The saddle above Craig Ysfa between Pen yr Helgi Du and Carnedd Llewelyn. The descent path to the Ogwen Valley begins on the lower central section of ridge
F.
A. Pullinger,* was precise in not revealing the authors, titles or
the names of the dead in his notes of 'references - not wholly
accurate -' made in two books to the tragic accident by Ffynnon
Llugwy on November 20th
1927, in which two young climbers lost their lives. As Editor he
desired to put on record the action of the Climbers' Club on that
occasion, until then held by the Committee as confidential. A
sub-committee was appointed and a 'weighty report' established of
full facts with certain conclusions drawn and acting upon these the
resignation of an unnamed member was accepted.
Mr.
Pullinger considered the following paragraph of the report retained
its general value:-
“It
cannot in our opinion be too strongly emphasised, more especially in
view of the number of inexperienced parties who now undertake
mountaineering expeditions which involve risks, that the bonds
uniting the members of a climbing party involves a mutual
responsibility which is only terminated in death, by the safe outcome
of the expedition, or by a voluntary and equal agreement to separate
where no risk is in question. This is an obligation which rests on
every member of the expedition, leader and led alike. In moments of
dilemma or crisis the leader – or whichever of the party may have
been selected by circumstances to succeed to his responsibilities –
may be called upon to exercise a difficult discrimination, and, in
the event of accident or mischance, to decide upon the order
in which he shall fulfil his obligation to the several members of his
party. He may, for instance, climbing with A and B, be forced to
decide whether he will remain with B who is injured, or help first to
get A out of danger. But his duty to A and B alike remains the same.
“Directly
his duty to A is discharged – so far as may be essential for A's
safety at the moment, and therefore, for a reasonable probability
that A will dispatch ultimate succour – he is bound to make B his
only thought; and, at any risk to his own safety or risk or survival,
it is his duty, and the duty of any other member of the party still
able to act, to return to B, and to share his situation until either
life be extinct, or until the home-coming of every member of his
original party, injured or capable, is ensured.”
Llyn Fynnon Llugwy: Mark Hughes
Thomas
Firbank's book 'I Bought a Mountain', published in 1940 gives a
version of the tragedy of 20th
November 1927 when Norman Stott and Arthur Taylor died near Llyn
Ffynnon Llugwy. They had climbed the Great Gully, Craig yr Ysfa
with Francis Giveen and William Tayleur.
He
begins, 'There are many climbing accidents, of course, but nearly all
of them provide those involved with opportunities to show great
courage and devotion.' Not the words attributed to Francis Giveen and
William Tayleur, rather the conduct of them as survivors that
deserved his strongest criticism.
He
describes the weather as rough, a wet day, and how Giveen, 'a very
fine climber' and leader of the other three novices were all at
Helyg, the Climbers' Club Hut. All 'no doubt' were quite wet and cold
before they reached the foot of the climb, two hours away over the
Carnedds. The weather so delayed the inexperienced men to the top of
the climb it was achieved by lantern light at seven that evening, led
by Giveen.
'Soaked
to the skin, half-frozen with cold, tired out, and faint with hunger'
the long journey back to Helyg via Bwlch Eryl Frachog was hindered
when Tayleur dropped the compass, which was lost. They struggled on
and the lantern then gave out and in the darkness, Stott and Taylor
'blundered' into the lake. Stott scrambled into the water, rescued
his companion and both collapsed on the shore.
Firbank
suggested that previous to the disaster, Tayleur had been the 'most
distressed, not being so physically strong as the others' and it was
this that led Giveen to hurry him to shelter and to leave Stott and
Taylor where they had collapsed, near the lake, where he dragged them
behind a wind-break for shelter. Giveen and Tayleur then took four
hours to reach the hut, where they ate then got the car out and drove
to a hotel five miles away. A party was organised at once but the
croaking of the ravens led them to the frozen bodies of Stott and
Taylor. The rescuers recalled finding the bodies lying face down in a
bog, their equipment still on their backs with Taylor smothered by
peaty mud.
This
is Firbank version of Giveen's evidence at the inquest but the story
extends to Stott's father, who showed little sympathy to Giveen. He
insisted how mad it had been to take three novices up so severe a
climb in such weather. His criticisms became more pointed as he
persuaded some friends to visit the scene where they found Taylor's
watch, stopped at 6-40. In a letter to the newspapers Mr. Stott asked
Giveen to explain what he had done in the twelve hours between the
accident and him arriving at the hotel with Tayleur. According to
Firbank there were 'ugly' rumours locally and when questioned Tayleur
admitted he had not been exhausted, and Giveen solicitude had been
misplaced.
