Weekly Meeting

The theme of Andre's talk was mountain climbing equipment essential to carry out a climb.

The first and most essential item was a good quality safety helmet which Andre stated is a must. A bag containing chalk carried on the back - chalk is needed to ensure hands are kept dry to prevent slipping. A special pair of climbing shoes made of a soft but strong material - tight fitting like a glove to give maximum grip to the rock now known as rock shoes. Ropes and belts are needed to aid scaling the rock. Two different coloured ropes 50-70 metres long are used alternately to cut down on the friction to make pulling easier. Pitons are no longer used to attach ropes to and are a definite no; they have been replaced by nuts which are placed into the cracks in the rock and are recovered each climb. The ropes are not attached directly to them but pass through a wire loop on small ones and a cloth loop on larger ones. 'Friends' are inserted into the larger cracks allowing the ropes to be attached. These can usually be recovered on the descent but sometimes will 'walk' into the cliff and become difficult to release. Slings are used at the top to attach to something like a large boulder, tree etc., the rope being passed through this for the descent. This can be by abseiling down or there may be a walk down round the back. All this equipment is carried on a harness which fits over the legs and round the waist and is quite heavy and a period of planning is required to keep the weight down. The rope is also attached to this harness.

This was a very interesting talk and was well thought out and presented by Andre who obviously greatly enjoys climbing, especially in Scotland. He stated that it is not his thing to carry out this hobby at altitude as this brings in other factors that he finds spoils the enjoyment. The company enjoyed hearing about and seeing the items need to carry out this hobby.