http://www.kendalwall.co.uk/information/facilities

We’ll be meeting at lancaster train station at 9:30 and leaving on the 9.48 train.

If you don’t feel like getting up that early feel free to join us there

We’ll probably be leaving around 4 or 5 ish but the leaving time is pretty flexible.

The Exec

Roped Bar Crawl
Thursday saw one of the highlights of the LUMC social calendar. The roped bar crawl takes in all the bars on campus (taking a drink at each one of course) & loads of obstacles en route, with the 2 teams of about 8 people clambering over fences, under tables, though signs and almost up some scaffolding (Steve was close…).

After Cartmel, Lonsdale, Pendle & Grad bars we ended up on the playground where more hilarity ensued. Getting down a slide with about a metre of rope between you & your neighbour is difficult (especially when you’re on the mostly male rope)

We started off on a still ‘moist’ Brown Slabs Direct (VD) on which I got my first lead chance on the 2nd pitch. Its always reassuring when he mentions at the top all the things he’d forgotten to tell me. I got a solid anchor at the top (I think) and learnt a valuable lesson in getting organised (ie the ropes got pretty badly tangled), but hey, that’s it, I’m still learning. Fairly straightforward first lead with not much drama.

Fortunately it stayed dry, even threatening sunshine, and after some food we were looking for a new easy-ish lead for me.

After some deliberation we ended up at the bottom of a Little Chamonix route which was as it often is, congested. Jonny had just set off on the first pitch which I would later lead with Heather & Veronica on 2nd. Leading the 1st was probably my sketchiest moment of the day, as despite being fairly simple moves, the first piece of protection is higher than I would have liked. It took a little bit but it was no worry because we were still waiting a pretty big ledge (aka the 2nd pitch according to the guidebook) for the climbers above to clear the 3rd & 4th pitches.

Wow I like that 3rd pitch, which makes Little Cham one of the Lakeland classic climbs. Swinging out from the boulder with an overhang pushing you wider to get onto a slab with quite a drop down below, all done with the song “Its Raining Men” which wouldn’t leave my mental playlist. I’ll no doubt come back sometime in the future to lead it, hopefully with a less annoying and embarrassing song to listen to. Gaz had gone on past the 2nd belay and gone straight up to the top, and was joined by Zoe & I just as it was getting dark.

We got back to the minibus and then, realising we were missing Alex & Steve, went back up to the crag to find them having just ab’ed down off Adam once it got dark with one headtorch between them.

Elsewhere, my flatmate, Anton, who’s only just started climbing was with Matt & Bec on an MVS (which one though escapes me). He described it as “s*** scary but great”. But I think a bigger pat on the back goes to Forshaw for not scaring off a first timer. Well done, Matt (and Anton…)
It was 6:30 by the time we got on the way back, so dinner (a big bucket of KFC) was a very good call.

All in all, a good day out in Borrowdale!

The new exec has been elected, and they are as follows:

President: Adam Mackintosh
Vice President: Joshua Cooper
Safety Officer: Billy Goodman
Treasurer: Claire Shepherd
Gear Sec: Paul Tanner
Social Secs: Stephen Beard & Leon Hamnett
Secretary: Zoe Kitchen
Webmaster: Richard Delf

Over the next few weeks we’ll be trying to get this website more useful & interesting. Be that logs of our trips, photos, stories, plans, whatever people want.

At the club’s christmas meal in the last term we were looking at the logbook from the 60′s/70′s and I thought it a shame we don’t have anything like that for our time under the banner of LUMC. So this will be our logbook.

The Exec

New and Returning Members
We have a large stack of completed forms but without payment. Please be aware that you cannot come on trips, socials or borrow gear without having paid membership and a valid purple card. We’ll be in County Bar tomorrow 12.30-13.30 for our signup meeting where we can complete your membership if you still need to pay. Returning members, please also sign up for this year as we will not be using the old mailing list from after this email.

Saturday Trip
Our first proper trip of the term is running this weekend (22nd October). Unfortunately, LUSU has messed up with the minibuses and there are none available to hire. We will be dealing with our friends at LUSU very firmly about this. Instead of a minibus trip we are going to go by train to Jack Scout Crag on Saturday. Spaces are limited due to the size of the crag, so you need to sign up at the meeting tomorrow at County Bar. We will meet at the chaplaincy centre at 08:00 or the train station at 08:40. We can’t wait if you’re late and there are very few alternative trains, so please make it on time! Really sorry for the change of plans, but unfortunately this was out of our hands. Normal service will resume next week!

