Ron James MBE was a British mountaineer, rock climber, and writer who was a co-founder of the Ogwen Cottage Mountain School in Snowdonia, North Wales in the UK. Born in January 1933, he died in March 2023 aged 90.
James was an accomplished rock climber with over 40 first ascents in North Wales. Many of these routes became classics, including Grey Arete, Glyder Fawr, Meshach and The Plum at Tremadog. In the Alps his favourite area was the Dolomites, which he visited every year for 40 years.
James was a qualified IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations) Mountain Guide (Honoured, Retired) and he served as president of the British Association of Mountain Guides. He was a member of the Climbers Club from 1959 and of the Alpine Club from 1974.
James played a pivotal role in setting up Ogwen Cottage as an outdoor pursuits centre. In 1959, he and two friends bought an old guest house beside Llyn Ogwen and set up Ogwen Cottage Mountain School. They ran a wide variety of mountain-based courses ranging from weekends for families to a month-long course for the Special Air Service.
In 1964 James was a co-founder of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation. He was an honorary member of the team and in 1971 was awarded a Certificate for Distinguished Service in Mountain Rescue.
In 1964 the City of Birmingham took over Ogwen Cottage which became Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre . James was Head of the centre for five years and then he was appointed Principal Lecturer and Head of Outdoor Education at I.M.Marsh College of Physical Education, now part of John Moores University in Liverpool. The Environmental Education certificate course evolved into a B.Ed. Honours course. Later a full-time Advanced Diploma in Outdoor Education for graduate teachers was developed. James held this position at John Moores from 1969 to 1985
In 1985, James retired to North Wales. He joined the Ramblers Association and led walks and assisted with navigation courses. In the 2009 Queens Birthday Honours list he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to mountaineering.
Dolomites West and East published by the Alpine Club 2005 is an update of the 1988 Dolomites Selected Climbs. It is a major rewrite of the 1988 edition with many new routes and areas as well as a section on sport climbing areas. Ron climbed many areas of the Italian Dolomites for over 30 years.
Rock Climbing in Wales (First edition 1970) was a climbing guide to Snowdonia and its five centres: The Ogwen Valley, The Llanberis Pass, Beddgelert, Dolwyddelan and Holyhead Mountain. The book detailed 200 climbs chosen by the author, after 30 years' experience. The book had three editions.
In 1974 Ron was involved in the production of the 10 programmes BBC TV series "Rockface", an instructional guide to rock climbing. Produced the book "Rockface" to accompany the series.
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing.
Plas y Brenin, located in Conwy County Borough, Wales, is a National Outdoor Centre owned by Sport England. The centre is situated in Dyffryn Mymbyr, the Mymbyr Valley, in Snowdonia and is less than a quarter of a mile south-west of the centre of Capel Curig on the A4086 road.
TryfanWelsh pronunciation: [ˈtrəvan]) is a mountain in the Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia, Wales. It forms part of the Glyderau group, and is one of the most recognisable peaks in Britain, having a classic pointed shape with rugged crags. At 917.5 metres above sea level, it is the fifteenth-highest mountain in Wales. Tryfan was voted Britain's favourite mountain by Trail magazine.
The Glyderau are a mountain group in Snowdonia, North Wales. The name derives from the highest peaks in the range, Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. According to Sir Ifor Williams, the word "Glyder" derives from the Welsh word "Cludair", meaning a heap of stones.
Glyder Fawr is a mountain in Snowdonia, Wales, the highest peak in the Glyderau range at just over 1,000 metres, having had its height recalculated in 2010 using GPS. It is the fifth-highest mountain in Wales and has several walking and scrambling routes leading to its summit. According to Sir Ifor Williams, the word "Glyder" derives from the Welsh word "Gludair", meaning a heap of stones.
Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre is situated beside Llyn Ogwen, in Gwynedd, Wales. It is owned by the National Trust, who bought the property at auction in October 2014 for £450,000. It was formerly for many years part of Birmingham City Council's Outdoor Learning Service, providing outdoor education, and with links to the climbing community.
Pete Livesey, was an English rock climber who raised the standard of technical difficulty in traditional climbing in Britain during the early to mid-1970s. Livesey was renowned for the intensity and competitiveness he brought to the development of his sport as well as a mischievous sense of humor, and during the mid-1970s, Livesey was regarded as Britain's leading rock climber.
Pen-y-Gwryd is a pass at the head of Nantygwryd and Nant Cynnyd rivers close to the foot of Snowdon in Gwynedd, Wales. The area is located at the junction of the A4086 from Capel Curig to Llanberis and Caernarfon and the A498 from Beddgelert and Nant Gwynant about a mile from the head of the Llanberis Pass. It is close to the boundary with Conwy county borough in northern Snowdonia. The famous mountaineering hostelry, Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, is located in the pass. It is also a mountain rescue post with links to the other rescue posts at Ogwen Cottage and Plas y Brenin.
Dyffryn Ogwen, or Ogwen Valley, is a valley mostly located in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The upper section of the valley, east of Llyn Ogwen, lies in the county of Conwy.
The Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia carries the main road (A4086) from the south-east to Llanberis, over Pen-y-Pass, between the mountain ranges of the Glyderau and the Snowdon massif. At the bottom of the pass is the small village of Nant Peris.
John Angelo Jackson was an English mountaineer, explorer and educationalist.
The Climbers' Club is the senior rock-climbing club in England and Wales. The club was founded in 1898. The CC one of the largest publishers of climbing guidebooks in many of the main climbing areas of England and Wales. The club also owns and operates a number of climbing huts in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Cwm Idwal is a cirque in the Glyderau range of mountains in northern Snowdonia, the national park in the mountainous region of North Wales. Its main interest is to hill walkers and rock climbers, but it is also of interest to geologists and naturalists, given its combination of altitude, aspect (north-facing) and terrain. In a 2005 poll conducted by Radio Times, Cwm Idwal was ranked the 7th greatest natural wonder in Britain.
Dyffryn Mymbyr is a valley in Snowdonia, in north-west Wales, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) in length, and leading up from Capel Curig to the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel.
The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service (RAFMRS) provides the UK military's only all-weather search and rescue asset for the United Kingdom. Royal Air Force mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircrew from the large number of aircraft crashes then occurring due to navigational errors in conjunction with bad weather and resulting poor visibility when flying in the vicinity of high ground. The practice at the time was to organise ad-hoc rescue parties from station medical sections and other ground personnel.
Harold Drasdo was an English rock climber, writer and educationalist.
Julian Vincent "Mo" Anthoine was a British mountaineer who climbed extensively in the Himalayas in the 1970s and 80s.
West Bromwich Mountaineering Club (WBMC) is one of the oldest and most active climbing and hill-walking clubs in the West Midlands. It meets at "The Red Lion" in All Saints Way, West Bromwich on Thursday nights, where from October to April it holds a series of illustrated mountaineering talks on the second Thursday of the month. It has a membership of around 200 and every month runs a coach to a mountainous region in England or Wales, on which seats are available to its members and the general public on a 'first come - first served' basis and also maintains a members-only hut in the Nant Gwynant valley. It affiliated to the British Mountaineering Council in 2003 and became a Community Association Sports Club (CASC) in 2005.
The Welsh 1000m Peaks Race takes place on the first Saturday in June each year. The 32 km route is also known as the Snowdonia Summits Marathon as competitors have to reach the top of all the 1000 metre peaks in Wales.