In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
Entirely possible, John! What hadn't occurred to me at the time is that even back in the 1960s, before the later access problems had arisen, there was a fairly strong idea that climbing at Cheddar was an activity best restricted to the winter months, or at the very least not at weekends and other times of heightened tourist popularity; the access notes in the 1970 guide include this recommendation, together with a general note about loose rock, vegetation and risk to third parties. It's quite likely, therefore, that people were already cataloguing their activities in terms of particular winter seasons - 1965/66, 1966/67, etc - rather than whole years; and if one was fortunate/cunning/low key enough to climb something at a more temperate time of year it was probably simply regarded as "late" in one season or "early" in the next. With Consolation being set back at some distance from the road, well away from the show caves, and 2/8/66 being a tuesday, it was no doubt considered a much safer proposition than doing something further down the gorge at a different time of the week.
