Belfry Bulletin Number 248

- 128 BELFRY BULLETIN

Improvements at the Belfry The caravan has been stripped and is now brought down to the chassis which is being given to Walt Foxwell.

NOVEMBER

An attempt is being made to clear the ‘cowsh’ from the Belfry track by the farm method of brushing muck off the hardcore surface. So far it seems to be working well. The old stove in the Belfry (only two years old!) has been replaced with a fairly new plush enamel surfaced type – it is said to be much more economical with the choke – about three hoppers full per day instead of over double that number.

Vol. 22 No.11 No. 248 __________________________________________ ????????????????????????????????????????????????

Regarding the new Belfry a meeting is being called with the Somerset Playing Fields Association and representatives of the Club.

More details later.

Walt Foxwell has fenced both his side and the clubs edge of the new track with the required style and fencing posts. The club has supplied posts and barbed wire for this purpose. As soon as the modifications have been made within Walt’s yard his wall can be breached and the cattle grid at the entrance to the Belfry car-park can be laid. When the new track comes into operation members are asked to bear in mind that they are not able to use this track and that they must park their vehicles in the Belfry car-park.

Arrangements are being finalised with the Wookey Paper mills regarding the lease of their land that will make the shape of the Belfry site ‘square’ and the later we can extends the car park to the other side of the new track.

--------------------------------------------------------EARLY REMINDER – SUBS ARE DUE ON JANUARY 31st. 1968!!

--------------------------------------------------------GREEN SHIELD – PINK SHIELD – ‘FAG’ COUPONS are still wanted.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP THE BELFRY TO HAVE A GOOD SET OF TOOLS CROCKERY EATING IRONS ETC. THEN GIVE ALL YOUR COUPONS STOP TO PHIL TOWNSEND OR GORDON TILLY now.

They cost you nothing!!

1968

Contents: A.G.M. Report Letter SPEECH COMMUNICATION UNDERGROUND Monthly Notes No. 19 CUTHBERT’S PRACTICE RESCUE Simpson to Swinsto Climbing Notes

129 130 131 133 134 135 136

-----------------------------------------------------------

Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas Westhaven School, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Hut Warden: P.T. Townsend, 154, Sylvia Ave., Bristol. 3.

Editor: D.J. Irwin, 23 Campden Road, Bristol. 3.

BS3 1QA Price 1/6

- 129 REPORT ON THE 1968 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING B by ‘Alfie’

Whether it was the effect of holding an A.G.M. for the first time on licensed premises or just a fluke, the exact quorum needed for the meeting to start was obtained at the exact time advertised, an the meeting thus got away to a good start.

“Sett” was immediately elected chairman, in accordance with the tradition of the last few years. Immediate business such as calling tellers and collecting ballot papers and resolutions was soon over, and the first report presented by the Hon. Sec.

In a brief and factual report, he listed the work which he has got through during the year, but he said he had been held up on one or two points by not having the address of one of the club’s trustees. This was immediately produced for hum and after some discussion on the trustees in general, it was decided not to ask for any changes.

This report was followed by that from the Hon. Treas. He said that the effect of raising the membership fee had not adversely affected the membership. The Hut Fund was doing well, but more members should contribute. It was agreed that Jock Orr should try and get some money for the fund during the dinner. (£10 was raised Ed.) Some £751 had been raised since the last A.G.M. A query about the Ina Dear Memorial Fund led to some discussion, and it was agreed that Bob Bagshaw could reinvest this fund together with the interest to date, in whatever he thought best. More publicity should be given to the fund, as there had not been a single applicant yet.

The Caving Secretary’s report followed. The year started badly due to the foot and mouth epidemic, but activities had increased, in particular digging at St. Cuthbert’s. The Guest Leader system had produced two guest leaders. There was no discussion on this report.

