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BB2214 : Happy
Birthday Mr President
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Thursday
5th May 2022
There
is a precedent for "Mr
President" who isn't President
any more. In the United
States, it is the custom to
refer to a Past President in
such manner so I don't see why
that should not also apply to
a Past President of the Scottish
Mountaineering Society.
As
Monros are so relevant to him,
we asked Marilyn to sing Happy
Birthday on his special day
earlier this week. Click
on the photo to see the recording.
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You
may recall that we had the honour of Past
President Peter's company a few years ago
(see
BB1525).
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He
was with us again today.
It
was a toss-up as to whether
to travel south to Ingleborough,
which would be new territory
for Peter, or to stay more local
and address the west side of
Kentmere- the eastern side having
been tackled on his last visit.
The
weather forecast kept swithering
but in the end pointed us towards
Kentmere.
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Even
though we set off early, we were thwarted
in our efforts to park at the village hall.
We had forgotten it was polling day
which meant that the few places were reserved.
Fortunately we have our secret spot on the
other side of the valley where the farmer
allows parking in exchange for a donation
to a Cancer Charity. No problem.
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Once
booted, we headed back down to the Church
and started the climb of the Crabtree Brow
track. Just before it changes its
name to the Garburn Pass we turned north,
up towards Castle Crag. As we worked
our way round to the motorway that runs
up to Yoke, our first objective, we could
see the Nan Bield restaurant on the col
in the distance.
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Any
hope that I could see our house from Ill
Bell was thwarted by the cloud conditions
which had lightly swirled around us. Clear
distant views were few and far between.
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We
continued along the ridge to Froswick and
then to the large beacon at Thornthwaite
Crag.
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From
the fairly flat area that leads to Mardale
Ill Bell, to the right we could see from
whence we had come.
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To
the left we could see Small Water and Haweswater.
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Soon
we reached the Nan Bield restaurant for
lunch. We were very grateful it was
open as a cold wind was whipping up the
valley.
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We
got talking about Monros. If you want
to skip over this dissertaion click on SKIP.
If you are still with me you will
know that we mean the group name for the
hills named after Sir Hugh Monro, being
over 3,000 feet in height. How many
are there in England?
Well,
the answer is 0, 3, 4 or 6 depending on
whom you want to believe.
The
pedantic answer is zero as Monros are Scottish.
The appropriate term for the equivalent
of Monros in other parts of the United Kingdom
and Republic of Ireland is "Furths".
Of the 34 recognised such tops, 6
lie in England. Indeed all 6 lie in
the Lake District.
I
bet that number surprised you. Wainwright
wouldn't have agreed. His answer was
4. The reason for the difference is
that under the Furth / Monro specification,
Ill Crag and Broad Crag are peaks worthy
of the accolade whereas Wainwright considered
them a merely part of Scafell Pike; his
other three being Sca Fell, Helvellyn and
Skiddaw.
Wikipedia
also rejects Ill Crag and Broad Crag and,
more surprisingly, Scafell as not being
"Real Monros" as they do not have
a "prominence" of over 150 metres
(492 feet) bringing the total down to 3.
However the Wiki entry is self contradictory
as elsewhere it concedes the four Wainwright
as being Real. It goes on to grant
the top three the status of being "Super
Monros" as they have 600 metres (1,969
feet) of prominence.
Confused?
Me too. Fortunately it had no
bearing on today's walk which simply involved
5 Wainwrights, of which one is a Corbett,
the other four being Grahams. In other
words, being over 2,500 and 2,000 respectively.
None were Marilyns - a hill of any
height that has a drop of at least 150 metres
on all sides.
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By
now we had completed our hill bagging for
the day, irrespective of any nomenclature,
and simply had to follow the long trail
by stream, track and bluebells to our secret
car park at Hallow Bank.
At
the Brewery in Staveley, Peter informed
us that there were three Monros that Sir
Hugh had failed to climb due to him having
died in the flu epidemic at the end of the
First World War. The most famous is the
Inaccessible Pinnacle. Naturally Peter
has climbed it and so has Stan.
Peter
later told me how his friend at the Scottish
Mountaineering Society put matters right
by carrying to the top an effigy of the
great man.
Although
the circumstances are different, there is
also a Wainwright peak that he (i.e. A.W.)
failed to reach the top (though Stan and
I have, as indeed have other BOOTboys).
Peter,
we hope you enjoyed your birthday visit
to the Lakes. Next time you visit
us, perhaps you would like to take an effigy
of A.W. to the top of the Howitzer on Helm
Crag?
Don,
Thursday 6th May 2022
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