70s Reunion and Revival Meet at Ynys

When this meet was first proposed the idea was to get together climbers and friends we had not seen for, well, Yonks! To again draw those now tattered threads together again (or was that tatered threads).

We all get on with our lives, time drifts then hey ho you are 60+ ,overweight and a veteran of several broken relationships…

Climbing was something you did in a previous life (any young shaver reading this should take note, you have all this to come so take heed).

Being in a position of trust as meet leader doesn’t come easy to me so I headed off with Adele Long on the Friday to do the N.Ridge of Tryfan in poor conditions. This didn’t however stop Adele from foraging on this and that. We also managed to experience that disorientation phenomenon in the summit clag (Adele assured me it was nothing to do with our diet).

Fortunately we rediscovered some mountaineering nouse just in time and found the way off….. Classic scramble-do it!

The meet was picking up nicely when we got back with Smiler holding court in front of the fire and recounting many great tales whilst Claire (wife) rolled her eyes in good humour as she had heard them all before…..

Saturday saw teams head off to Gogarth, Tremadog and the Snowdon Horseshoe (John Codling). Nick Longland and John Gilbert (guest) did Scratch, Paul Scott and Bryn Roberts did One Step and Scratch whilst Adele and Ray Sharples were itching to do Scratch and One Step. I was frantically searching for a Carnation in order to crash Eric Jones’s daughters wedding reception. Eric had of course read the situation well and warned me off…..

The dog teams, Keith, Fiona, Jeff and Anne and possibly Damo headed up Crib y Ddysgl via a suitable scramble. All teams experienced wet rock, wind and rain.

The barbecue took some persuading but eventually reached optimum temp (thanks to Jeff Wincotts “Wafter” …..) All teams took this option and various degrees from full fat, to high carbon to low lead were enjoyed. Everything went surprisingly smoothly with no fights being reported.

Dubious 70’s style outfits were by now creeping into the mix. JRat pants to Sunday best “hippie shit” waistcoats were proudly displayed but were blown away by Jeff’s get up (see pics). As we moved inside the girls were hitting back with some fine interpretations from Fiona, Adele and Anne (by the look of it just back from Greenham Common).

It was a no brainer Jeff and Anne took the Trophy with strict instructions to find a mantle shelf to put it on.

Sunday was mixed with teams summiting Crib y Ddysgl. In hail and high winds whilst Steve Foxley, Paul, Keith, Fiona, Ray and Bryn headed for Penmaen Head to get in training for the veterans olympics.

Many thanks must go to Spenser and his wing man for bagging up his Lemon Cake for all to enjoy in the wild.

To me the essence of the meet was to hear individually Nick Longland, John Codling and Mark Elwell all say, noses to the breeze, eating the sight around that they “Haven’t been here for 15 years, no maybe 20!”

Dave Jones