To the surprise of those present, the Tacklemaster produced a written report. We now had 960ft. of ladder and 1,418ft. of rope. In reply to a question from the chair, he said that the recommendations of last year’s A.G.M. had resulted in nylon being used throughout for rope.

Due to a sudden attack of appendicitis, the Hut Warden was not able to be present or to give his report, and this was agreed to be left out and supplied later for records.

The B.B. Editor then gave his report. Many changes had been made since the new Editor took over, and more were contemplated. However, the policy was to keep the unique features of the B.B. as built up by past editors. The Caving Publications were now (once again) in the same hands as the B.B. This report was greeted with acclaim.

The Caving Publications report followed. The Editor, Bryan Ellis, announced his retirement as part of his ‘master plan to remove all his caving responsibilities’. He said that he was still prepared to act as distributor for these and other publications. During the discussion on the report, Dave Irwin said that Bryan had edited the caving reports for ten years, and had built up a series of serious reports of which the club could be proud.

A vote of thanks to Bryan was recorded.

The Librarian’s report came next. He said that more use has been made of the library, but he was somewhat concerned about the number of books outstanding, in some cases by as much as three years. A discussion followed, at which it was agreed to leave the disciplinary action to the new committee. A suggestion was made that the offender’s names should be printed in the B.B. – so if you have a library book out, you have been warned!

After an interval for tea no actual tea to drink, as members had been drinking beer pretty steadily since the meeting opened (another advantage for the venue!) The Belfry Engineer gave his report. He said that owing to imminence (?) of the new Belfry, only a minimum of work had been done on the present structure.

During the discussion, it was asked why Walt did not use the new track. The Hon. Sec. explained the position, and it appeared that all was well and that Walt well be using it soon.

- 130 The final report was on the Long Term Plan by Alfie. As time was beginning to be short, he gave a brief synopsis of the report, but said that after many delays in the negotiations, it would appear that we would definitely get a grant and it would definitely be 50%. However, it was still a year away, and he expected that the actual cheque would arrive so that building would occur in 1970. He had one more meting to organise and then one with the representative of the National Playing Fields Association at the Belfry site. After this, there would be nothing to do for a year and, knowing this, he had not put his name forward for the 1969 committee since there was no more to do. There would, however, be a lot to do in 1970 and he would be available then if required. A vote of thanks was given to Alfie.

The first members’ resolution was that proposed by ‘Sett’ and Mike Palmer advocating a two tier committee structure and which was circulated to all members before the meeting. This provoked a long discussion. The Chairman said that he intended to stimulate a discussion on this point. He had seconded the resolution so that the point could be debated. A further issue was brought into the debate – that of the method by which we elect the committee members and whether we should elect people to individual offices rather than to the committee generally. Many points if view, representing a wide selection, were made by various speakers.

Eventually, both the resolution and a proposal to elect by individual office were defeated (2 in 8 in favour respectively). The general opinion was summed up by Bob Bagshaw who said that he felt that the present system was the most workable.

A resolution that the A.G.M. starting the morning in future, proposed by Andy MacGregor and seconded

by Mike Palmer was passed (20-3).

A resolution that the Cuthbert’s Guest leader System be made permanent, proposed by Dave Irwin and seconded by Roy Bennett was passed (24-1).

A resolution that the articles of association produced for the Long Term Planning Committee be used to form the basis of a more formal constitution, proposed by Alfie and seconded by Phil Townsend, was passed (20-0) nem. Con. This will be submitted by Alfie to the 1969 Committee.

The chairman declared the meeting closed at 5.45pm.

Ed. Note: - This report, will compiled by the same person as the Official Minutes, differs from these by being condensed to some extent – and by being presented in a rather more ‘chatty’ form.

---------------------------------------------------------------LETTER ‘Homeleigh’ TO Bishop Sutton THE To the Editor, B.B. EDITOR Dear Sir At the recent A.G.M., a number of questions arose on which discussion had to be curtailed owing to lack of time. In particular, the idea of a second committee, and the whole question of how we elect club officers saw a number of strong views expressed without time for these to be fully developed by their protagonists.