Thirlmere Weekend (28th-30th October)
The first overnight trip of the term has been booked, we are heading into the Lakes and hiring out Thirlmere Village Hall for a weekend of doing what climbers do best – drinking and climbing,
We will be leaving on the Friday afternoon and returning late on the Sunday. The cost is just £35, which includes transport, food and accommodation. Sign up at this Wednesday meeting (County Bar 12.30-13.30), if you can’t pay the full price we are taking deposits of £20 but all money must be received before you board the bus! If you need any personal kit such as head torches, jackets etc. this week’s social would be a good opportunity

This Week’s Social (20th October)
This week is Ultimate Outdoors 20% off night. Members of LUMC can get 20% off at our favourite outdoors shop for one night only, Ultimate Outdoors. It starts at 6:30pm, but we will be meeting at the Chaplaincy Centre at 5:45pm for those who live on campus. If you live in town, meet us there at 6.30pm. Afterwards, of course, we will be going for drink; probably Fibber McGees (perfect for you fans of Old Rosie cider!).

Next Weeks Social (27th October)
Because of the Ultimate 20% night, we are pushing back the Quickdraw Bar Crawl night to next Thursday. This is always a big social, which will really put you in the mood for the Thirlmere weekend!

Discounted Climbing
We have negotiated with the Sports Centre and arranged a discounted climbing rate for all members of LUMC! The cost is now just £3.00 if you arrive between 1:30 and 2pm on Wednesdays, but you will need an exec member to sign you in, who should be buzzing around after the Wednesday meeting.

North Uni Winter Bouldering Competition (9th November)
The first round of the Northern Universities Winter Bouldering Series is happening this November. Its at ROKT in Brighouse and is a great chance not only to compete but to meet other climbers of any ability. Its only £5 entrance and £1 for the scorecard. More information can be found here (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161897617237790).
If you are interested please send us an email with “NW Bouldering ROKT” as the subject. The club will then organise transport and let you know details closer to the time.

Well, thats all for now, see you at the meeting tomorrow.
LUMC

Hope you have had a great freshers week and aren’t finding lectures too hard!

Welcome to the first newsletter from Lancaster University Mountaineering Club. This is just a quick bit of information to let you know whats happening in the first week with the club. We have a welcome/introduction talk this Thursday, 7pm in County Bar. We will be signing you up so dont forget your purple card (http://card.lusu.co.uk/) and £5 membership fee. There will be a quick safety talk as well as an introduction by the exec, followed by a bar social involving team games so you can get to know each other.

You can also get involved in the introduction session at the uni wall on either saturday or sunday, the club exec as well as experienced club climbers will be on hand to teach you basic rope work and belaying. The admission to the wall is only £5 and we will bring club gear for you to use. This will be a great chance to learn the basics of climbing as well as get to know us a bit better.

See you on Thursday
LUMC

We all left on Friday with high enthusiasm considering the cyclone-esque weather report, and the various states of hangover we were working through from the social. Luckily my stomach had been fortified by a County Diner potato so I was feeling pretty invincible. Time for a beer on the bus and a cheeky disco nap.

I may have all the musical talent of a slug, but this is not true for the rest of the club, so after dinner we necked some beverages and had a good ol’ jig. What we lacked in talent or lyrical knowledge we made up with enthusiasm and mumbles. “Thats how we roll”. Several crates a whole lot of stupidity and some semblance of sleep later we were roused for breakfast. We jumped exuberantly and fresh eyed from our night of uninterrupted rest to find the weather had cleared, so we all climbed several sunny multipitches.

Ok so thats a lie, a little bit… In fact, we roused to find Matt had K-O’d on the table wearing an eclectic collectio

n of hoodies like a pass the parcel.

The most of us ended up on a soggy hike where the wind blew the rain up the hill and into your nostrils. Fortunately your skin is waterproof and a little whiskey moral kept us toasty, even those who decided a sneaky nuddy dip in a lake was and a

ce plan. Numpties. Meanwhile the hardest, or at least most foolhardy of the bunch followed Matt to what, as far as I can tell, was essentially an in-cave waterslide. Sadly they had forgotten their trunks but gave it a bash

anyway. Damn fine effort as well so I have heard, ev

en rescued some of Bangor climbing club who had got their rope stuck.

We all slip, slopped, drip and dropped our way back to the hut and made it more homely by draping ev

ery available surface with damp clothes. Thankfully there was an oh-so-reliable fire to blow smoke back into the room. In this moist environment we continued with the usual revelry. In the morning we awoke to find that “the whole world was blowing sideways across…well, the world”, so being the tough bunch that we are we bravely decided to go for a cooked breakfast. I know, hard as nails. But I tell you, it was a pretty damn big breakfa

st, the BFG would have been happy with the tea cups. We are THE outdoor type.

The three buses separated and we decided to head to Conwy castle. Jake ran round in his jazzy purple and green trousers and got excited with the history whilst Joe got excited about all the dry rock and found a traverse across, well us really. Hannah and I checked the quality of the mud and grass for rolly pollies, then took to jumping around with our coats over our heads and everyone enjoyed freak middle-aged cancerous jelly men. Happy days. Instead Josh’s party decided to go on an adventure tour around famous lamposts and floods of Betws y coed before drying their ropes and shoes at Leeds climbing wall.

All in all I reckon it was a win. If you can’t be dry, be daft.

— Jojo