Lent Term 2008 Roundup
Question Time
A group of pupils were invited from Glenalmond to take part in BBC’s ‘Question Time’ hosted at Stirling University. It says much for the academic credentials of the House that all three boys invited, Sam Wilson, Dougie Foster and Daniel Thomas were from Reid’s. Sam Wilson has received an offer from St Hilda’s College, Oxford, to read PPE. Daniel Thomas has received an offer from Peterhouse College Cambridge to read Natural Sciences. Dougie Foster is intending to pursue an Oxbridge application next year.
House Outing - Jack Wilson
On the 2nd of March, Reid’s went to to Xscape in Glasgow for their house outing. It is an activity centre which has outdoor activities inside e.g. climbing and skiing. We went for the skiing and it was great fun even though the slope wasn’t particularly long it had a couple of small jumps and snowboarding was an option. A special mention is due to George Fleming who entertained everyone by falling over so much. Overall it was a good day out and we all came back very tired.
Basketball – Max Lindner
In a school full of Hockey and Rugby the world of Rebounds, 3-Pointers, Alley-Opps are, for most pupils, words in a foreign language, but despite this, Glenalmond has established a good reputation for Basketball.
You can choose Basketball in the 1st and 2nd term in Coll every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday is a recreational Basketball session for everyone, where we normally play normally with our trainer Mr. Allnutt. Reynan Burden, Ying Chen, Marc Assiter, Angus Mac Leod and I enjoy this session to develop our game experience and improve our shooting skills. We have lots of fun and train for our big matches in the Inter-House Basketball competition in the future. Therefore we often play the match Reids vs. Skrines, which is our big rival.
Tuesday and Thursday Basketball training is only for the Glenalmond Basketball Team under the coaching of Mr. Haylock. Reynan Burden, Ying Chen and I are part of this team and we enjoy getting trained in the basic strategies of Basketball. With this team we often have matches against other schools. We have had some quite impressive games and also some quite depressing games. We played against Fettes College away and needed to accept that they played a far better game than we did, but this didn’t stop us. Instead we learned from our mistakes and won against Dollar and Strathallan quite easily. We won after a hard battle against Merchiston, with a 48-46 victory. In this game we showed our opponents that height is not everything in Basketball and we won because of good team play and good tactics. We showed that even with Basketball as a minor sport in Coll, we are successful.
One reason for this is also our great interest in this great sport by watching and analysing the games of our favourite NBA Teams. Now we are looking forward to bring the Inter-House Trophy to Reid’s, with good team play and a good morale.
Reid’s Win House Basketball - MTJ
Reid’s won the House basketball in a close fought competition. Our team consisted of Ying Chen, Reynan Burden, Max Lindner, Mark Assiter, Angus Macleod and George Russell. Not wanting to do things the easy way we lost our first game narrowly against Goodacres 6-8. This meant that in order for us to have a chance of winning, the favourites Skrine’s had to beat Goodacres and we then had to beat Skrines. Skrine’s duly defeated Goodacres easily which set us up for our big game. Reid’s came out with all guns blazing and established a 6-0 lead within minutes. The game was controlled by Ying, Reynan and Max, but the crucial support came from Angus, Mark and George. With Ying in foul trouble and with Skrine’s desperate to get back in the game, George came on at a critical moment. We held together and our smooth movement of the ball meant that Skrine’s could not defend against a Reid’s team in which all five players on the court were a scoring threat. Angus Macleod scored two big baskets at a crucial point in the game just after half time which put the game out of their reach.
This was an excellent team performance and full colours were awarded to the sixth form members of the team who were Max Lindner, Angus Macleod, Mark Assiter, Ying Chen and Reynan Burden.
Rugby - Gareth Walker
This term is all about development for next season so the squad of players is mainly 5th and L6th form with a couple of U6th for experience and the team had a leave out weekend tour to Stratford for some team bonding and to play a couple of matches.
The first game was against Kings College, a very physical match with big tackles coming from everyone. The scores at half time were 3-3 and with a strong wind and slight downhill against us the chances of our winning or even holding on were little. We managed to defend for the entire second half rarely getting out of our own 22 but did hold on to draw the match.
On the Sunday we played Princethorpe College, a less physical game but with a water drenched pitch the conditions weren't favourable to our attacking style. Even with the horrible ground we managed to score four tries and only concede one.
