Number in series 26; Year of publication 1932 - Fell and Rock ...

182SIXTY YEARS AGOBY G. GRAHAM MACPHEE.In the Annual Report for the past year attention is drawn tothe small use made of the climbing books provided in Clubcentres for members. The custom of recording expeditions andclimbs appears just recently to have fallen into desuetude. Uptill four or five years ago accounts of members' doings were putin these books as a matter of course, and it seems strange thatthe practice should have ceased comparatively suddenly.One reason for this falling-off might be that no noteworthyclimbs have been done recently. However, it is known that manynew routes have been made, some of them exceptionally severe,others moderate, and many old climbs have been repeated, soother reasons must be found. Perhaps it is sheer laziness; orthat climbers nowadays are so superior that they do not considerthese climbs worth recording—surely the pride that apeshumility. Let us hope it is not selfishness, for that pertains moreto angling than to climbing, and nobody should want to keepsecret some specially delectable scansorial discovery.It was my luck last June to go to Wastdalehead for theweek-end without previously arranging to meet a climbingcompanion. To my surprise, not only was I the only would-beclimber there, but I appeared to be the only visitor at all, untila belated fell-walker or tourist turned up late on the Saturdayevening.A perusal of the Club climbing book was no solace for mysolitude, as nothing fresh had been entered since my last visit.A glance at the old Visitors' Book revealed a different state ofaffairs. This contains most of Will Ritson's book, bound inleather and presented to the hotel by a benefactor whoseintroductory note is pasted inside the cover.In those days people went to the opposite extreme andrecorded the most trivial excursions, such as going over StyheadPass, walking from Gosforth, or even visiting the shores ofWastwater. Many of the entries are incredibly banal, still morehave childish orthographical faults which make MonsieurPerrichon's little lapse seem not only probable but almostinevitable. Nevertheless, among them is much good sense.