SUMC - Swansea University Mountaineering Club
Trip Reports Archive
Next Event: Cornwall
Trip Reports Archive
Trip report Written by Matt Everett: Trebanog trip 7th March The day started out dispondently; only 5 people turned up, the slight breeze that was blowing was bitterly cold, James had lost his guidebook from the day before on the gower, and I had just paid Tom for various payments. Ed turned up, we got the minibus, and squeezed all 5 of us on. After a pit stop at tesco's, we got to Trebanog in sunshine! Then we opened the minibus door and felt the wind again, still cold. Layering up, except for Tom who only had shorts-(fail) we started climbing, and getting over the cold. 2 climbs later the wind had dropped dramatically and the true glory of Trebanog (lets face it, 'glory'…
WUMC Bangor Round/North Wales Trip The last club trip of the year to North Wales passed successfully, and saw the club compete against other Welsh universities at the Bangor round of the WUMC series, whilst those not competing headed out to the mountains. Friday saw us meeting on campus, with some nursing hang-overs from the Christmas Dinner the previous night. We set off after the usual delays, and were soon heading up through Mid Wales. After stopping for the usual chippy stop in amazing Rhayader, we arrived 5 hours later at the Snowdon Inn, which was surprisingly quiet compared to the other times we’ve been there. With an early start ahead of us, it wasn’t long…
The first club weekend of the year to Portland passed succesfully, and despite expectations of a wet and miserable weekend, those of us who hadn’t wimped out had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, complete with unexpected climbing in the hot sun. We left Swansea after the usual delays, and after a promising start, soon got bogged down in traffic jams. We eventually arrived at our Scout Hut in Weymouth a few hours later than expected, and after unpacking; went for some food in the only place open at that time – a kebab shop next to a lap dancing club in Weymouth! Once unpacked, we settled down to the usual habit of staying up late drinking, and after far…
With cars jammed full of gear, twelve club members set off on Friday afternoon for the club’s last trip of the year, which this year would take us to Land’s End in Cornwall. The journey was as expected; long and uncomfortable, depending on car! But we eventually all arrived at the campsite near St. Just, where tents were quickly pitched, so that we could head into Penzance for a nice meal and a “food” shop, which meant alcohol for most of us. Arriving back at the tents, most went to bed in anticipation of the next day’s weather. Saturday turned out to be dry and sunny, and after a camp breakfast, we headed down to Sennen for the day. After…
Sunday saw the club head over to Saddle Head in Pembroke to make the most of the sun. After a not too promising start, we all had a good day's climbing by the sea. As usual, the leaving time of 08:00 had turned into 08:30, so after loading up gear, we set off for Pembroke. Everything was looking good as we travelled along the motorway, until a police car zoomed along behind us and pulled us over. It turned out they were doing random checks on cars that day, and four student types in an Essex registered Vauxhall Nova driven by a guy with dreadlocks (Dave) was suspicious to them! They searched all four of us and the car thoroughly for knives, drugs…
With a good chance of wind and rain forecast, the club members going to Pembroke wondered if they'd get any climbing done. Luckily, although the weather was cold, some climbing was achieved and the trip was rather different to the normal. We left Swansea later than usual due to secretary's boo-boos, but as it was a short journey we arrived at around nine o'clock. After investigating the hut, shot gunning floor space and setting up the ping-pong table, some of us headed to the pub to have some drinks and find that we were rubbish at pool. After a good nights sleep (for me) we awoke for James' by now expected bacon sandwich…
The club trip to Snowdonia was an enjoyable weekend, with all who went having a good time either bouldering or climbing, even if a little tired and cold! We left on Friday, the leaving time of five being more like five thirty as expected, and set off for North Wales. We stopped off in Rhayader for the chippy on the way, and after having lengthy discussions on the problems of the world, we arrived at the accommodation in time for drinks in the pub. The evening was passed with some being star-struck at seeing Johnny Dawes, whilst Laith, Connor and Caspian joined in the locals’ live music… The four mountaineers, Tom, Tim, Gareth…
Despite the cold and wet weather, the club trip to the Peak District was good fun, and everyone had a good time. When we were all happy with the journey, the four cars set off to meet up again in Buxton. The ride in Dave’s car was a little cramped with all the club gear, so we were a little relieved to get on the motorway and have a service stop. After having not just food, but M&S food, we set off again. About four hours after leaving Swansea, we all met up again in a Tesco Express in Buxton for petrol and food shopping. Having purchased our essentials for the weekend, we set off again – under…
The first major club trip of the year has passed without too many disasters! After several people dropping out last minute due to uni work or illness, the numbers were depleted from 24 to 18, but after a bit of mumbling from the grumpy old pres, the convoy of minibus and two cars left Fulton House for the south coast. We enjoyed a bit of The Who and Phantom of the Opera (well some more than others!) on the journey. It helped to pass the time of day while we took 5 hours to reach our destination (via a diversion and lots of traffic). On arriving in Weymouth our accommodation proved to be a little hard to find. The convoy did a…
On the 10th February Swansea Uni Mountaineering club competed in the 2nd annual Welsh Universities Bouldering Competition, a.k.a. 'WUSA' (The Welsh version of the national BUSA event) This competition, set up by our club last year, is a practice competition for all Welsh Universities to prepare for the BUSA Climbing competition held at various premier climbing centres around the UK. This year's WUSA competition was held in Swansea's Dynamic Rock climbing centre that recently celebrated its first birthday. First I'll educate you in what bouldering actually is; bouldering is essentially climbing a short distance above the ground so that you can safely jump off without the need for a rope. The challenge is in the technical difficulty rather…
Last weekend's trip to North Wales was the second weekend trip away for the club, and it began much like every other, setting off a little later than planned in a minibus crammed with gear and anticipation for the weekend ahead. Leaving Fulton House around 4.30pm the minibus headed towards Tremadog in miserable drizzle, all of us hoping that the weather would improve further north. After a midway fish 'n' chip stop and in total around 4 hours of travelling the bus pulled up outside the bunk barn in Tremadog. It was basic as expected, but filled our needs and it wasn't long before the bus was emptied, beds were shotgunned, beer was drunk and the games began. It is…
If you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough! The first major weekend trip in the Mountaineering club's calendar took place on the 27th - 29th of October, taking place on the south cost of England on a small isle known as Portland, or by the local tourist board the Jurassic Coast! Apparently you're forbidden to mention rabbits once on the isle, due to the cave-ins believed to be caused by the white furry creatures in quarries on the isle. We took the advice and didn't mention the rabbits. After a stressful journey we arrived at the youth hostel, our base camp for the weekend. Our first crag (bit of rock) we were going to visit was called Cheyne…
Leaving Swansea in a minibus that had suffered from a years worth of abuse, it looked and sounded very worse for wear, especially the hand brake! As there were only 6 people going on the trip, the minibus was hardly cramped. Four to five hours later, we arrived at Thorpe Farm in Hathersage. A quick stop to get some grub, we headed to the crag! With Bodger's very tasteful neon orange and lime bouldering matt, and a Manga style bouldering matt lent from Tom the group headed to Burbage South for some evening bouldering on the likes of the Liver and the Kidney or as Steff calls them the Steak and Kidney, maybe he was hungry? We adjusted our climbing style…
This term, the club regulars have been all geared towards this years BUSA bouldering competition. For those of you who don't know, bouldering is essentially climbing a short distance above the ground so that you can safely jump off without the need for a rope. The challenge is in the technical difficulty rather than the height. It can be done indoors at climbing centers or outdoors on a crag. The BUSA competition was an indoor event. With only six spaces available on the team, and a group of regulars turning up to practically all training sessions, Bouldering Team Captain Adam Shore was finding it hard to select the team. Selection would be based on a warm up competition to…
With possibly the entire collection of club gear, the club headed to Boiler Slab for a bit of workshop on placing gear and the likes. Once we had parked the cars, and loaded each person up with excessive amounts of gear we headed for the crag. According to the guide, the walk in is about 5 minutes, it probably is, except that me (Stu) and Rhys took the wrong way in. So we went the scenic way round. After walk over about 2 or 3 valleys to get to Boiler slab, Pete and Steff then set about setting up two top ropes for people to practise placing gear on. One on Classic, HD and the other on Nemo, VS, 4c. At…