The Climbers' Club Guidebook Centenary Journal - 2009

• Guidebook Centenary Journal edited by R F (Bob) Allen (2009)

The Climbers Club published its first guidebook in 1909. To celebrate this centenary a special journal was produced.

More than three-quarters of the articles in this 2O09 special Journal are original. Four of them are by women members.

The journal is a celebration of a century of Climbers' Club guidebooks. All have been produced by volunteers, something not to be forgotten. It is a remarkable achievement, particularly considering that the CC has produced far more guidebooks for rock-climbers than anybody else in the UK.

The very first CC guidebooks were not merely information, they were literary masterpieces as well. That very first one, the 1909 Thomson/Andrews guide to the huge cliff of Lliwedd, still shines as an example to all subsequent authors and editors and is therefore re-printed in its entirety at the beginning of this volume. The Lliwedd 1909 reprint is followed by four articles connected in some way with the great cliff.

Then, since access is crucial to the continuation of climbing, two articles are offered which, between them, show that access cannot be taken for granted, how it is at risk and must be fought for.

The third section covers what does, or might, happen when guidebooks are either mis-read or they mis-lead.

The fourth section offers five articles on some of the historically important personalities in our guidebook history.

The fifth section covers the whole history of CC guidebooks and also the evolution of the methods by which they have been and are illustrated. Since the CC has quite a large overlapping membership with the Fell and Rock Climbing Club and many CC members climb in the Lakes, abridged histories of the development of FRCC guidebooks and the illustrating of them are included.

The sixth section begins with an attack on guidebooks, followed by humorous advice on how not to produce one. An authoritative article on
how guidebooks should be written for maximum clarity and avoidance of ambiguity redresses the balance, which is followed by a clever rhyme on the delights of English pronunciation. The final article in this section points to the humour and quirkiness evident in the naming of routes in CC guidebooks.

The seventh section is about guidebooks in general, with two articles that span opinions over the last 70 years or so.

In the eighth section we have controversy: the grading of rock-climbs is covered in one article and a second reminds us that even the CC don't always get it 100% right! It also brings us up to date on the latest grading ideas.

Finally, but by no means the least important or interesting, a special article is offered about George Leigh Mallory. There is evidence that GLM was planning a guidebook — never realised — before he went to Everest. However, it set our author on a quest to complete some little-known Mallory climbs, which are now bound to receive further attention!