Post half term is 7s time. The first tournament of the year was Merchiston, we were missing a couple of starting members through injury but managed to beat Fettes and Edinburgh Accies to meet Merchiston in the semi-final. It was set to be the big upset of the day but a turn over in the final seconds allowed Merchi to score in the corner and win by four points. The following Saturday was the Caritas 7s and with many boys away on the Bath hockey tour we had a younger team out. We stepped off the bus and straight onto the pitch, with little to no warm up time, which was shown by our first half performance. The second half was better and we managed to score three tries leaving the score at 31-21 to Dundee HS. Following this game was Edinburgh Accies, after losing a try straight of the kick off we ran in six tries to win 36-5.
The final tournament of the year was the George Watsons 7s. This time our first game was Merchiston. From the kick off we kept the ball in Glenalmond hands for three and a half minutes and got ourselves three tries in front at half time. After the break Merchi came back but not enough to stop us from our first win over Merchiston, 24-19. Robert Gordon’s and Linlithgow followed Merchiston out of the competition for us to meet RGS Newcastle in the semi final. Newcastle had won the previous year’s tournament and were considerably bigger than us. This didn't put us off but a missed tackle allowed them to score the vital try to win 26-19.
Junior House Football – Robert Horne and George Russell
We started the tournament against Matheson’s. Within the first ten minutes we were already 1-0 up with a beautiful strike from Robert Horne outside of the box which flew into the top right hand corner; it left the keeper rooted to the spot. We finished the first half off with the score at 1-0. In the second half there was some great defending from George Russell and Seb Schofield to keep Matheson’s from scoring an equaliser. The match ended with a great win which was a good way to start the tournament.
Our second game was against Skrine’s who this year had a very strong side. We started the game well with a good goal from George Russell which he slotted into the bottom left hand corner. Skrine’s did not give up and just before half time we gave away a penalty which Skrine’s calmly put past goal keeper Harry Findlay. Half way through the second half there was a great bit of play when Ed Brown put a lovely floated ball over the defence which Stirling Fenton latched onto to finish past the goal keeper to make it 2-1. The defence and midfield did some great defending to keep Skrine’s at bay. The final score was 2-1 which was a great result.
Our next game was against Patchell’s who this year did not have a very strong side.
Within five minutes we were already 1-0 up with a great strike from Robert Horne outside of the box which curled away from the goalkeeper into the bottom left. Then a few minutes later there was a break through their defence and George Russell slotted it past the goal keeper to make it 2-0 at half time. We started the second half off well when jock Cameron threaded a ball through to Robert Horne who took it around the goal keeper to make it 3-0. Robert Horne then added another two great goals to take the score up to 5-0 then in the last minute Freddie swift scored from six yards to complete the rout.
The mood was high in the Goodacre’s camp after 4 straight wins and only needing a draw against the mighty Reid’s to seal the tournament. With two quick goals from Goodacre’s, Reid’s had a mountain to climb. But after an inspirational half time team talk led by Jack Cadzow the Reid’s spirit was re-kindled and we started to play as a unit again. Fred scored a blinder from 1 yard out keeping the dream alive. George Russell then scored an absolute stunner (right footed volley into the top right hand corner) but this was disallowed. The spirit was not dampened as Tango scored a screamer to put the game at 2 a piece. The game finished and Goodacre’s won on goal difference. This was nevertheless a valiant effort from the less experienced Reid’s team who punched way above their weight as always.
CCF Mountaineering Trip to Cairngorms – Jack Glen
During the Half-term break I and four other boys embarked upon or great adventure in the Cairngorms. This mountain experience course was run by Maj. Pratchett and Capt. Crockett. We also had help from Ms. Barnardo, Mrs. Crockett (a very able cook) and Jonathan, an experienced mountain rescue worker.
This glamorous turn-out reflects the quality of the expedition, as the pupil to staff ratio was 1:1. Sadly this gave us no opportunity to cause any trouble. My fellow intrepid explorers were John Parkhill (P), James Cumming (P), Campbell Findlay (M), and Chris Hastings (S). Sadly not all could attend due to illness and other commitments.
During the trip we managed to climb three Monroes including Aonach Mhor and Cairngorm. The weather during our stay was brilliant enabling us to see for miles around without many clouds in sight (just to remind us that we were in Scotland). The group also got the opportunity to do some ice climbing and spend the night in a snow hole, which only true mountaineers dug for themselves. Owing to the good weather the stay in the snow hole was quite pleasant, so it looks like I’m returning next year to sample the archytypal Scottish weather.
