Cambridge University Mountaineering Club

A reminder that to attend CUMC meets – including Mile End - you MUST be a member of the club (this is for insurance reasons). If you were a member last year I will still need both form and payment for you to continue to be a member of the club this year.

Membership Info

• You MUST be a member of CUMC to attend club meets (this is for insurance purposes).
• Membership also allows you to borrow CUMC gear.
• Cost is £15 for one year.

How To Join

1. Complete membership form. This can be found here. You are required to agree to the constitution which can be found here

2. Post/UMS to: Helen Bromhead, Girton College, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0JG.

3. Pay £15 membership fee (see below for details)

Payment Instructions - please read carefully

• No cash payments please.

• Payment by bank transfer is strongly preferred. Please follow the instructions on the payment page. Please also write on the back of your membership form "£15 paid by bank transfer".

• If you are unable to pay by bank transfer, please send a cheque with your membership form, payable to Cambridge University Mountaineering Club. Please write on the back of your membership form "£15 cheque enclosed".

If you've yet to join in the riot of activity, sign up to the CUMC email list at this website. Jesus gym sessions Monday and Friday, meet famous (and not-so-famous) mountaineers at odd-Tuesday Wherry Library talks, regular Tuesday pub sessions, indoor meet Wednesday nights and outdoor meets every weekend. And if that's not enough, we fill in all the spaces with socials such as formal halls, curry nights, the infamous College Bar Race, Milton Brewery tour, movie nights and other shall we say 'miscellaneous' antics.

If you signed up at the Freshers Fair then the Freshers Email list will shortly be shut down. Click the link above to join the main email list.

Trad climbing, bouldering, sport, ice climbing, alpine mountaineering - find out what the CUMC is all about this Tuesday night 6-8pm at the Freshers Squash. Also your chance to sign up for the Freshers Meet (Sunday 18th of October).

The Wherry Library is located in the O staircase supervision room at Pembroke. To find O staircase, go into Pembroke through the main gate, and walk straight ahead. Go through the doors ahead of you and out the other side. Continue under an archway, and along to where the buildings kink to the left. O staircase is tucked away in the corner. The library is in the supervision room, which is down the stairs on the right, next to the laundry.

CUMC at the CUSU Societies Fair 2009 at Kelsey Kerridge Sports Centre (on Parkers Piece) is located up the Fenners Gallery (along with the Sports Clubs), at stand number T04. Be nice to the cavers sitting next to us.

During 2009 the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club had visited many of the classic climbing grounds of England, with the optimistic amongst us pointing out that Cambridge was the ideal place to be based for climbing, being equally as far from any of these. The many days spent on the sticky, sloppy grit of the Peak District and Yorkshire, the steep unforgiving severity of the Swanage limestone and the elegant climbs on the volcanics in beautiful settings of north Wales and the Lake District had left us needing somewhere that could offer something different and soon others minds were doing as mine does constantly and drifting north, so it was much to my delight that after some discussion Glen Coe was suggested.

Glen Coe, as a base, offers access to one of the widest range of classic mountain rock routes in the UK with climbs of all grades on small crags to towering mountains and also the possibility of excursions north, weather permitting. So it was with this prospect that the majority of attendees committed to a whole week to test ourselves in this most dramatic of arenas.

I enjoy the research that I am involved with in Cambridge but the Friday of our departure felt like it would never end with the anticipation of the drive north keeping me constantly distracted, the weather forecasts being studiously examined again and again in the hope that we should not be disappointed. So it was at 8:00pm that the anticipation was over and we started north with the plan being to drive until I felt too tired and then pull over for some sleep. The journey did not start well with heavy driving rain reducing visibility and making the A1 a tiring place to be so a decision was made to cut west early and cross the Dales to Penrith. This was exciting driving but the passengers began to feel the twists and turns somewhat and we had to stop to allow heads, and stomachs to settle. Eventually Penrith was reached and now we were through the rain and the motorways were clear. No hint of tiredness yet so we pushed on in to Scotland with Paul in charge of negotiating Glasgow which duly came and went, now we were to close to stop. The road closed sign at the Loch Lomond turn off also came and went with the rationale that we were sure that it wouldn’t be badly closed and no one would be working on it at 3:00 in the morning anyway. Our gamble paid off and we rolled in to Glen Coe at 4:30 and I was ready to climb, a quick run up curved ridge before breakfast, but my crew were less energetic. Apparently it had been to tiring being passengers for 8 hours so we resolved to sleep in Glen Etive until the Kinghouse Inn opened for breakfast.

So, it was over breakfast that the days plans were discussed; the rest of the group would not arrive till later in the afternoon. Fred, as I am now beginning to realise, characteristically was suggesting the mammoth undertaking that is The Chasm on Buachaille Etive Mor. I was still in the mood for a gentle warm up on the classic Curved Ridge and so we split in to two parties with Paul and I heading for the Curved Ridge and Fred and Igor downscaling targets to Ravens Gully from which it would be some time before they returned. The weather was initially overcast but soon began o break adding a patchwork of light and shade to the sparkling pools and glowing heather that spread out below across Rannoch Moor. From Curved Ridge the view was spectacular however the other party had committed to a damp and shady climb. Following lunch on Crowberry Tower, there must be few as fine lunch spots in Britain (a thought that passed through my mind on many a lunch break in the following week), we descended through Coire na Tulaich to the car and then down to the bunk house in Glen Coe where we met the later arrivals. With still plenty of light in the day the second group went for a whistlestop climb round Curved Ridge and managed to pick up the Ravens Gully party on their way back who had had a struggle with some possible new routing towards the top of their climb. Returning to the bunk house we cobbled together a form of dinner before a beer and route discussions for then next day. We would be splitting in to three parties tackling Rannoch Wall and Slime Wall on Buachallie Etive Mor and Clachaig Gully on Sgorr nam Fiannaidh, areas synonymous with classic rock climbs.

