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The National Mountaineering Exhibition, a joint venture between
the British Mountaineering Council and the newly founded Mountain
Heritage Trust, opened unofficially this week in a bizarre subterranean
Celtic mythology centre near Penrith in Cumbria. The "Rheged Discovery
Centre" may sound like a North Wales Land Rover dealership but it
is in fact the Lake District's latest tourist trap.
Sited just off the M6 north Lakes turnoff at Junction 40, the heritage
emporium is said to be Europe's largest underground building. Constructed
in an old limestone quarry and roofed over with turf (in order to
comply with strict planning constraints operating on the picturesque
fringe of the National Park) the strange, sunken structure is supposed
to represent "a Lakeland Fell". However, the general effect is more
reminiscent of a giant pillbox or camouflaged Normandy gun emplacement
from the D-Day era. Not for nothing has one wag already dubbed it
"The Heritage Bunker".
Fortunately the unpromising external impression is transformed
once one actually enters the titanic tumulus. For a structure built
largely underground, there is a phenomenal amount of light pouring
through huge windows which frame a gorgeous view of the Northern
Pennines. The new mountaineering exhibition shares space with a
petrol station and shops selling local foodstuffs, trinkets and
arts and crafts products, as well as the Celtic mythology "experience".
The latter attraction, which celebrates the possibly apocryphal
Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged (allegedly centred on modern Cumbria)
firmly follows the Braveheart school of cultural interpretation
- what you might term "Hollywood historicism". This cheerfully showbiz
spirit has perhaps best summed up by the comments of a recent academic
historian visitor, "The veracity of much in the moody film they
show is questionable but it's great that you can buy replica swords
and a cup of tea."
This, then, formed the basis of low expectation which the assembled
mob of outdoor hacks shared when the doors of the new National Mountaineering
Exhibition were flung open to the press. Would the climbing presentations
be just as cheesy, with Cliffhanger like audio visual presentations
and Death Zone board games on sale in the shop? A palpable sense
of foreboding accompanied many of us as we entered the subterranean
portals of the Tolkien-esque grotto.
Fortunately, reality turned out to be more than acceptable. It
was immediately clear that the Mountain Heritage Trust have consciously
striven to avoid charges of Disneyfication. Although the exhibition
has been primarily designed to cater for a general, non-climbing
public, climbers too will probably be surprised to find they find
the experience interesting and informative.
So what is there to see? You enter the exhibition via an aerial
gangway high above the hordes of teeming tourists taking tea in
the refectory below. Whether or not this is supposed to simulate
crossing a Nepalese rope bridge over a raging torrent is hard to
tell but it is certainly likely to induce feelings of vertigo in
those visitors prone to it. This eventuality has been anticipated
- there is an alternative entrance. Eventually, the bridge will
allow a good view of a massive Julian Heaton-Cooper oil painting
depicting climbing on Scafell but the artist was still putting the
finishing touches to this at the time of writing.
After encountering a rather fine wraparound aerial photo of the
Himalaya, taken during Leo Dickinson's amazing balloon flight over
Everest, visitors are funnelled through a Stygian corridor which
is suppose to represent the fusty ambience of the Alpine Club's
South Audley Street headquarters in its Victorian heyday. The first
of a series of five press-to-start video stations is encountered
here.
Thumping the big red button (great fun for kids and climbers alike)
initiates the first video which is presented by avuncular ageing
DJ -cum- Hero of Middle England, John "Home Truths" Peel. Peel pretends
to be the reluctant mountaineer, professing to know little about
the subject but keen to learn from the assembled mountaineering
glitterati, Bonington, George Band, Leo Houlding, Airlee Anderson
etc, who pass by from time to time to enlighten or irritate him
as he prepares for an "expedition". The aim is to explain the basic
tenets and motivations behind climbing, together with a very rapid
gallop through its history.
Peel, using his characteristic approach of affecting to be simultaneously
intrigued and bemused ("and I thought Changabang was a Drum and
Bass act") plays the whimsical mediator, allowing potentially dull
information (and dull climbers) to be presented in a palatable way.
The "expedition" scenes, shot in the fortunately snowy grounds of
Glenmore Lodge at the height of the foot and mouth restrictions
are intercut with splendidly ancient newsreel-type footage. I particularly
liked the contrast between films featuring the self-conscious Mancunian
nasalities of Joe Brown circa 1952 and Frank Smythe's confident
crystal-cut tones as he dressed for 30s style Everest by pulling
five woollen sweaters over his head.
The exhibition is based around five themes, which the jolly designers
have called camps, each with its own interpretation point and video
presentation. They cover broad eras in British climbing history,
namely the alpine "Golden Age", the origins and early development
of domestic rock climbing, Himalayan climbing (especially Everest),
a video chat with Chris Bonington and George Band and finally a
15 minute video presentation featuring sound and sight bites from
a selection of heavily sponsored contemporary young and (young-ish)
climbers.