The trip had a great atmosphere and was a great success with all those concerned, many thanks to all the staff who participated.
Pipe (B) Band - Marcus Wilson
This term the ‘B’ band has enjoyed a large contribution from a great number of Reid’s boys. On the pipes these included George Proctor, Marcus Wilson and Richard Leckie. Drummers included George Russell, Jack Glen (lead drummer) and Jack Cadzow on the Bass Drum.
We have been working towards the Glasgow Highland Club competition playing the band march, strathspey and reel. Much progress has been made and it is hoped that with Mr Elrick’s guidance we will put in a decent performance at this competition. Pipe Band continues to be enjoyable and all involved have found it very agreeable.
Skiing – Olliver Tulloch
Reid’s are extremely well represented in the ski team having two of the four members of the boys ski team. Both Oliver Tulloch and Edward Reynolds have competed in the British and Scottish school boy’s competitions this year. The team came 13th out of 20 in the British school boys with Edward coming an impressive 32nd in the slalom out of around 70. In the Scottish schools the team came 6th out of 17 where Oliver Tulloch came 13th out of about 70.
House skiing took place on the first Tuesday after half term, Reid’s entered two teams each consisting of three members. The A team being Oliver Tulloch, Edward Reynolds and Jack Cadzow and the B Team being Dougie Foster, Tom Brown and James Crozier. The two teams did extremely well with all most all members from Reids finishing in the top 15 in the individual event which Edward Reynolds won. Reids also walked away with the team parallel slalom beating Goodacre’s in the final by about three seconds.
Full House Colours were awarded to Olli Tulloch, James Crozier, Tom Brown and Dougie Foster.
Senior Hockey – Mark Assiter
This year there has been a fair number of Reid’s boys in the 1st and 2nd hockey teams. Callum Martin played for the first team and ended the season on an enjoyable tour to Bath. The First Team had an up and down season winning the majority of their games. Mark Assiter and Callum Martin both played in the 1st Hockey Cup Team which has reached the final of the Reserve Cup which is still to be played.
The 2nd hockey has been greatly influenced by Reid’s boys with Mark Assiter, Fergie McCullough, Douglas Meikle and Ewan Mackenzie-Smith all in the team. The seconds had a great season without losing a match and beating the 1st team from some other schools.
The Colts A Hockey – Freddie Swift
The season so far has been very much controlled by the weather. By half term we had managed two training sessions and had had two tournaments cancelled and 3 games! So when we came up against Strathallen in our first game we really lacked match
practice, and this showed as we were defeated 8-1. Our next game was George Watson’s, we bounced back well with a 5-1 victory. Robert Horne scored a good goal in this game.
We then faced a strong Loretto side who had beaten us convincingly last year.
The team played very well in this game and we came out with a much deserved 3-1 victory with yet another sensational goal from Robert Horne.
In the A’s from Reid’s there were Robert Horne, Jack Cadzow, George Russell, George Proctor, Harry Findlay and Freddie Swift.
The Junior Play: Much Ado About Something – John Sampson
This year the junior play only had one representative from Reid’s. The rehearsals started late last term. We were set the task of learning lines over the Christmas holidays. No one really did. Rehearsals went slowly for the first few weeks then it got quite intense. But even with a week to go some people didn’t know their lines let alone their cues. With the first performance looming an illness struck Matheson’s and we lost two of our main characters. So on the day of the first performance our director had to fill in for one of the parts. Surprisingly it went smoothly. Fortunately our performances got better. Overall it was a great experience
and good fun.
Cross Country – Ed Brown
In cross country we have done well. In the Strathallan cross country we had Ed Brown in 1st and Jock Cameron in 2nd and in the under 16s Freddie Swift came 3rd. In the Fettes relays we came 2nd and we lost to Fetties by about 50m.
In the steeple chase Fred Swift come first followed by Stan Shillington and third was Ed Brown. The winning house was Reid’s who had four out of the top five runners. Fred Swift was the fastest 4th former and Ed Brown the fastest 3rd former.
Reid’s House Cup Run – MTJ
I’m pleased to say that I was very keen to continue this tradition which also serves as a useful preparation for the main Steeplechase event. I changed the format slightly from last year and it now consists of a warm up circuit of the internal cross country course as a group followed by another circuit for which best effort individual times are recorded. Those pupils who completed the circuit inside 20 minutes are shown below.