The next day dawned warm but I would see little of the sun as I had chosen to take on Clachaig Gully with Fred, possibly "the" classic gully and the prolonged bout of dry weather boded well for success. Meanwhile to continue the classic rock theme a larger party had headed to Agag’s Groove on Rannoch wall and another party to take on Bulger’s Revelation on Slime Wall. After 7 hours of climbing and more than 18 pitches Fred and I emerged rather damp and exhausted (at least I was) from our exploration through the depths of the gully. To complete a true mountain day we then added in a traverse of the Aonach Eagach with stunning views across to Bidean nam Bian, Mull and Ben Nevis. Returning at 7:30 we thought that we would likely be the last but returned to an empty bunk house. Everyone had been enjoying the day too much and so the planned trip to the supermarket was once again postponed. The late return from the days climbing restricted the opportunities for drinking but the Clachaig Inn still saw some custom.

With the weather set fair it was now time to head further a field and a number of us headed north to accomplish yet more classic rock routes leaving those behind to a day on Ben Nevis and a day on the Glen Nevis crags, not a bad alternative. The Northern bound parties first port of call was a route first climbed by Patey and Bonnington, exclaimed to be the "diff to end all diffs", Cioch Nose on Sgurr a' Chaorachain, now graded severe. The climb was spectacular with the highlight of stepping out on to the third pitch over around 150 m of very little with beautifully placed holds allowing full enjoyment to be taken from the exposed and dramatic position. Meantime, to the south Rich and Fred were tussling with the classic and sustained Whillans route of Centurion and the rest of the party, some nursing injuries spent the day on the classic Tower Ridge.

The northern group took advantage of the Torridon connection and spent an enjoyable evening in the youth hostel, hoping for the stable weather which would encourage a trip to Skye. And so the day dawned still and blue, providing the full North West Highland experience with midges so thick in the air that just walking through them was like resistance training but this encouraged greater haste in our departure. Unsurprisingly the midges still offered an encouragement to rapid action when we arrived in Glen Brittle with Coire Laggan and Sron na Ciche rising above us. We had decided that we should carry on the cioch theme and today a climb on to The Cioch via Cioch West was chosen. This would again provide us with a lunch spot to rival any in the UK. To the south a rest day had been planned with a day on the crags of Glen Nevis. Time had to be taken on Cioch West as the views could not be taken in through snatched glances but had to be soaked in through long draughts, with the inaccessible pinnacle cutting the skyline above Sgurr Dearg and the endless black gabbro chimneys and buttresses towering about us there is truly nowhere in Britain as intimidating, and yet enticing, to climb. It proved difficult to descend from our climb down the south spur of Sgurr Alasdair, not because of difficult ground, but due to the endless views across the isles with the turquoise of the Atlantic lapping against their dark outlines and the dramatic black ridge on which we stood thrusting upwards. It was time however, to return to Glen Coe and look for the next classic route to which our attention should be turned.

Since while we had been on our northward excursion the other parties had made spent time on Ben Nevis a different objective had to be sought and although the Crypt Route on Bidean nam Bian was tempting, the draw of the Etive Slabs provided an opportunity for a complete change in climbing styles. Two parties settled on the thought of protectionless friction climbing while a third party inspired by stories of the wet, vegetated loose rock encountered in Clachaig Gully chose to follow our route from earlier in the week, ensuring us that they would not take as long as our leisurely 7 hours on what was "only a severe". This point, we reminded them of when we went to meet them 2 hours after the pub had closed. The Long Reach and Spartan Slab were our targets on the Etive Slabs. Although Spartan Slab provided all the enjoyment I could require from a good climb with just enough friction, an overlap to surmount and an exhilarating traverse, just about as much enjoyment was had from watching and hearing the climbing on the adjacent Long Reach with run outs that seemed to never end and discussion of holds of which no trace could be seen. After finishing our route we waited for a time on the Coffin Stone for the others to join us but after a brief battle with the midges we admitted defeat and headed back to the car, picking off innumerable ticks, and enjoying the mirror reflections of Ben Cruachan in Loch Etive. After another enjoyable evening in the Clachaig Inn we eventually met up with our third party and were glad that everyone was back safe and well, if a little cold and tired.

Half the group were now heading back and the other half, including myself, were starting to show signs of fatigue so a day on the Glen Nevis crags was decided upon which provided an ideal relaxation to the end of the trip with our exit from the crag being immediately followed by the sort of downpour we had been expecting all week. A final night in the Clachaig allowed us to get through the selection of beers before trying to find a whiskey to suite each member of the group which I am unsure if was achieved but we all enjoyed the effort.

The long drive south was not the most enjoyable part of the trip but with the memories of 6 days of classic climbing and barely a drop of rain strong in our minds my only thought was when I would next be back.

Steven Andrews