[Fatboyslimfast2]

Whats the gossip around Geoff Weigand and The Groove that he dances around?

I think its where several house martins nests were removed as they were in the way...…

edit - just found the piece, not sure if its about Malham or the above as I think that was at Kilnsey..

[Will Hunt]

What was the story here?

Closer to home, scandal erupted in The Sunday Times with a well researched article by Peter Gillman. This alleged that a considerable number of new routes in Snowdonia were bogus. While nobody wanted to risk pushing the perpetrator over the edge, equally there was a duty to inform prospective ascensionists that these routes were almost certainly still unclimbed and the grades little more than guesswork.

[petejh]

The history section of the Groundup Gogarth guide mentions this.
A 'Mr X' of the Apollo Club claimed 26 new routes around the N.Wales area, including 4 on the Upper Tier at Gogarth, in 1967/68. All found to be bogus. It was also known as 'the McAllum Affair'.

''Nothing has been heard of Mr X since 1968''.
 

[Will Hunt]

There was a bit of that around Yorkshire limestone. In the 80s/90s I think. Some routes had been claimed around Attermire by one P.G..
Berzins and Sowden (I'd have to check) were on the crag on the day in question and didn't see the climber in question. The routes were climbed properly and given names like White Lies.

[webbo]

PG also claimed a lot of stuff in Lancashire and a couple of things at Ilkley.

[andy popp]

The history section of the Groundup Gogarth guide mentions this.
A 'Mr X' of the Apollo Club claimed 26 new routes around the N.Wales area, including 4 on the Upper Tier at Gogarth, in 1967/68. All found to be bogus. It was also known as 'the McAllum Affair'.

''Nothing has been heard of Mr X since 1968''.
 

If I remember, most of them were very futuristic and not actually climbed until much later and at grades no-one was climbing in the late 60s.

[duncan]

From Mick Ward, about British climbing in the 60s,
https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/the_vector_generation-12796

I enjoyed the article though I'm not convinced the 60s was more than a period of consolidation. Like the 90s, the drugs and music were too good and there was too much prosperity for an advance in climbing standards!

Grant Farquhar's magnificent The White Cliff is required reading if you're interested in this era. It gives much more background to the Holliwells than I ever knew. The McCallum affair is described in detail. A number of new routes were claimed - most notably four at Gogarth - which seemed implausible given their uncleaned state, ability of the first ascensionist, and his vagueness about partners. Ken Wilson wanted to call them out but a libel case would have bankrupted the fledgling Mountain Magazine. The wider world had a surprising level of interest in rock climbing at the time, there were a number TV programmes most famously Joe Brown et al on The Old Man of Hoy which I remember taking hours of TV over a weekend. Wilson and journalist/climber Peter Gillman were thus able to interest The Sunday Times (growing in reputation as an investigative newspaper under Harold Evans) who gave the story a big splash. This might seem like a sledgehammer to crack a nut but it helped make Wilson's reputation and gave him the confidence to confront Maestri over the much bigger fraud on Cerro Torre.

[jwi]

Pretty amusing list of the five worst routes in the south east of France:

https://www.grimper.com/news-le-top-5-pires-grandes-voies-sud-est

(with a special shout-out to Central Gully at Mam Tor, possibly the worst route the author did in the United Kingdom.)

[SA Chris]

Not sure what he was expecting, chossy gully on the chossiest "crag" in the Peak.

[Wood FT]

Deep and enjoyable interview with Craig Smith.

https://musclecoach1000.wixsite.com/omniconsumerproducts/post/an-interview-with-craig-smith

[andy popp]

That's pretty good. Weirdly I didn't read it, internally I mean, in Craig's very distinctive voice, which I can hear perfectly.

[JamieG]

Interesting URL there. Wasn't musclecoach recently banned from UKB for trolling the coronavirus threads.

[spidermonkey09]

Its almost like we all knew who it was from the start...what a sad sack.

[abarro81]

Dan should stick to interviews like that - was interesting to read (unlike his posts on here  )

[yetix]

Its almost like we all knew who it was from the start...what a sad sack.

That wasn't Dan. He's just named the site that.

[spidermonkey09]

That wasn't Dan. He's just named the site that.

Fair enough, I stand corrected. Doesn't change my characterisation though!

[cheque]

That wasn't Dan.

 

[mrjonathanr]

This is really good from Mick Ward. Excellent historical overview looking at UK climbing’s reverence for boldness.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/the_stone_children_-_cutting_edge_climbing_in_the_1970s-13297

[SA Chris]

Iain Edwards was always a dark horse wasn't he. Only place I've ever seen him mentioned is in the FA list of Baildon Bank. Good article.

[jwi]

This barely qualifies as chuffing, but quality none the less. Great article in the AAC:

The 8000-er mess
The history of climbing the world's highest peaks is not what it seems

I have very cursory interest in peak bagging, and even I have known for years that most of the top-claims on e.g. Annapurna are more than questionable. The problems seems to be wider than one would think, and possibly no one has actually climbed all fourteen 8000ers.

[T_B]

Most people on these peaks are on their holidays. No need to rain on their parade! It just doesn’t really matter now that all 14 have been climbed in less than 6 months. Yet there’s this obsession with 8000m peaks and western climbers thinking doing all of them is a thing. Also I think Damo is wrong, a lot of folk just want to go and experience climbing an 8000er and it’s less about the tick than is made out in the media. Away from Everest anyway.

No one (well hardly anyone) goes to the true summit of Mera. Does it matter? I’m not sure it does really. Most of the 4000m peaks in the Alps are climbed off lifts. The Breithorn?! Scafell Pike is a tougher climb.

Obviously it’s important to be honest which is why I’ve always said Adele Pennington was the first British woman to climb the foresummit of Manaslu (she was working for us). The team didn’t go to the true summit but they stuck it out in bad weather, lost loads of tents and had a great time.

[petejh]

Quality walking article.

[Will Hunt]

This made me think about the Inaccessible Pinnacle. There are a few blocky bits on top and it looks like getting to the top of them would involve a few moves of scrambling/climbing - i.e. more technical than walking. I can't remember which of these might have been the tallest, whether they are difficult to get to the top of, and I can't really remember whether we went to the top of any of them? Do the guides get people to go up those bits?

[SA Chris]

I can't remember which of these might have been the tallest, whether they are difficult to get to the top of, and I can't really remember whether we went to the top of any of them? Do the guides get people to go up those bits?

yes, or possibly no.

[Will Hunt]

Looks like this guy doesn't:


And this guy does:


Obvs I don't care because summits are for nerds