Milton Keynes Mountaineering Club

11-13 October

An alternative to the club trip to The Isle of Rum, fourteen of us went to Thorpe Farm bunkhouse near Hathersage in the Peak District.

A few went up early on the Friday to get some climbing done, Lee and Kieran (K2) climbed at Milestone. Tom, Naomi, Neal, DaveC and Dan went to Birchen. Lee and Kieran failed miserably at Great Portland Street (HVS), but very much enjoyed Covent Garden (easy VS 4b but with a very exposed 2nd pitch up and arete over a void with gear below your feet), Embankment 1 (pitch 1 only, a hard work but very enjoyable Vs 5a crack climb), and Svelt (A varied HVS climb with a nice mixture of slab, overlap, corner and laybacking.

The rest of us all arrived on Friday night.

10-17 October

Our October trip, no expedition, was to Rùm the largest but most sparsely populated of the Small Islands of the Inner Hebrides. This was MKMC’s greenest trip yet with all travel from Milton Keynes being on public transport. Due to Rùm’s remoteness travel had to be spread over two days. We’d discover a wild rugged island a remote bothy and wonderful mountain vistas.

Sunday 8th to Sunday 15th September 2024

A week of unsettled, windy weather which limited the mountaineering options but a lot of fun was had staying at the excellent SMC Raeburn hut near Newtonmore – the best hut shower in the organiser’s experience.

23-28 August 2024

Lee and Nick headed down on Friday. Lee stopped at Chudleigh and did some top rope solo in the afternoon. Nick was planning to climb there too but the dreaded Bank Holiday traffic held him up. Neal set out Friday night to arrive early Saturday. Naomi and Tom left early Saturday to get down for lunch and some climbing at Roche Rocks Saturday afternoon.