Christmas
meet, the infamous Christmas meet! Where to begin? Excitement had been building
all week at 24 Craighill, as the food order arrived and Toby’s free-range
turkeys were collected. On Friday the kitchen was a hive of Christmas activities
and delicious aromas. Callum was busy cooking a turkey joint, Katie was making
the veggie dinners and mince pies, while Marie oversaw the production of copious
amount of cinnamon biscuits (I helped her by eating plenty of the left-over dough, so she didn't have to make as many). Then, even more excitement, the new fleeces arrived! They are really pretty awesome, with different colours and ULMC on the front and the Station's logo on the back to recognise their sponsorship.
At
the same time, concern was also building over the ominous weather forecast, and
we all mentally upped our alcohol budget for the weekend. Another, perhaps more
major, concern was the lack of bus by Friday morning, the union having had some
key issues. Not being able to find it being the main one. The union then had
more issues when the recovered key was not fully functioning, and they wanted to move the bus. After much
palaver we were given a larger bus at a lower cost, which despite it being a
rattling and a generally pretty shoddy offering, was still a win. Everyone
piled in, and we were off! Adam driving one bus and Jim, having a made
Christmas meet reappearance, driving the other; while Katie, Marie and Remy enjoyed
the gear van.
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| Lovely looking weather! |
Despite
the gale-force winds, it was an uneventful journey. Marie even decided to
kindly not pull the door off this year and we arrived at Coetmor Mill hut in
good time. Peate, Jack Knight and Joel soon arrived to join in the fun too -
all the old boys (and defectors) were returning for Christmas! Obviously ULMC
is better than Liverpool – isn’t it Joel! Amy and Steve were also there, and it was
really nice to see so many familiar faces from previous years.
Drinking
soon commenced, and carried on late- save yourselves people, tomorrow is the
big one! Psyched for the climbing I knew wouldn’t happen tomorrow, I started a
game of add-one with Jack Knight, Steve and Chris, which developed into a
full-on epicley long route which traversed the roof beams back on itself twice
before looping back to the start holds. It was well gnarly. V13 at least. Or given
the length, probably more more like 9a. We
got Toby to make us a ‘wad video’ which, hilarious at the time, will no doubt
will resurface soon and we’ll have to bring ourselves to watch…
After
a few short hours of sleep it was time to get up and face the downpour that was
the world outside the hut. Bundled up in all of the raingear they could muster,
and nobly intending a bracing walk, Jim, Sam and Peate, took everyone off to
Ogwen Valley. Jack Knight, being a pansy man, decided to head to an indoor wall
with other pansy men like Howie and Chris R who were all of a sudden psyched for
climbing ;)
Here is Jim’s account of the walk:
Needless
to say people were pretty reluctant to get up on the Saturday morning due to a
combination of tiredness and the fact that it was raining sideways. However ,
we got going eventually and we all piled into my bus and Peate's car, planning
to go for a walk in the morning and mince in the afternoon. After pushing my
bus out of the mud, we set off along the Ogwen valley, where I started having
doubts over my plans to go up to Lliwedd from Pen-y-Pass. The gale force winds
and heavy rain didn't make the idea of a walk particularly appealing, so after
a brief consultation with Peate we decided to do a shorter walk instead, up to
Idwal Slabs. Because I am a cheapskate I refused to park at Ogwen Cottage and
instead used a free layby, meaning that everyone got totally soaked before we'd
even left the road- sorry about that! It was fair to say psych was not high.
Much moaning took place as we pushed through the maelstrom, with only the old
members seeming to have something approaching a good time.
We
had nearly reached llyn idwal when we decided enough was enough and bailed back
to our (thankfully still upright) bus. Much mincing followed, with Petes Eats
first on the list. Chips and hummus were discovered to great delight while
myself and Josh mineswept everyone else's leftovers until we felt a bit sick.
After out staying our welcome here, some decamped to V12, where Paddy spent
another few hundred quid on outdoor clothing, before heading to the pub in
Capel Curig. This seemed to go down pretty well for a few hours, probably due
to the roaring fire, before we emerged back into the pissing rain and wobbled
back to the hut for a well earned shower and dinner. No climbing, but we had a
go at doing something productive at least!
