By James Lawson (Kip)

The Journey

The journey began for some in the SAC at around 12. Due to a lack of drivers and Murray and Kips recent birthdays they were taking the minibus test on the day of the trip, if they both failed then there would be no trip! Fortunately both passed despite neither having driven a car for quite some time, kips 3 point turn and parallel parking should be noted as it’s quite hard in a minibus. Once the test was over Murray went off to do a fluids lab and then on to do the food shop with Ali. The food shop began with an email from grumpy Murray saying he didn’t want to go and ended with an amusing phone call from Kaz saying she didn’t want to go as she’d rather sleep with grumpy Murray.

The minibus was swiftly filled by the small number of people but departed a little less swiftly after a stall from the newly qualified driver. We arrived at Murray’s house quite early as Swanage is quite close and decided to watch top gun before going to bed.

Day 1

Since there were quite a few freshers on this trip the decision was made to go to Dancing ledge for some easy sport and maybe some top rope climbing on the polished limestone. Calum wanted to go to Winspit as he had found an interesting M10 roof crack that he wanted to dry tool so he walked over there (about 3 miles) after we arrived. It was quite a cold day about 1-2oC so the sport climbing was difficult with most people struggling to climb anything hard. Ali found a V7 boulder problem which was a lot of fun for all to try, after working it for most of the day he finally did it with Sam getting close.

As the sun started to go down and everyone decided that it was getting late and we should be heading back we started to wonder where Calum was, he had been told to be back by sundown and he wasn’t. Since the place that everyone had put their stuff couldn’t be easily seen from the top of the cliff we thought Calum may have gone back to the bus so we started walking back to the bus leaving people with head torches so that signals could be sent back to the people waiting at the top of Dancing Ledge saying if he had been found or not. When we got to the bus and found Calum wasn’t there we sent the signal saying that we didn’t find him and Murray started heading back to the cliff leaving the freshers safe and warm in the bus.

The senior members on the trip decided to mount a search and rescue operation and decided to move fast and light. After hastily repacking bags with rescue and first aid equipment the 3 strong team of Ali, Sam and Murray ran off into the night in search of the missing member. After a 3 Km run and some difficulty navigating in the dark they arrived at Winspit and began searching the ara. Winspit is known for its quarried caves which look remarkably similar to those from Lord of the Rings, after locating the bolts for the rout Calum had been attempting and finding no trace of him or climbing equipment the decision was made to return for the bus and call the coast guard for help.

The coast around Swanage is notorious for lack of phone signal anywhere along its length so the coast guard couldn’t be called until we had returned to the people who had been left in the bus. As soon as the team reached an area where there was phone signal they all received a barrage of texts, voice mails and missed calls from Calum and Fresher (who had not some on the trip) asking us where we were and telling us that our missing member was. After coming back to Dancing Ledge before sundown and not being able to see us and not remembering the way back to the bus Calum had walked all the way into Swanage town and was currently sheltering in “Fun Land”. The other members were relieved at the news of his safety and proceeded to pick him up and head back to Murray’s house for dinner.

Day 2

After the adventures of day 1 it was decided that everyone would stick together and go bouldering in Portland. After a drive over to the isle and the navigational nightmare of the local streets designed to keep the locals off the mainland we arrived to a cold windy crag. The bouldering was made very difficult by the cold and not many hard things were climbed but everyone had a go. The bus thermometer told us that the temperature was -1.2 Co which was disputed by Calum as the mud on the floor and the sea were not frozen. At the end of the day everyone packed up and got on the minibus back to London making good time as Swanage is only 2.5 hours away.

The day was not quite over for Ali and Murray who had to spend quite some time driving around London looking for diesel as all the shell garages were shut. Time was also spent performing 3 point turns and parallel parking the minibus in its home behind the SAF.