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National News, August 2018

MCSA National News 6 August 2018 National News, August 2018

1. HOTTENTOTS HOLLAND SECTION: ANNUAL JOINT MEET

The Hottentots Holland section would like to invite you to the annual Joint Meet held at the Johnson Hut in the lovely Hottentots Holland mountains.

Arrival 20 October, 3pm, at Vergelegen Estate, Somerset West. Relax at the hut or dip in the pool while planning the next day’s activities. Bring n braai merriment while enjoying the sunset over Table Mountain and False Bay. Sleeping mattresses available in the hut (20 of) or sleep under the stars or tent.

On Sunday we offer:

  1. a gentle hike up the Landroskop gorge, with a variation into the Koffie Kloof. (2 A+).
  2. a more strenuous but interesting scramble up the Landroskop Needle (3C).
  3. a possibility to trad climb the Lang Klippie (4D).
  4. hike up to Chipaway cave and spend the night (3C).

 

2. NATIONAL MCSA ICE MEET – 8 TO 12 AUGUST

The Johannesburg and Eastern Cape Sections are jointly organising a national Winter Climbing Meet in the Southern Drakensberg. The group, limited to 40, will be car camping at an old police post, on a farmer’s land, close to lots of virgin ice, remote mountains to explore and Tiffindell Ski Resort. The venue is totally new, with many opportunities for first ascents. For more information please see https://bit.ly/2zMX30T. To book contact Neil Margetts at info@saclimbingacademy.co.za.


 

3. UIAA

Some selected highlights of recent UIAA activities are provided below. Members are encouraged to go to http://www.theuiaa.org/ to find out more about the UIAA‘s important activities.

3.1 NATURAL ROCK FOR ADVENTURE CLIMBING: FRESH CONCERNS

As part of its commitment to raising awareness about the importance of preserving natural rock and to reducing indiscriminate bolting, the UIAA is sharing an article from Norwegian climber Robert Caspersen concerning an expedition made in late 2017 with three friends to climb the high east face of Gessnertind (3020m) in Antarctica. Link – https://www.norrona.com/nb-NO/norrona-magasin/fjellsport/robert-antarktis/

The article was brought to the UIAA’s attention by former UIAA Management Committee member and legendary mountaineer Doug Scott, who spearheaded the UIAA’s seminal paper on ‘UIAA Recommendations on the Preservation of Natural Rock for Adventure Climbing in 2014 (go to the UIAA web site to find this). The paper evaluated the history and appeal of different forms of rock climbing and considered earlier attitudes to fixed gear. It also considered how the case for adventure climbing can be re-stated more effectively and offered guidance to UIAA member federations in developing countries on how to sustain the balance between sport and adventure climbing.

“The article written by Robert Caspersen is exceptionally inspiring and cannot fail, I am sure, to move people towards at least thinking of restricting the use of the bolt,” explained Scott.

3.2  BRITISH MOUNTAINEERING COUNCIL – LYNN ROBINSON BECOMES THE BMC’S FIRST EVER FEMALE PRESIDENT.

They are a bit behind us..!!

3.3  ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING HIKING STICKS IN THE MOUNTAINS

Many hikers, mountaineers and climbers use telescopic (hiking) sticks because they may aid walking up/downhill and may also ease the strain on the spine and the lower extremity joints particularly the knees. The reductions during downhill walking with hiking poles are caused primarily by the forces applied to the hiking poles and by a change in posture to a more forward leaning position of the upper body.

The UIAA Medical Commission has produced a dedicated paper on the use of hiking sticks. It was first published in 2008 and is available at: www.theuiaa.org/

3.4 ALPINE SKILLS SERIES ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE/LATEST ARTICLES

Latest articles:
Preparing for Your Expedition
What Weakens a Rope
Single & Multi-pitch climbing: Gear Requirements
How to provide assistance to a partner stuck mid-rappel

Previous extracts from the Guide can be found on the dedicated Skills page: www.theuiaa.org/skills/

3.5  2018 UIAA ROCK CLIMBING FESTIVAL AWARD CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED

First launched in 2015, the annual UIAA Rock Climbing Festival Award is a celebration of rock climbing in its purest form, placing an emphasis on events which put the climber and the sustainable development of rock climbing at its very core.

The 2018 Award, the fourth of its kind, focused specifically on attracting festivals from Central and South America. Following a selection progress made by the UIAA Award Assessment Team, the three nominated festivals come from Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil.

Details may be seen at: https://www.theuiaa.org/

 


 

4 ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS

The latest issue contains some interesting stuff on Peru (!) and the upper reaches of the Mekong River with some impressive rock peaks in evidence. The link is asian-alpine-e-news.com


 

5. FACEBOOK AND WEB PAGES

National abbreviated link for the national MCSA Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MCSA125/

Links for all the sections’ web pages are on the MCSA national webpage.


 

6SNIPPETS

6.1 Himalayan Statistics

To see statistics on the Himalayan season, Google Alan Arnette who has a range of articles on the internet.

6.2 Mount Lico, Northern Mozambique

This has been in the news before but this is a more comprehensive account of the difficulties of scaling rock walls with non-climbing scientists  www.theguardian.com

One of the more mysterious events that took place this year was the rescue of legendary British climber Rick Allen on Broad Peak. The short story is Rick left his teammates from a high camp on Broad Peak in a solo attempt on a new route that involved climbing a steep ice wall. When he failed to return as expected his teammates assumed he had died and began to descend. Rick’s long-time partner Sandy Allan contacted Bartek Bargiel who was a using DJI Mavic Pro drone to film his brother’s K2 ski descent and asked if he could fly the drone over the area where Rick was thought to be climbing. He did and they sighted Rick.

A call to climbers Fredrik Sträng and David Roeske at Camp 3 was placed asking them to investigate the area to see if Rick was still there. They found Rick and along with help from, Tendi Sherpa, Rick returned to base camp mostly unhurt. Perhaps if Fredrick and David were not on Broad Peak, Rick would have been lost, so a good decision in the end! A report (link below) from the BBC shows the moment the drone flown by Bartek Bargiel spotted Rick Allen on Broad Peak. www.bbc.com


 

7. NEWSWORTHY ITEMS

Please send any newsworthy items for inclusion in MCSA National News Editor, Ineke Moseley at inekemos@zsd.co.za

Quotable Quotes:

Three answers to the perennial question of Why climb?

“Because it is so entirely irrational”    Anonymous

“Because it is the natural thing to do”    Tom Patey

“If you don’t scale the mountain, you can’t view the plain”    Chinese proverb


 

“explore – discover – connect – protect”

“verken – ontdek – ontmoet – bewaar”

“phonononga – fumanisa – qhagamshela – khusela”


 

MCSA-CT Office Admin
MCSA-CT

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