Place |
|
|
|
Time |
1 |
Swift |
Frederick |
4 |
13.32 |
2 |
Brown |
Edward |
3 |
13.44 |
3 |
McCullough |
Fergus |
5 |
14.02 |
4 |
MTJ |
|
|
14.19 |
5 |
Horne |
Robert |
4 |
14.32 |
6 |
Brown |
Thomas |
6 |
15.11 |
7 |
Meikle |
Douglas |
5 |
15.39 |
8 |
Cameron |
Jock |
3 |
15.56 |
9 |
Wilson |
Marcus |
5 |
16.12 |
10 |
Walker |
Gareth |
7 |
16.38 |
11 |
Phillips |
Andre |
5 |
16.58 |
12 |
Fenton |
Stirling |
3 |
17.10 |
13 |
Xiao |
Jiaxin |
7 |
17.30 |
14 |
Sherlock |
Patrick |
6 |
17.34 |
15 |
WGRB |
|
|
17.42 |
16 |
Cadzow |
Jack |
4 |
17.58 |
17 |
Russell |
George |
4 |
18.03 |
18 |
Wilson |
Samuel |
7 |
18.32 |
19 |
Lindner |
Maximilian |
6 |
18.34 |
20 |
Onslow |
Edward |
5 |
18.4 |
21 |
Findlay |
Harry |
4 |
18.49 |
22 |
Martin |
Callum |
6 |
18.50 |
23 |
Chen |
Ying |
7 |
19.39 |
Glenalmond Steeplechase – Reid’s Win Junior Trophy - MTJ
Reid’s were dominant in the junior competition. Freddie Swift romped home in first place, despite suffering from a cold and being less than 100% fit. Ed Brown won the trophy for best III Form runner.
The junior competition depended on the results of all 16 Reid’s III and IV Form and the effort and commitment extended right down through the field. Reid’s dominated the leader board with Freddie Swift (1st),Ed Brown (3rd), Jock Cameron (4th) and Robert Horne (5th).
Half colours were awarded to George Fleming, Jock Cameron, Jack Wilson, John Sampson, Ed Brown, Stirling Fenton, Richard Leckie, Matt Turnbull and Seb Schofield.
The Senior Trophy was won by Goodacre’s but there were strong individual performances from Douglas Meikle (6th), Oli Tulloch (9th), Tom Brown (17th), Callum Martin (22nd) and Dougie Foster (32nd) out of a field of over 100 runners.
The Tragedy of Toni Kurz – Chapel Talk by MTJ
“I can’t do any more”.
“I can’t go on any longer”.
How often have we heard someone say something like this and how often is it actually really true? This is my tenth year at Glenalmond and rightly or wrongly this is a story I’ve wanted to tell for the whole of that time. When the Chaplain asked for a volunteer to read in Chapel this week I thought it was now or never.
Many of you may know I was for a many years a keen climber and mountaineer. Fatherhood and being a Housemaster has mostly curtailed the opportunities to go climbing and a scary moment on an ice climb last February has caused me to question whether it’s really a suitable activity for a 40 year old father of 3. I haven’t officially given up but nor have I been climbing since.
When thinking of an impossibly difficult climbing challenge the “North Face of the Eiger” is often the first thing that springs to mind. It offers a savage arena in full public view from the valley and in the late 1930’s it became the epitome of everything tragically sensational that mountaineering has to offer and was given the name “Mordwand” in the German press, the wall of death.
The North Face was so steep and difficult, so constantly swept by stone fall and avalanches that it had long been dismissed as impossible. Was it really impossible? In truth nobody who had not tried it could answer that question. Someone had to be the first to try.
In 1935 someone came.
Max Sedlmayer and Kurt Mehringer were two young Munich climbers who were two of the best and toughest climbers of their day and began their attempt at 2am on the 21st of August 1935. They made a spectacularly fast start and by the end of the first day had climbed nearly half way up the face. On the second day they slowed down considerably, a sign of the technically difficult climbing, and watchers in the valley following their progress through telescopes could see them dodging falling stones from which there was little or no protection. That night they bivouacked at the upper rim of the first ice field. It was a long night but the weather continued to hold. The next day their progress was so slow they hardly seemed to be gaining height anymore. Many were following their progress through telescopes, concerned to know where they could possibly spend the night but they were destined not to find out as a violent thunderstorm closed in. The storm lasted all that night and the whole of the next day. The clouds never parted and their fifth day on the face was followed by a murderously cold night. There was rejoicing as the sixth day dawned and the watchers saw them climbing again. This optimism was not shared by the experienced guides and climbers who were watching. They knew full well that the reason they had not turned back was because they couldn’t and were caught in a trap. The slopes below were too long and too exposed to the avalanches resulting from all the fresh snow. Their only hope lay upwards. The clouds closed in concealing the last act of the tragedy from the watchers below. Their bodies were eventually spotted some days later at the upper rim of the third ice field at a point known ever since as the “Death Bivouac”.
