Wild Wanderings by Phil Gribbon sampler

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wild wanderings Naturally the happy pair had arrived at the hut after the usual appalling walk up the Allt a’Mhuilinn: Some strange Irish logic of Phil’s tried to convince me that mine was the correct introduction to a Club Meet at the cic hut. (SMCJ, 2013, p412). I’m afraid this introduction reads more like character assassination, but I’m sure Phil will enjoy the jokes at his expense and, no doubt, get his own back. To be serious for a moment, this book is crammed with the life of a man who has been perceptively absorbed in the mountain scene all his days. His work contains many subtleties and different levels of meaning – not all of which are immediately apparent. One can make much of the master/pupil relationship and, of course, it is there, but the only actual word of instruction I can remember Phil giving me was on Shadow Buttress on Lochnagar in 1973. ‘Don’t take such big steps,’ he said. A remark with a much wider application, I feel. A good teacher doesn’t have to say very much. On one famous occasion when we camped in spring sunlight by Loch Maree on the Club’s Easter Meet, our much loved Hon Secretary called us a pair of ‘skinflints’ for not staying in the hotel. Of course the remark was a joke, but Phil was aghast: ‘What! We’ve had our dinner looking up at Slioch, utterly at one with nature and you lot are sitting in a plastic bar...!’ Perhaps George Reddle should have the last word. After a cathartic row on the way back from a failed attempt on the Pinnacle Ridge of Sgùrr nan Gillean, when an abseil rope got stuck and all sorts of mayhem ensued, Patrick O’Dwyer felt the need to make a sincere apology to his old friend: ‘That’s all right, lad,’ said Reddle, lowering the paper he’d borrowed and smiling his strange smile. ‘I’d get you a drink, but I’ve left my wallet in the hut.’ (SMCJ, 2001, p.503). Read this book, then read again, with increasing pleasure. Pete Biggar Hon Editor Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal 14
committed to publishing well written books worth reading luath press takes its name from Robert Burns, whose little collie Luath (Gael., swift or nimble) tripped up Jean Armour at a wedding and gave him the chance to speak to the woman who was to be his wife and the abiding love of his life. Burns called one of the ‘Twa Dogs’ Luath after Cuchullin’s hunting dog in Ossian’s Fingal. Luath Press was established in 1981 in the heart of Burns country, and is now based a few steps up the road from Burns’ first lodgings on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Luath offers you distinctive writing with a hint of unexpected pleasures. Most bookshops in the uk, the us, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, either carry our books in stock or can order them for you. To order direct from us, please send a £sterling cheque, postal order, international money order or your credit card details (number, address of cardholder and expiry date) to us at the address below. Please add post and packing as follows: uk – £1.00 per delivery address; overseas surface mail – £2.50 per delivery address; overseas airmail – £3.50 for the first book to each delivery address, plus £1.00 for each additional book by airmail to the same address. If your order is a gift, we will happily enclose your card or message at no extra charge. 543/2 Castlehill The Royal Mile Edinburgh EH1 2ND Scotland Telephone: +44 (0)131 225 4326 (24 hours) email: sales@luath. co.uk Website: www. luath.co.uk
Page 3: phil gribbon is a mountaineer, writ
Page 6 and 7: First published 2018 isbn: 978-1-91
Page 9 and 10: Contents Foreword9 Introduction10 S
Page 11 and 12: Foreword in this collection of clim
Page 13 and 14: introduction I was chosen to go on
Page 15: introduction The shiny new karabine

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