Sheffield Mountaineering

Some great stuff here. Come try it!!!

Fee: £2 (either send it direct to Gerry or give to me pass on)

NOTE: You'll need to be able to tie a figure of eight and lead belay.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

THIS IS NOT A WALKING EVENT. It will involve mountaineering at high altitude with an element of technical difficulty. Previous via ferrata experience is NOT essential but you will need a head for heights and scrambling skills. We won’t be doing anything desperately hard but this will still be a definite step up from the kind of activities we typically do as a group in UK mountains.

You must come properly equipped. To do via ferratas you will need to bring a climbing harness, helmet, via ferrata lanyard and a couple of slings and carabiners. For any high altitude scrambling and hiking you will need an ice axe.

Austrian Alps (Tyrol)

Meet at: Pizza & Burger, Andreas-Hofer-Straße 292, 6100 Seefeld in Tirol, Austria. The plan is to meet socially for a couple of hours on the evening of Saturday 13th June before beginning the week’s activities the following morning. We will be leaving to travel home on the morning of Saturday 20th June. Some of us will be driving and car sharing though of course others may prefer to fly. The nearest international airports are Innsbruck, Munich and Zurich. Details of various travel arrangements will appear in the comments section nearer the time.

Reaching up to the heavens and stretching for 800 miles from France to Slovenia, The Alps are one of the most famous and significant mountain ranges in the world. They hold legendary status in the annals of mountaineering history. Many of the most incredible, heroic and tragic mountaineering stories ever told played out among their lofty peaks. The section of The Alps that lies in the Tyrol region of Austria is particularly spectacular and in summer, once most of the snow has cleared from those jagged rocky summits, it becomes a veritable adventure playground for dedicated mountaineers.

Our plan is to enjoy a few big mountain days in amongst some of the many dramatic peaks and ridges in the region without entering into the realms of serious Alpine mountaineering. The Tyrol is also home to more than 400 via ferrata or klettersteig routes and this activity will be an integral part of the trip. There will also be plenty opportunity to do some scrambling and hiking. Either way the objective is to reach high altitude mountain summits in the 2,500 to 3,000 metre range. We will be looking at peaks such as Brandjochspitze, Sulzkogel, Vordere Somerwand, Zwölferkogel, Rumerspitze, Wildesmannle, Wankspitze, Urkundkolm, Großer Trögler to name a few.

Other pursuits such as rock climbing will also be on offer along with anything else you might fancy doing in this spectacular landscape.

Feel free to do what ever you want on any given day. It is common practice on these trips to split into smaller groups/pairs so everybody gets the chance to do something they are happy with.

Photos from a couple of our previous overseas mountaineering trips can be seen here:

This is a perfect introduction to Grade 3 scrambling as the route is well broken up by comforting grass ledges and all the rock pitches can be easily avoided if preferred. Therefore it provides an ideal non threatening environment for those of you who want to try Grade 3 for the first time. As one of the very finest scrambles in the Lake District it is also a very worthwhile outing for those with more experience.

Route: Link Cove Gill, Greenhow Slabs, Fairfield, Hart Crag

Meet at: Outside the Patterdale Hotel on the main A592 road through the village of Patterdale, postcode CA11 0NN. The best place to park is in the large pay and display car park across the road from the hotel. As an environmentally conscious group, we actively encourage car sharing. Further details of car sharing arrangements from Sheffield, Manchester and elsewhere will appear in the comments section nearer the time.

This big mountain route leads to the 873 metre summit of Fairfield via one of the very best scrambling outings in the Lake District. The combination of Link Cove Gill and Greenhow Slabs provides superb continuous and sustained scrambling featuring a delightful watercourse, a pleasant airy rib, an exhilarating steep wall and some of the finest mountain slabs anywhere in England.

For those who don’t fancy it, the main difficulties can all be avoided without detracting from the aesthetic value of the route.

The full day will include a scenic walk in through the remote valley of Deepdale to the enchanting Link Cove, a Grade 1 scrambling ascent of Link Cove Gill (with optional harder moves up to Grade 3 available depending on water levels), a short hop across the head of the cwm then a Grade 3 scrambling ascent of Greenhow Slabs before a steady plod up to the summit of Greenhow End followed by a more gentle ascent to the summit of Fairfield from where we will enjoy a leisurely descent taking in the summit of Hart Crag and the long broad Hartsop Above How ridge.

Photos from some of the previous times we did this outing can be seen here:

Route: Alport Castles Tower

Meet at: Fairholmes Visitor Centre, Derwent Lane, Bamford S33 0AQ. Parking at the visitor centre costs £5.00 for the day but there are also a couple of free roadside car parks a short distance to the south. As an environmentally conscious group, we actively encourage car sharing. Further details of car sharing arrangements from Sheffield, Manchester and elsewhere will appear in the comments section nearer the time.

This outing features a long pleasant ramble through some of the most picturesque scenery in the Dark Peak, followed by a tasty little scramble up and down a spectacular rock tower. The scrambling is short lived but the dramatic landscape makes the trip well worthwhile.

The full day will include a steady walk in through some woodland then a gradual ascent via Bellhag Tor and Pasture Tor and over Rowlee Pasture, a Grade 1 scrambling ascent of Alport Castles Tower with a further Grade 1 scrambling descent off the other side followed by a hike over Birchinlee Pasture leading to a long pleasant stroll along the shores of Derwent Reservoir to take us back to the car park.

Photos of some of our previous outings to Alport Castles Tower can be seen here: