Grit Awards '97

Best Solo Artist: - Al Metelko (for soloing most of the routes on the crag)

Best Cameraman: - Dave Dillon (for using "Biker's Elbow" as an excuse for not climbing hard)

Best Newcomer: - Paul Midgley (in a borrowed harness)

Single Pitch Supervisor Award: - Rick Davies (for encouragement of The Newcomer)

Best Foreign Climber: - Levi Todd (for being American)

Special Effects (Slow Motion): - Lester Payne (Half way up a chimney)

The "Patience is a Virtue" Award: - Bob Anderson (Belaying at the bottom of the chimney)

Best Supporting Role: - Roger Dyke (for making up a threesome)

Yogic Flying Award: - Judith Symon (for a miraculous levitation on Nelson's Slab)

Tug-O-War Medal: - Jim Symon (at the top of Nelson's Slab...)

The "Brief Encounter" Award: - Frank and Margaret Williams (for supporting the meet, in passing, on their walk)

The "Captain Caveman" Order of Merit: - Alan Wylie (Captains Crawl and Telescope Tunnel Direct - these are CLIMBS?)

The "Injury Time" Award: - Dave Wylie (for slipping at the start of Promenade Direct and spraining his ankle)

For Services Rendered in Medicine: - Mary Stuart (for attending to the above injury)

The "Must Try Harder" (or stick to easier routes) Award: - Dave Bone and Mark Harrington (for failing to get up at least 4 climbs)

Best Routes: - Camperdown Crawl, Trafalgar Crack, Trafalgar Wall,

Those of you with the old (1985) "Derwent Gritstone" guide will know that Birchen Edge has plenty of lower grade climbs, including many V-Diffs. However, if you invest in the new "Chatsworth" guide you will discover that 32 of these routes have been upgraded, some to VS (along with 13 of the old Severes). There are now also 17 "E" routes for the hard climbers.

The idea is therefore to have a choice: an easy day of it for those with the old guidebook (sticking to the V-Diffs and Severes) and a slightly harder time for those with the new one (on the VS's) - even if we all do the same routes!

Parking near the "Robin Hood" public house at grid ref. SK 281 721 (according to the "White Peak Area" map), then: "100m to the East (up the minor road) a stile gives access to a sandy track that leads to the edge in ten to fifteen minutes" (according to the new guide).

I will aim to be there from around 10:30 am, but I won't mind if anybody beats me to it.

See you at the crag, Dave.