Many members would, I think, agree that there is not sufficient time at formal meetings for these ideas to be given a good kicking around.

What happens, of course, is that anyone who has an idea of this type does his best to sound out club opinion by suitable nattering at the Wagon, the Hunters and the Belfry – even, perhaps, down a cave. I understand that a suggestion has been made that a certain day in the month is going to be advertised as one on which older members could well forgather. Might it not be a good idea to advertise a time and a place at which everyone who held any views on club matters could turn up and give those views an airing? With any luck, this might not only clear the air before the A.G.M.’s and Committee Meetings and provide committee members with a ‘sounding board’ to get the feel of club opinion, but it could provide a useful training ground for future committee members. Members who live in the district would get a good idea of how any particular bloke would behave if he were elected to the committee; what he proposed to do, and how well he was likely to do it.

- 131 The idea of an ‘Upper House’ has been decisively rejected by the club and the legislation might well have been complicated, but a ‘Lower House’ needs no legislation at all, and might provided the ordinary member of the club (of which I am example) with a chance to keep abreast with current thought and to contribute any ideas we might have. It would be interesting to see what your readers think of the idea of such an informal get together from time to time.

S.J. Collins, 7-10-68.

----------------------------------------------------------------During the last decade several people have attempted to communicate from the SPEECH surface to underground by various methods. The most reliable of these, at present, is COMMUNICATION probably the compact “Stenophone” using a single insulated wire and earth return system. Communications up to 20 miles may be had with a pair of these units.

However, underground they suffer from two disadvantages.

UNDERGROUND by ‘PREW’

1) Difficult to maintain continuous communication with the surface whilst moving due to having to wind or unwind the wire onto a reel and repositioning the earth connection.

2) The wire itself is a nuisance and must be laid with care away from routes where cavers may inadvertently cause damage to it. This is difficult in many cases, particularly on a rescue where speed is essential.

Despite these disadvantages and hand held telephone is easy to use and reasonably robust. With the above disadvantages in mind it was decided to attempt underground communication by one of other two methods.

1) Radio Frequency Transmission or 2) Magnetic Induction system.

Unfortunately R.F. transmissions suffer from high losses when passed though solid media such as rock or water. These losses occur at all frequencies except low ones in the region of the Long Wave Band and lower. A small transmitter was built and used with a conventional transistor portable but the range of the system was far too small. An increase in transmitter power would be possible but then one would fall foul of the G.P.O. and it is very doubtful whether a licence would be granted for rescue purposes. The reason being that Long Wave is usually reserved for world wide submarine communications.

With the above problems in mind the second system was attempted. The principle of Magnetic Induction System is simple to understand. A magnetic field shows little or no loss when it passes through a medium such as limestone. It can be shown that if a point (e.g. the receiver) moves away from the centre of a coil of wire that is generating a magnetic field then the field at the point decreases as the inverse cube (i.e. if the distance is doubled the field will be reduced by eight times). This means that if any great distance is to be used a high magnetic field will be needed.

Assuming that a high magnetic field can be produced it now has to be varied in amplitude and frequency on order to convey speech. This may be done by the use transistor amplifiers (Ref.1). Thus the transmitter consists of a powerful amplifier, a telephone battery and a coil of wire capable of producing the magnetic field. The receiver will consist of a similar coil of wire followed by an amplifier that can magnify the small signals that will be picked up by the coil. This amplified signal will be passed on to a pair of earphones.

It is interesting at this stage, to note that before the advent of high power transistors this apparatus would have not been practical in a portable form. Had it been constructed using thermonic valves, the power supplies (in battery form) would have been enormous. However, transistors have come to the rescue and the whole transmitter/receiver (for 2 way communication) and batteries can be contained in two small ammunition boxes. The aerial coils alone remain the problem. By necessary, for communication over a reasonable distance, say 500ft., the aerial coils must occupy the largest area practical and contain as many turns of wire as possible. If these two conditions are upheld then the aerial will become somewhat bulky and difficult to move.

