Nottingham University Mountaineering Club
|
|
Nottingham University Mountaineering Club, also known as NUMC or UNUMC (for University of Nottingham Union Mountaineering Club), is the climbing and mountaineering club of the University of Nottingham, England. The club has nurtured many distinguished climbing talents including Peter Boardman, the first British university graduate to summit Mount Everest; Seb Grieve, who established many hard trad gritstone routes such as Meshuga, E9, at Black Rocks; and Brian Davidson, the first ascentionist of Mort, IX, Britain's hardest winter route.
Terrace Wall
Terrace-Wall.jpg
Many generations of Nottingham climbers have perfected their art on Terrace Wall. Situated in front of the University's Trent Building, this south facing decorative sandstone wall, although not designed for climbing, provides a number of delicate, fingery climbs. The wall is set on three tiers, each a couple of metres high, with the top two tiers being the most intensely developed (the bottom tier, being immediately above the water, exacts a higher price for failure than the other two tiers, both set above paths). The two most popular problems are probably traverses of the left and right hand sections of the top tier, with the traverse of the central tier, 'New Traverse', proving a slightly more challenging prospect.
The 1964-65 club journal, which included the first of several guides to the climbs on the wall, is fulsome in its praise of the wall: 'its great virtue lies in the number of climbs which, while being perfectly safe, are of a standard unsurpassed by any route this side of Llyn D'Ur Arddn'. The wall was extensively developed in the 1970s, with a few more problems climbed in the 80s and the early 90s, with only a handful since then. The other tiers having been extensively climbed upon, only the waterside tier really leaves potential for development.
A new colour guide was published as part of the 2003-4 club journal and it includes several new problems including the excellent 'Soggy Bits', a traverse of the right hand waterside tier and 'Neil's Dyno', a somewhat contorted leap of a problem. The waterside traverses are often green due to a lack of people wanting to throw themselves into the murky depths of the freezing cold lake but in summer, a few make the airy steps down with brushes in hand to take up the the challenge of routes that include 'Swinging by the Knees from the Chandelier', 'Ice is Nice' and 'Soggy Bits'.
External links
- Club Website (http://www.unumc.org/)
- Terrace Wall Guide (http://www.woollyfoot.f9.co.uk/twguide/terracewall.pdf)