OliB

Hasty update 2:
Tracey is making independent arrangements to join us for climbing during the days and Wes “John Halfacre” will be under canvas, but travelling with us. That means both reserves are in and we’ve got one vacancy. Thinking about who pays who makes my brain hurt so we’ll sort it out after the trip.
1 Vacancy
2 Dave C
3 Sam
4 Lucas
5 Jenny
6 Lucy
7 Me
8 Emma W
9 Matt D
10 Rose
11 Dan S
12 Oli T
12.9 Dave M
14 Ewart
Camping Wes
Commuting Tracey + 1

Thanks everyone who’s got in touch so far on the forum or elsewhere to share info and help make the weekend marvellous.

Hi everyone,
Here’s the list of attendees:
1 Tracey
2 Dave C
3 Sam
4 Lucas
5 Jenny
6 Daniel C
7 Me
8 Emma W
9 Matt D
10 Rose
11 Dan S
12 John H
12.9 Dave M
14 Ewart
Reserve 1 Lucy
Reserve 2 Oli T

I’ll check on the 29th with our treasurer that you’ve all paid, and offer any remaining spaces to our reserves. If you’ve not paid up, now’s the time to do it!

Shared meal on Saturday:
Same as last year, I’ll get some curry packs from Rafi’s and bring vegetable matter to cook. Dave C has volunteered to bring some slow cookers which will make it even easier. It’ll be veg cause that’s cheaper and harder to poison people with. If you want to bring your own steak carppacio to eat feel free. Sort your own food on Friday, booze, breakfasts and hill snacks.

Aspirations:
Can you reply with a bit about what you’d most like to do on the weekend *if the weather is good* This is so you can identify like-minded people and make plans together
e.g. flat walks with a cafe/hilly walks/scrambling/bouldering/trad climbing/multi-pitch

Nape’s Needle is in the valley and it is a classic, but it will be busy and descent from the top is really complex. If you absolutely must do it, consider arriving early on Friday, staying until Monday, alpine starts or queueing. I will see if we can extend the hut booking at short notice.

The riot act:
I’d strongly recommend you get outdoors with other club members beforehand just to remind yourself how to do trad, find people with equal aspirations and remember how incredibly long it takes.
Even easy classics can be long, complex, weird and surprisingly intimidating. Don’t try to memorise the topo. Descents are rarely straightforward so check that out too. Start early and take your headtorch.
Be honest about your abilities and pick routes you’d be happy to lead all the pitches of because it might come down to that. Look after your climbing partner.
Take a helmet, there will be other groups around you. A midge net is also worth having.

The hut:
Brackenclose is here https://goo.gl/maps/N9s62CcJyJs7hpef9
We won’t have sole occupancy, especially if the weather is good. The FRCC have several lovely huts and I’d like to take us to others in the coming years. If we act like rotters our club reputation will suffer and we might not be allowed back. So- look after the place. That means paying for breakages, tidying up after ourselves, taking home recyclables, emptying the bins and giving it a clean at the end of the stay.
Bring a lightweight sleeping bag, earplugs, headtorch and spare footwear or slippers so you’re not trogging round in your walking boots.
Cold water comes off the hill through a UV filter which only kills 99.9% of known life-forms, so if you’re immunocompromised you might want to boil it.
You’ll be sharing rooms with each other and strangers if it’s busy. We have 4 male dorm spaces, 4 female dorm spaces and 6 mixed.
The door has a code lock and I’ll share details nearer the time.
There is a kitchen, hot showers and a communal room with a fire.

What I need to know from you next. Please post here a bit about:
Dietary requirements for Saturday’s curry
Departure time, day and location. I’ll try to coordinate some shared lifts.
Aspirations for the weekend.