- 132 However there is some consolation in that the shape of the aerial coil is relatively unimportant (not so if the device is to be used for surveying or direction finding) and it may be unwound from a small drum onto the floor of some convenient chamber. The problem of moving still exists!

Enough has been said about the advantages and disadvantages of the Magnetic Induction System, practical results are what really count.

A simple transmitter and receiver were built using, not speech, but a continuous tone. The aerial coil was only 18” diameter and the transmitter was only capable of supplying a few watts of power into the aerial coil.

This apparatus was used to transmit the tone from Goatchurch Cavern to the hill directly above. The equipment was moderately successful and the tone was picked up though some 50 or so feet of rock. It was obvious a more powerful transmitter and a more sensitive receiver were needed. This modified apparatus was eventually built and was capable of supplying nearly 100 watts of power into the aerial coil, it also had an improved receiver. The first snag was that 50 cycles mains hum caused by earth currents associated with the electricity grid system being picked up by the sensitive receiver. This has now been overcome by filtering similar to that used on the G.P.O. telephone system.

This new equipment was tried out in St. Cuthbert’s Swallet from High Chamber to the surface. The transmitter was taken underground and set up with an aerial coil 1 metre in diameter. The receiver was placed on the surface as near vertical above the transmitter as could be ascertained from the survey. The receiver aerial was also 1 metre in diameter. Due to our unfailing confidence in the system a single wire telephone was laid to High Chamber so that communication could be obtained in the unlikely event of the Magnetic Induction System not working! The first results were disappointing as no signals were received.

The transmitter coil was then unwound on the floor of High Chamber to form a coil of about 4 metres in diameter. The receiver aerial coil remained at 1 metre. Immediately a signal was received on the surface, firstly a tone was transmitted followed by speech. When used with a continuous tone it was possible to locate the approximate position of High Chamber on the surface. This was made possible by the directional properties of the aerials. This experiment would appear to give approximately to same position as indicated by the survey.

The conclusions of these experiments are simply these: - Firstly, a large aerial coil at least 4 metres in diameter is needed if a reasonable range of operation is to be had, this means that the equipment can only be used in certain parts of a cave and difficulty would be experienced in moving the apparatus quickly from one point to another. Secondly, more power is needed from the transmitter involving bigger and heavier batteries and the difficulty in obtaining larger transmitter. At present the transmitter will last for about 45 minutes on a battery that cab be housed in a .303 ammunition box.

Ref: - Proceedings of the British Speleological Association Papers presented to the Annual Conference.

No.1. August 1963 - “A Device for Surveying and Speech Communication Underground” - H. Lord, B.Sc., Ph.D. p.25.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE BELFRY…………..

The role of Hut Warden is at best an unwelcome task. In the coming year it is hoped that the load could be shared between the users of the Belfry. As Hut Warden I cannot be present as often as is necessary. As far as possible, when necessary, a deputy will be appointed for the weekend whose task will be merely to collect the dues and look after the keys. Also he will ensure that the Belfry is left tidy. The ‘Temporary Bed Sheet’ will be returned to me during the following weekend together, of course, with the money. I ask for the co-operation of all members using the Belfry to make this scheme work.

Phil Townsend Hut Warden.

- 133 About mid-October an eight foot deep hole appeared in the field opposite MONTHLY NOTES the garage near the ‘Belfry’. It was immediately fenced by the tenant farmer – No.19 Walt Foxwell. Walt was approached by Roger Dors, who incidentally has been By ‘Wig’ been caving for a couple of years now who asked him if he could dig there with helpers but was refused.

The reason being that the lead in the sub-soil would cause harm to his cows who graze there.

Its interest lies in fact that St. Cuthbert’s lies about 100yds. to the S.W. and should a system lie in this area and possible connect with the Cuthbert’s system then it could have proved to be worth while a dig.

Various holes have been reported to exist under the garage but they have always been quickly filled in.

Another site if interest is opposite the entrance to the ‘Belfry’ drive. Two sinks exist about 10 and 30ft. respectively from the road. Permission was sought form the Farmer earlier in the year by ‘Wig’, ‘Prew’ and Bob Craig but were refused because the farmer had seen three cavers hoping over the wall to ‘inspect’ the site. The gated entrance to the field was only 50yds. away! Perhaps it might be the time to remind members to use the gateway to any field.

HUNTERS HOLE – Dear’s Ideal This has been dug on several occasions in the past and is now currently being dug by the Emborough team – Keith Franklin and Phil Coles. The latest report is that there are two dangerously poised boulders at the entrance to the dig that have to be cleared out of the way before digging can commence. Cavers inspecting the site should be warned of this potential danger.

St. Cuthbert’s Swallet – Report Part ‘A’ Discovery and Exploration. 36 pp Price 6/-.

The second part of the planned 15 part report on the cave was published on the 5th October at the Annual Dinner and within the first week on sale was out of print – such was the demand! A further printing is taking place and more copies should be ready for sale by earlier December and those of you requiring a copy should contact Dave Irwin or Gordon Tilly at the Belfry or through the post to Bryan Ellis. The ‘reserve copy’ list of people is growing and it seems that the second 100 copies will sell out pretty quickly – so again get your name on the list now. The advantage of having your name on the reserve list is that you get all parts of the report a week before publication date and you can be sure of getting a copy before it goes out of print; this applies to both members and non-members.

The third part of the report ‘Gour Hall Area’ will be available in January. This will include a detailed survey of the area (totalling 968ft. of surveyed passage) description, Route Severity Diagram and photographs. The Rabbit warren and Rabbit Warren Extension and Catgut will be ready for sale about Febmarch time – price about 3/- each.

St. Cuthbert’s – Dining Room Dig. A 30ft. extension was broken into during mid-October.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the 18th century, Dr. Calcott of the Temple Church, Bristol was studying the great flood at the time of Noah when he visited Hutton Cave (now lost). And wrote about the bones that had been found in the cave – they confirmed that the flood had completely covered the earth and that the water had poured away down swallets and holes in the ground. He added “How else could we account for bones discovered in caves fathoms deep beneath the earth?”

‘The Times’ carried an article on Mendip Caverns on the 10-8-1882.

Overhear in the Waggon and Horses…

“Wow…I was just wondering if I knew her sister – then I realised it was probably her mothet”.

- Bxxby Bxshxw Overheard at the Belfry….

“If the Hut Warden has difficulty in keeping the Belfry clean why don’t we have a paper ‘Belfry’ and burn it each week” Pxxl Kxxgstxn

- 134 As is now custom, a full scale mock rescue was held this year in St. Cuthbert’s Swallet on September 15th. The main object of this years exercise was to try and acquaint other club’s rescue teams with routes and difficulties involved in a rescue from St. Cuthbert’s. To this end the B.E.C. team was augmented by Shepton Mallet C.C., Wessex and Westminster members. The rescue may best be summarised by abstracts from the log and various comments made at the time.

11.30hrs.

12.30hrs.

13.15hrs.

13.45hrs

ST. CUTHBERT’S PRACTICE RESCUE by Keith Franklin

Victim and party (1) into cave.

Carry started from just below Plantation Junction Carry at point just upstream of Dining Room. Telephone laid to top of Everest.

Change over to party (2) at top of Boulder Chamber.

The time for the first section was 1½ hours. The carry was fairly simple with little difficulty. Party (1) were very tired and perhaps the changeover point could be re-sited at the bottom of Boulder Chamber.

14.10hrs.

14.30hrs.

