pulling out.

But it's become my favourite event of […] Read the rest

On Sunday Steve, Rob and I met up at Sutton bank on the Western edge of the Moors for a walk, having hatched a plan the day before at the Thirsk adventure film festival. The weather forecast was looking good compared to areas further west, overcast but dry, with a chilly winter wind.

When Dave Wiffen emailed the club asking if anyone fancied a trip to the Lakes for some winter climbing I was immediately tempted. Having had no opportunity for winter climbing last winter I was keen to try and get out this year. It turned out Rob & Paul were already planning a trip the same day – so we all went together. Brown cove crags or Blea water were mentioned […] Read the rest

Given that the weather forecast suggested the best winter conditions in the lakes this year Will and I decided to try Pinnacle Ridge on Great Gable. The start of the day in York, a leisurely 7:30 (for winter climbing at least) was promising, even in York it was freezing. Conditions just got better the closer we got to the lakes, arriving at the bottom of Honister Pass we had to […] Read the rest