Committee
however were delighted to spend a morning indoors cooking the christmas dinner
for everyone else. Just to let you all know, we had a fantastic time. Remy made
us all a big pot of mulled wine to start the day. Then after I bagged the first
ascent of last night’s add-one route, ‘Just one more move wonder,’ Remy and
Callum set up a roped assault course in the bedroom, while downstairs Charlie,
Katie and Connor soon gave up trying to do Uni work under the effects of mulled
wine. Then we decorated biscuits, Charlie and Marie going for the high-class
perfect finish, while I went for the ‘feed the masses’ approach, cranking out
three times as many they did, with three times as little aesthetic beauty. Apparently that’s ‘not how you decorate
biscuits.’
Then
Remy taught me and Callum how to dry-tool and figure four hang which was great
fun!
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| The moment when a committee core workout session degenerated into this... |
Anyway, you’re probably wondering when the cooking happened. Well it started off with an oven that took Katie and I more than half an hour to figure out how to light, until Katie thankfully cracked it! Then Charlie figured out the timings while the rest got going chopping the veg - apart from Remy who was busy stopping the second Great Flood in the basement and rescuing all our gear in what was very much the nick of time!
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| This could have been part of the problem... |
On
the whole, things were going smoothly - we’d only forgotten knives, tea-towels
and oven gloves - until we realised that the oven was significantly shitter
than anticipated and the potatoes were never going to cook in time to free up
the oven for the rest of the veg and the meat. This was around 2pm - there was
no way in hell. We got inventive in our dire need. The parsnips and carrots
were boiled and then fried by Connor’s expert hand. The oven was fully stacked
and the microwave may or may not have been pressed into action. James McDonalds
impeccable timing and cooking ability was sorely missed it is fair to say, and
a slightly frazzled committee greeted the soggy group that traipsed in at
around 4pm. However we made it, just, and dinner was served in a room festively
decorated with gear and sweets – even the odd ice axe and dead-man anchor
adorned the walls. If the odd potato was slightly underdone I hope you’ll
forgive us!
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| Committee table! |
After the festivities of the meal,
Frosty arrived, the signal that drinking should begin in earnest! It certainly
did, and I name no names, but we all learnt more about each-other, some of us
even got christened anew, and others us even managed to get themselves punched
in the face. Amy, Charlie Marie and I strengthened our friendship some more (if
that was necessary), Frosty got psyched for Marxism and Toby alternated filming
with being the spectacle being filmed! I don’t think anything truly horrendous
happened this year, but everyone had a good time which is the main thing!
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| Chis and his harem |
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| Happy faces and lots of boulder pad chilling. |
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| "Bomber mate!" |
The
next day, far too early, the alarm went off and we dragged our hung-over selves reluctantly out of bed, and as the sky
lightened, we gazed morosely at the continued rain. Was it ever going to stop?
Pete’s Eats was really the only viable
option at that point so we went to enjoy the quality breakfast fare served
there. Pete’s is a brilliant café! It has saved many a hung-over soul. Their
hummus and chips can be highly recommended too! We also revived the ‘Ego Book,’
after finding a collection of old volumes detailing club escapades from the
90’s! We’re calling it the ULMC Logbook and it will hopefully bring much
entertainment to us and to future club members!
When the rain abated we packed off to
the slate quarries to quench the ever growing, and thus far unsatisfied hunger
for dry rock!
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| Hmmm.. will it be dry? |
Callum, Connor and Remy went to the
Sidings in Australia. Here is Callum’s account:
‘With help from the ‘cool bus’ Adam got
us to the slate in a somewhat safer state than on the way to the hut on Friday.
Greeting us at the familiar Sidings, was the entire Sheffield Uni
mountaineering club. Between the Sheffield top ropes and the newly formed
waterfalls we picked out the 3 remaining routes which were by no means dry - much
to Remy's pleasure!
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| Lots of action on the Sidings! |
After teaching Maddy and Sophie the
tricks to de-threading, Ben quickly got on his first lead of the day, he's
unsure of its name but said it may as well be called 'shitty arete' (a 4).
Connor abstained from the action at first, asking for a 'short 45 minutes
before thinking about climbing - the effects of Christmas meet!
Emma led Adam and Ross on another f4 with Adam noting that it was 'too easy to top rope'.
Paddy put to rest 'the punter' and claimed 'Orangatang Overhang' (6a+), and was
often seen bullying John into following him up anything with bolts in.
After a 5+ Remy decided to return to his nemesis which he decked out on a year ago, followed Sheffields’ chalky hand prints (they'd "literally covered the whole arete" he says) up to the 3rd clip before proceeding to fall off 3 times. He put this down to it not being in condition, claiming he needed nevé ice to really bag this one.
