Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - EnglandHaskett Smith, W. P. (Walter Parry)
History
Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - England
Haskett Smith, W. P. (Walter Parry)
Mountaineering -- England; Mountains -- England -- Guidebooks
=Glaramara=--a long broken hill stretching from Stonethwaite along the
east side of Borrowdale to Esk Hause. Its name is only less disguised
than its nature in the description given of it in the 'Beauties of
England,' p. 65: 'Glamarara is a perpendicular rock of immense height.'
Sir W. Scott has confused it with _Blencathra_. It contains very little
climbing, but _Combe Gill_ and _Pinnacle Bield_ may be mentioned.
=Gordale Scar=--a magnificent limestone ravine near _Malham Cove_, in
Yorkshire, on the line of the great Craven Fault. Bell Busk is the
nearest station, but Settle (6 miles) is generally more convenient. It
has been prosaically compared to a winding street between enormously
high houses, with a river falling out of the first-floor window of one
of them. It is easy to pass out at the head, leaving the water on the
right hand; but on the other side of the water there is quite a little
climb, which, however, the writer has seen a lady do without assistance.
=Goyal.=--This west-country word for a gully will not require
explanation for readers of Mr. Blackmore's 'Lorna Doone.'
=Grain=: the northern word for a prong, and hence the usual name for the
branches of a stream.
=Grassmoor= (2,791 ft.) in the older maps and guide-books (such as
Robinson's) is often called Grasmere or Grasmire. The only climbs which
it presents are on the side which drops steeply down towards the foot of
Crummock Water, and the only inns within a convenient distance are at
Scale Hill (1 mile) and Buttermere (3 miles). There are two gullies
which furrow the mountain side nearly from top to bottom. The more
southerly of these has two pitches in it close to the foot, and the
upper of the two is generally thought as hard as anything on the
mountain. The approved method of doing it is to keep the back to the
rock until the top of the pitch is nearly reached, and then to break out
on the south side. Above this pitch the gully is of little interest. The
north gully is of more sustained merit, but, as seen from below, less
prominent, and therefore easily overlooked. It may, however, be
recognised by its liberal output of scree. It has three pitches near the
foot, and in all three the hold is somewhat scanty. The first forms a
narrow gully rising from left to right, and is the highest and hardest.
Higher up than these a broad wall of rock some 40 ft. high cuts across
the gully and gives a pretty climb. Above the wall there is a branch to
the left containing one little pitch, but the main channel continues.
Loose stones are now the only source of excitement, and climbers are
recommended to get out to the right and finish the ascent along the
rocky ridge of the bank. It is very safe climbing on this face, yet full
of interest and instruction, and for the initiation of a 'young hand'
nothing could be better.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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