14.40hrs.

15.10hrs.

15.25hrs.

Carry in Maud Hall.

Carry at start of the Wire Rift.

Near serious accident, when foot square of false stal. flooring collapsed under weight of member of carrying party causing him to fall 10ft. He was unhurst.

Difficulty in Wire Rift.

Changeover to Party (3) at bottom of Ledge Pitches.

The second section took 1hr. 35mins. The Wire Rift proved difficult in spite of the lessons learned in the previous practice held there. There were no other problems found on route. Again, perhaps, the changeover should be made earlier, say in the middle of the Wire Rift to help solve some of the problems there. There was also insufficient care in the handling of the victim during this carry. (Ed. Note: - Yes, I agree. After passing the ladder at the bottom of the Wire Rift poor positioning of the carrying team resulted in about 3 out of the 7 doing any effective work).

15.40hrs.

16.10hrs.

16.20hrs.

Carry at top of Ledge Pitches.

Carry at top of Arête.

Changeover to Party (4)

The time taken for the third part of the rescue was 55mins. No difficulties were found in the actual carry although some confusion existed in who was in command of this party. It is essential that only one person controls the rescue at any ONE time. The pulling up the Arête was unsatisfactory in that there was too much jerking on the hauling rope.

16.35hrs.

16.37hrs.

16.50hrs.

Pull started up Entrance Pitch Carry at top of Entrance Rift Victim out of cave.

With the final section taking 30mins. the total time of the rescue was 4½ hrs. which was a distinct improvement on the last full scale attempt. The Old Route offers considerable advantages over the New Route for certain types of rescue and now some definite policy will be needed as to which route shall be used. The exercise was a complete success in its intention of introducing other clubs to the rescue problems found in St. Cuthbert’s and indeed of giving rescue experience in general. It is very interesting to note that both Parties (1) and (2) were very tired at the end of their carry of approx 1½hrs. Yet in Swildons carries of up to 6 hours are common. Perhaps this is why rescues are so long in Swildons. Maybe next year the B.E.C. should hold its full scale rescue in Swildons using an exchange party system.

In all 32 people took part inn the rescue with only 10 from the B.E.C.

- 135 Personnel involved in the practice Rescue were: P. Franklin – Victim K. Franklin – Surface Organisation Carrying Teams: R. Craig D. Gillespie M. Mills D. Harding A. Butcher M. Pryor B. Ellis A. Phillpott D. Godden D. Tombs S. Potler R. Witcombe D. Everett A. Tricky O.C. Lloyd M. Morley

Shepton Mallet C.C.

Wessex C.C.

S. Tuck Telephones R. Cross

R. Bennett D. Herbert M. Webster P. Townsend A. Meaden D. Irwin D. Turner W. Ball K. Barber G. Bull D. Kelly R. Ausell P. Sievert

B.E.C.

W.S.G.

U.B.S.S.

K. Franklin. _______________________________________________________________________________________ The SIMPSONSWINSTO NONEXCHANGE by John Riley

The 12th October was quite a wet Saturday following a rather wet week. We were told that the Simpson-Swinsto link would not be impossible under the conditions but ‘rather interesting’. This remark did not help us to overcome the festering instinct but the trip did not turn out to be so desperate as thought: although is was quite sporting.

Phil Kinston, Colin Priddle and John Riley intended joining Bill Ball and others of the Westminster S.G. in an exchange trip.

Eventually the tackle was sorted out and two parties decided on. Bill Ball, 2 others of the W.S.G. and the B.E.C. contingent set off to tackle Simpsons. The other party after a much later start (it was learned late) tackled Swinsto.

The first 500ft. of Simpsons are not too strenuous crawl, after which the streamway falls rapidly in a series of pitches, some quite wet but not greater that 35 feet until the final pitch (Slit Pot) of 80 feet.

