Members:  Dave Dillon, John Dobson, Roger Dyke, Nils Elgar, Joe Flynn, Oi Ding Koy, Lester Payne, Emily Pitts, Dave Wylie.

Guests:  Anne Fournier and Simon Mabey (Buxton Mountaineering Club).

Although the club calendar proposed a Scribble Meet for the Sunday, the forecast for Saturday was much better.  Birchen was set as the venue and fine weather encouraged a good turnout.

The day was fine, for the large part sunny, and mild with a breeze from the north-west.  The first to arrive settled in at Copenhagen Wall / Tar’s Wall, and the day progressed with managed moves northwards to take in the Trafalgar Wall area and Emma’s Slab.

Routes completed (by no means a comprehensive list) included Tar’s Wall, Tar’s Crack, Ta Ta for Now, Fo’c’sle Crack, Nelson’s Nemesis (a minor detour for some to the Kismet Buttress), Camperdown Crawl, Powder Monkey Parade, The Prow, Emma’s Delusion, Emma’s Temptation, Victory Gully as well as a number of unknown boulder problems and scrambles.

Although Emily’s goal to lead HVS remained elusive, a fine lead up Ta Ta For Now (VS 5A), demonstrated that it shouldn’t be too far off now…

Dave Dillon’s graceful snake-like lead of Emma’s Delusion (S 4A), brought admiring glances from the watching masses and belied the awkwardness of this climb.

I was satisfied with my own achievements in relation to Nelson’s Nemesis (VS 4B) and Powder Monkey Parade.  In terms of the latter, with the first bit of gear at half height (a cam placement in a very worn-out pocket), I felt the grade of VS 4C given in my guidebook was vindicated, only to be told that it has received a downgrade to S 4B.  Talk about deflation and I’m not talking about the grade!

Lester Payne joined John Dobson and Joe Flynn for the afternoon session.

A very pleasant day was ended by some in the Robin Hood pub; for others the lure of fish ‘n chips in ‘Stoney’ was too great.  My thanks for some great company.