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Emma led Adam and Ross on another f4 with Adam noting that it was 'too easy to top rope'.
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| Eying up the lower off! |
After a 5+ Remy decided to return to his nemesis which he decked out on a year ago, followed Sheffields’ chalky hand prints (they'd "literally covered the whole arete" he says) up to the 3rd clip before proceeding to fall off 3 times. He put this down to it not being in condition, claiming he needed nevé ice to really bag this one.
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| The Quarry always looks awesome! |
The rest of the day continued with everyone ticking each other's climbs, including Sophie's and Kyle's first sport leads which were also both a little wet so top efforts!
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| Sophie pulling cool shapes! |
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| Adam too |
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| While, Maddy keeps her cool! |
At around 3, knowing we only had an
hour till we needed to leave, Remy and I decided that if we ran then we could
just about get him up Plastic Soldiers (6a) - and run we did. After the warm up
jog Remy dispatched the route and after seeing the time I knew we wouldn't have
time to second it. Whilst Remy set up and abbed off the top out bolt/spike to
retrieve the gear I sprinted up the many scree slopes to the top of the route
to dismantle said abseil whilst Remy sorted the ropes, off again we continued
our hour long sprint, arriving back to the group and hitting the road at 4.30
dead as planned! A great day considering storm Desmond the previous day'
‘Team Girls’, and Toby meanwhile
enjoyed the delightful nearly flat walk-in up to Plateau Slabs where we were
greeted by only slightly damp slate. It was enough and people got on it ASAP,
while Jim and Frost went off in search of harder stuff. Charlie and I began by
teaching, newcomer Chris W to lead belay, and got some general ticking done
with him.
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| Busy at the crag! |
William, having learnt to lead last meet, was on it, dispatching
route after route. Tom climbed with him and after a nap in the bus seemed to have
recovered his faculties following a heavy night. They both led Colin’s arête,
4c, then Will took on Margic Carpet 5a and Carpe Diam, 5c, time for some 6a’s
next!
Howie
and Chris were unexpectedly fully psyched for ropes. Howie and Jack worked
Monster Munch, 6c+, Howie stating that ‘I must be ill’ when we questioned his newfound
psyche! Chris, meanwhile, was psyched
for seconding so got me to climb the 6b at the end of the slab. I, not feeling hung-over at all until this
point, was precipitated into a pretty bad state of queasiness after a length
slide off the crux- thanks Chris.
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| Sam and Anthony - what a great photo! |
There was plenty compulsory
Christmas-meet mincing going on too, Toby went for a wander up to the top of
the Tower, and Marie went for a wander…back down to the bus to get her harness.
Jim and Frost ended up going for a rather longer wander without once finding
anything dry worth trying in for!
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| Marie's wander. |
Katie
however, got on the 6b, and despite falling, led it all the way to the top,
which was awesome! Anthony then did the same, clearly they’d had far too much
sleep last night! Marie after retrieving her harness, completed a clean 6a
onsight of Slate Ninja. First 6a, brilliant effort!
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| Marie on a earlier route, looking serious. |
After some teaching, I belayed Steve who
was top-roping his nemesis 6c+, Monster Munch, which had spat him off last
year. I had a top-rope too, and in the last hour, Howie, Jack, Steve and I all
had a redpoint. Howie came really close, ‘2mm close,’ explaining foot was just
that tiny bit too low; unfortunately there wasn’t time for another go or he’d
have got it for sure.
Jack and Steve got it next, Jack having no problems and Steve
cruising up it in his new Tenaya edges! Nice one! Then it was my go. Cruising
is perhaps not the best way to describe my ascent; I kept having to stop every
few moves to calm my stomach and hold on tight, trying really hard not to
vomit! Things got pretty close it’s fair to say. Definitely need a new UKC
category for ‘hardest hung-over lead.’
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| Psyched for ropes! |
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| I love this photo! Brilliant move from Marie, Jack about to go for the finishing jug and Chris on a rope! |
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| Toby just visible at the top of the Plateau Slabs tower |
However we had had a good day, better than anyuone could have hoped, judging by the rain in the morning at least! So we said goodbye to lovely Snowdonia for the year and headed back to meet the others and share stories at Telford. Although not as much climbing got done as we’d have liked, Christmas meet was once again a success. Thanks for an awesome first term of meets everyone who’s been there, come again next term and we’ll have our fingers crossed for more luck with the weather!
Thanks to Kyle, Joel, Howie, Emma, Charlie, Sam and Marie for photos :)
