UKC

This yearit is 100 hundred years since the outbreak of WWI and with it the interruption of a period of improvement within British and World climbing.

With the vast majority of able-bodied men and women being conscripted in some way to help with the war effort, this led to many of the countries leading lights losing their lives in the battlefields of Europe.

One of these leading lights was Siegfried Herbert, first ascentionist of Central Buttress on Scafell. In this article, Claire Carter takes a look at Herford's history that is on display at Keswick Museum...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=6392

In reply to UKC Articles:

Thought provoking - it seems that these were "simpler, more idyllic times" but then you have to remember that there were no antibiotics, anesthesia was sketchy, no state "safety net" so that in almost all aspects of life everyone was one step away from disaster. This probably resulted in a better sense of community, but this sense of community, as well as the social structure of the time, resulted in the mass hysteria of WWI

In reply to pneame:

so you think that antibiotics along with all the other chemicals we now live by have stepped us *back* from disaster ??

In reply to LeeWood:

Na. Chronic pain, tetanus, TB,dysentry, cholera etc etc all sound much better.

In reply to nw:

But dying horribly because a minor cut gets infected is natural, and therefore good.

In reply to UKC Articles:
I'm planning to try Hans Dülfer's 1913 route on the west face of the Totenkirchl this summer. Gets VII- these days and I'll be pretty chuffed if I manage to keep up with the alpine cutting edge of a hundred years ago.

Dülfer died at Arras in 1915.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Nice to read about the first ascent of this route, and great that so much is known about it (through the early accounts etc).

In reply to nw:

The greatest advances with these disease have been through hygiene, not drugs

In reply to LeeWood:

In some cases, yes. But do you really think 21st century scale hygiene and sanitation would be possible without 'the other chemicals we now live by'?

I wonder how many of my HIV+ friends would be alive now without drugs.

In reply to LeeWood:
You are right that advances in hygiene and sanitation have probably done more than anything else to increase overall life expectancy. However, even with perfect hygiene and sanitation, a huge number of people would still die or lose important functions from conditions which are now simply treated by surgery - and this has been been made possible (or at least humane) by the development of anaesthesia, which depended entirely on advances in drug research.

And even with good hygiene and sanitation, plenty of clean-living folk still get pneumonia and other infections which can be life-threatening without antibiotics.

In reply to UKC Articles: excellent article. Glad we have the freedom to climb.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Really interesting article, do we know if any of his grit exploring was recorded? more of this sort of thing on ukc please!

In reply to w.pettet-smith:

Yes, his climbs on grit are quite well recorded - in the first guidebook by Laycock, in a biography by Keith Treacher, and in subsequent Kinder Area peak guidebooks, etc. I've got a list somewhere I'll post in a minute.

In reply to w.pettet-smith:

Here's a list of Herford Climbs in the Peak. Can't remember what I compiled it from. Sorry it's a bit scruffy, crude. His route on the Pagoda, and Right Twin Chimney on Kinder (the latter now HVS 5a) were amazing for the time. Actually I think they're both HVS aren't they?

http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/PeakClimbsofHerfordetc.png

In reply to w.pettet-smith:

Here's the relevant pages re his climbs on Mermaid Buttress on Kinder, taken from Laycock's guidebook of 1914:

http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/documents/MermaidButtressetc.pdf

In reply to w.pettet-smith:

Finally, here are a couple of pictures from the guidebook of him climbing on Kinder: Mermaid Ridge and Right Twin Chimney:

http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/MermaidRidge.jpg
http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/RightTwinChimney.jpg

In reply to UKC Articles:
Wow amazing stuff thanks Gordon. What a fella! Seems HVS wasn't a flash in the pan for him.