Firbank
surmised Giveen had anxiously persuaded Tayleur to hurry off the
mountainside with him. Mr. Stott senior had stages of the route timed
with Helyg from the top of the climb at two hours. Apparently Giveen
and Tayleur had arrived at Helyg at 9.0 p.m., had a meal and slept
until the morning. Farms close to the hut were ignored and when they
arrived at the hotel they had breakfast before reporting the accident
with no urgency. Firbank ends his retelling of the incident with
members of the Climbers' Club hearing of the incident and threatening
to resign unless Giveen was expelled. The enquiry held by the Club
was disturbed before a final verdict reached was disturbed by Giveen
as he marched in, resigned, laughed and cursed as he left. Giveen was
considered to have been insane on the night of the accident.
'Over
Welsh Hills', written by Frank Smythe, published 1941 devoted 4 pages
to the incident. He described the Great
Gully, Craig yr Ysfa and regarded its length and difficulty
indirectly responsible
for the worst 'catastrophe' that had befallen British mountaineering.
Giveen is detailed the more experienced rock climber and only by his
good leadership did they reach the top of the climb. The descent is
as that of Firbank; the loss of the compass, the fall into the lake
of Stott and Taylor. Stott who scrambled out then then bravely dived
back to rescue Taylor, who was no swimmer. An effort that so
exhausted the two that they collapsed face downwards on the boggy
shore of the lake.
Smythe heaped the
pressure on Giveen with a situation, not merely unpleasant before,
that suddenly had become dangerous. He was of the opinion that Giveen
should have saved the party by taking one of two courses that were
open to him. He could have either got the two exhausted men to a dry
and sheltered spot, given them all the clothing he could spare,
restored their circulation as best he could or leave Tayleur to tend
them and then race for the nearest farm, close to Helyg, half an hour
or forty minutes from the lake. The other was to remain himself with
Stott and Taylor and send Tayleur for help. Smythe was of the opinion
that the former option was the best as Giveen knew the countryside
better than Tayleur, who was tired and might be slow in summoning
assistance.
Ogwen Valley
'What
in fact did he do?' asked Smythe and described rather how Giveen did
not follow his advice and he left Stott and Taylor where they had
fallen, journeyed to Helyg and had a meal. They slept and on wakening
realised their companions had not arrived and decided that something
had to be done! Why had they not roused the neighbouring
farmers? Instead they motored to an hotel several miles distant to
seek help arriving there twelve hours after Stott and Taylor had
fallen exhausted. The rescue party was immediately organised but
arrived to find Stott and Taylor dead.
Smythe
retold Giveen's 'different' account at the inquest and that he done
everything possible for his companions and had only accompanied
Tayleur because of the latter’s
exhaustion. Arriving at Helyg he had set out immediately for help and
a 'colourless' verdict was passed and indeed sympathy was expressed
for Giveen. The anguish of Mr. Stott was retold with emphasis on the
twelve hour delay from the time the watch stopped to the time of the
summoning of help. Smythe prognosed insanity on behalf of Giveen and
that Tayleur, a novice was overawed and overruled by his leader.
Although
to some he thought it unnecessary to have included this tragic and
unsavoury story he did so because 'in days when mountaineering and
rock climbing are rapidly increasing in popularity among all classes
and types of persons it cannot be too often stated that a sense of
responsibility is, and must always be, the underlying note in
mountaineering, the responsibility of the leader in the selection of
a climb and the method in which it is carried out and the
responsibility of each member of a party towards his companions. The
sense of responsibility more than anything else promotes good
comradeship and sound mountaineering.'
The
accounts of the accident by Firbank and Smythe coincide but can be
challenged. The party of four were not all at Helyg, rather Giveen
and Tayleur stayed there from the 23rd
October. Perhaps Stott and Taylor were at The Oakwoood Park Hotel,
Sychnant Pass, Conwy, owned by Stott's father.
The
Climbers' Club, then, as now, did and do not consider novices
as members, Messrs. Giveen, Stott and Taylor were
official
members,
and Mr. Tayleur's membership application was in the hands of the
secretary of the Club.
At
the inquest it was noted that they summited the climb at
approximately 7.00 pm of the 20th
November and thus the two men must have fallen into Llyn Ffynnon
Llugwy some time after this. The watch, found stopped with the hands
at 6-40 could have stopped either on the ascent of the climb or on
the morning of the attempted rescue and probably played no part in
the 'twelve hour delay' accusation. The time of 9 'o' clock for the
descent from the top of the climb to the hut, as described by
Firbank, paid no attention to the loss of the compass, the lantern
that expired, the incident at the lake and the aid given to the two
men before the descent to Helyg. The weather, 'wet and windy' was far
more wintry in conditions with sleet and snow, an icy, ferocious
wind and very low temperatures the order of the night.
Helyg
The
editor of the Climbers' Club Journal in 1943, Mr. Pullinger wrote
only of two books but a third, probably 'not wholly accurate' exists,
a novel entitled Bride to the Mountain (pub 1940) by Thomas Firbank,
written shortly after the success of I Bought a Mountain, which draws
heavily on the same experiences, largely based on the actual 1927
case with a description of a similar climb and tragic ending.
*
Editor of the The Climbers' Club Journal, 1943, Vol. VII. No.2, New
Series, sixty-ninth issue, page 94 Mark Hughes: 2016