The entrance to Slit Pot involves squeezing through a very tight slit and sliding down carefully on to the ladder which hangs in the water for the full 80ft. The bottom of Slit Pot is just before the final pitch in Swinsto.

On reaching the bottom of the pitch no sign could be seen of the other party and the Swinsto streamway was followed to the next pitch where 45 minutes ‘kip’ was had to the deafening roar of the waterfall. A trip back to Slit Pot; another 30 minutes wait and still no sign of the other party. It was decided to visit the pitch again before returning through Simpsons in order to make utterances up the pot – but I doubt if anyone heard above the roar of the water!

The return through the slit did not prove to be as difficult as feared and we were soon sitting in the New Inn where Kingston and Pope couldn’t keep their eyes off the barmaid.

The other party had reached Slit Pot about an hour after we had left after having a very late start and an extremely wet trip. However, in spite of not making the exchange it was a very worthwhile trip.

- 136 Unfortunately little has been heard from the more active climbers, especially the ‘Hard CLIMBING men’. Perhaps they are too busy pushing up their standards to bother – come on, let’s have a NEWS… write up of some desperate route. by Malcolm Llanberis Pass camping under the Grochan, seems to have been as popular as ever this Holt year. One just never seems to be able to exhaust the supply of climbs. However, I think, a change is needed – perhaps a visit to the Lakes, Cornwall or the Gritstone country.

A particularly interesting climb proved to be ‘Meshack’ (HVS) at Tremadoc. Accompanied by Pete Sutton and Bob Sell we manage to muster up enough courage to have an attempt despite the very wet and saturated rock. The first pitch, a delicate slab, resembled a waterfall and so we decided to ‘borrow’ the first pitch from another climb. This proved reasonably straight forward except for patches of mud. We were soon on the first stance where we joined several others. Fortunately, there was ample room and we made ourselves fairly comfortable whilst waiting for another party to finish off our climb. At length we saw the last man disappear from view and Pete led off in brilliant form negotiating a series of difficult crux moves, consisting of awkward mantelshelves, laybacks and a hand traverse made even more difficult by cascading streams pouring over the rock. Protection for the leader proved fairly good, there being several good jam nut runners and also a well placed peg which could be used for aid but probably made the move more difficult (as I found out).

Clogy Moss was visited by Dave Stele and accomplice. An attempt was made at ‘Narrow Crack’. They were forced to retreat from the third pitch due to wet rock, and after abseiling down were unable to retrieve their rope. Upon returning the following day, after quite a struggle, they finally managed to retrieve the rope. The rope, after being out through the night in heavy wind and rain would make a better caving rope than climbing rope – any offers? (any comments – Ed!).

Ever thought of doing the north face of the Eiger? Ian Clough, who accompanied Chris Bonnington in the first successful British attempt, gave an entertaining lecture at Reading University the other week.

Apparently the two Swiss who were climbing at the same time as them with virtually no climbing experience managed to make it to the summit. Whilst a fairly competent English and German team fell to their deaths, which goes to show there is a fair amount of luck involved. An excellent book on the subject is ‘The White Spider’ by Heirich Heller which gives fairly detailed accounts of all ascents plus a route guide.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ADDRESS CHANGES S. Grime, Flat 8, 27 Hope Street, Inverkiething, Fife.

A. Meaden, 127 Mudford Road, Yeovil, Somerset.

M. Webster, 43 Stroud Road, Patchway, Bristol.

R. Richards, 6 Spring Street, Paddington, London.

C. Hall, ?

J. Butler, 10 Homesdale Road, Bromley, Kent.

J. Bugler, ?

Phil Kingston – Postal Code BS5 6HF. Mr. & Mrs. D. Glover, ‘Longwood’, 30 Forest Lane, Tadley, Basingstoke, Hants.

J. Orr, ‘Hen Carrog’, Rhosgoch, Amlwch, Anglesey, N. Wales.

A. Coase, 4 Sutton Close, Oadby, Leicester.