Despite this tragedy, the siren song of the Eiger could not be resisted for long and less than a year later Toni Kurz embarked on the face with his companions Edi Rainer, Willi Angerer and Anderl Hinterstoisser. This party too started very well but they turned back after three days on the face, having almost reached the “Death Bivouac”, probably as a result of one of their party having been hit by a stone. A happy ending appeared to be in sight. A guard at one of the windows from the mountain railway tunnel high in the face heard them shout down that all was well and even started brewing them some tea.
But they didn’t come in a minute or two as he was expecting.
What the guard didn’t know was that this party too had found themselves in a trap. To reverse their line of ascent the party had to climb sideways over a steep section of rock. This had been led in fine style on dry rock in the ascent by Hinterstoisser, and this passage is now known as the “Hinterstoisser traverse”. By now though all hell had let loose on the face and the rocks were covered with a thin film of ice rendering them un-climbable. The precious hours of the morning were spent in vain desperate attempts to reverse this section and the watchers below watched Hinterstoisser try again and again to climb across but each time falling in a pendulum back to where he started.
The only option remained to abseil down the vertical and overhanging rock below over unknown ground in an attempt to gain the tunnel windows. It was at this point as they began the descent that the guard heard the cry that all was well.
Impatient at the delay the guard again leant out of the windows and shouted for the climbers but this time there was no cheery reply but a shocking answer coming from the last lone survivor, Toni Kurz.
Nobody knows exactly what happened but what was certain was that Kurz was the only one left alive. His shouted down that Hinterstoisser had fallen off and gone the whole way down the face. The rope had pulled Rainer up against a carabiner and he had frozen to death unable to move. Angerer was dead too, strangled by the rope.
Kurz was adamant that rescuing him was only possible from above but this was clearly out of the question with the conditions as they were and with daylight fading. The rescuers had no option but to retreat for the night, but they could hear Kurz’s desperate cries for a long time on the way down.
He survived the night but was in a pitiable condition by the morning, his fifth day on the face. Icicles eight inches long had formed on the points of his crampons and having lost the mitten on his left hand these fingers were frostbitten and useless. Attempts to climb up above him in order to lower a rope down failed, as did attempts to fire a rope up to him with rockets. In the end he had to cut the rope away from Angerer’s body, unravel the strands with his teeth and one hand for five long hours, then tie the pieces together and lower the line to the rescuers who attached a rope to the end. He hauled this up but the rope wasn’t quite long enough so they tied another rope to the end. He then started to descend the rope and eventually they saw his legs appear above the lip of the overhang. Toni Kurz’s ordeal appeared to be almost over. Tragically it was just at this moment that the knot joining the two ropes together jammed in the carabiner preventing him from descending any further. His desperate attempts to force the knot through the carabiner failed. The rescuers frantically urged him to keep trying since he hung just out of their reach. It was then that they heard his final words:
“Ich kann nicht mehr”. I can’t go on any longer.
Toni Kurz was dead. He had done everything he possibly could, kept trying until the very end, but it wasn’t quite enough. His salvation, though only minutes away, had come too late.
The North Face was eventually climbed two year’s later by a four man team which included Heinrich Harrer, whose book “The White Spider” provides much of the inspiration for this talk. I recommend this book to you, along with “Seven Year’s in Tibet”, also by Harrer, even if you have no interest in climbing.
I’ll leave you to decide for yourselves whether the ascent of the Eiger’s North Face represents a triumph in the face of a seemingly impossible challenge or an unacceptable risk resulting in the loss of so many lives.
I’ve never climbed the Eiger’s North Face and never will, but one day I’ll visit Grindlewald and look up at the challenge that these men took on. I might even climb the Eiger by one of the easier routes.
Next time you’re tempted to say that you can’t go on any longer, or that you can’t do any more, remember Toni Kurz.
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