Here, you get to hear wise words from British climbing's current
media heroes such as Leo Houlding, "Get into climbing before you
get into birds and drugs". Every three minutes Peel interjects to
tell us how long there is to the end of the presentation in case
we're losing interest in the earnest ramblings of Ian Parnell or
the saucy remarks from leading ladette Airlie Anderson, "Sure, climbing's
a male dominated sport but that's not always a bad thing, heh heh."
Finally, there is a documentary using edited highlights from the
official 1953 Everest film interweaved with interviews between Peel
and original expedition veteran George Band. We're promised that
eventually the temperature in the "tented theatre" showing the film
will be lowered by 10 degrees during the scenes depicting the icy
hell of the South Col - "a place with the smell of death about it,"
as the square-jawed 1953 narrator sternly informs us. I hope the
organisers are fully insured against frostbite injuries.
All these presentations are very slick and look great, projected
as they are onto gently billowing canvas which gives a splendidly
period feel to them. A great deal of thought has clearly gone into
the look of the exhibition and most of the well-lubricated hacks
present at the launch were agreed that, on the whole, it worked
very well. Eventually, the moving images and panel information will
be complemented by a host of artefacts featuring gems such as Whymper's
alpenstock, the Abrahams' camera, Irvine's ice axe and Whillan's
Whillan's Harness.
Nevertheless, it's probably fair to say that at present, the exhibition
is noticeably skewed towards Himalayan mountaineering and inevitably
the usual popular fixation on Everest. From an unashamedly voyeuristic
point of view, this is no bad thing as the exhibition will be displaying
the "souvenirs" retrieved from George Mallory's celebrity corpse
by the US gold-digging Everest expedition of 1999. These weren't
in place at the time of writing but should be available for ogling
when the exhibition opens fully in early August.
One of the few things which doesn't really work, however, is a
1:10 scale model of Everest's "Second Step", the rocky impasse which
stopped all the pre-war expeditions in their tracks. Climbing wall
manufacturers Entreprise have mocked up an unconvincing piece of
shrunken plastic architecture which puts you in mind of the "Stonehenge"
scenes in This is Spinal Tap. This aside, the quality of presentation
is very professional, as befits a concept designed by John Sunderland,
the begetter of York's phenomenally successful Jorvik Viking Exhibition,
as well as The White Cliffs of Dover Experience. Most folk came
away feeling impressed, if not a little relieved (even über-critic
Ken Wilson was overheard to say "I think it's very good") and there
are good grounds for anticipating that the content may rise in quality
to match the excellent presentation as time goes on and the centre
finds its feet.
From a Caledonian perspective, however, the most startling aspect
is the complete absence of any reference to Scotland or Scottish
climbing. Admittedly, I did spot Patey's and Dougal Haston's contextless
faces amongst a galaxy of stars in a big photomontage but the educative
effect was no greater than if you'd been sitting in the Nevis Sport
bar in Fort William ogling the photos plastered on the walls.
According to the British Mountaineering Council's National Officer,
Andy Macnae, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland were invited
to participate in the detailed planning of the exhibition at its
inception but declined. However, Macnae predicted that the Scottish
component of the exhibition would grow as time went on.
It's clearly early days in the project and no doubt any number
of ethnic or other "special interest" groups could produce a whole
list of carpings about the version of climbing history chosen for
display. Although the current content is clearly heavily influenced
by the BMC-Bonington-Alpine Club axis of the English climbing establishment,
they have pulled off something no one has managed before and done
it despite a remarkably tight time schedule. That it is also fun,
informative and well worth a visit is even better.
Colin Wells
26/7/2001
Location: Rheged Discovery Centre, one mile west of Penrith
on the A66, the main access route to the northern Lake District
in Cumbria (J40, M6). 3 mins bus ride from Penrith Railway Station
(services X4, X5 and X50 stop at the Rheged Centre).
Opening: The National Mountaineering Exhibition is already
unofficially open in a semi-completed state. Some exhibits are still
being installed and most of the artefacts have yet to arrive. However,
the video presentations are up and running and most of the pictures
and panels are in place. Until the official complete opening sometime
in late July/early August, visitors' tickets will be valid for a
further visit. Admission £4.50 adults, £3 children, £3.80 OAP, £13.00
family. Open daily 10am-5.30pm.
Further info: 01768 868000
nme@thebmc.co.uk
Background politics: Pump priming funding for the initiative
has come from the European Union's Regional Development Fund in
the form of £227,000 but it's hoped that the NME will eventually
generate sufficient income from visitor receipts and other grants
to be able to sustain itself and expand. The total budget for the
initial phase is anticipated to be ca. £600,000. The prime movers
behind the project are England & Wales' British Mountaineering Council
and The Mountain Heritage Trust, together with Cumbrian entrepreneur
John Dunning, Chairman of Westmorland Motorway Services and the
money behind the Rheged Centre. The Mountain Heritage Trust is a
new body which will be responsible for maintaining and changing
the exhibition. The trust currently comprises an association of
climbing historians, professional heritage managers, and climbing
bureaucrats. A major aim of the trust is to record and preserve
aspects of Britain's mountaineering heritage. www.mountain-heritage.org
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