Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain RangesCollie, Norman
History
Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges
Collie, Norman
Himalaya Mountains; Mountaineering
On the south are the gullies of the Screes; the great gully opposite
Wastdale Hall will occupy an ordinary party at least three hours.
The first three or four hundred feet are by no means easy, and are
thoroughly typical of ghyll climbing. On the south-east of Wastdale is
Scawfell, with its splendid precipices where there are three first-rate
ghyll climbs, Moss ghyll, Steep ghyll, and Deep ghyll. At the top of
the last is Scawfell pinnacle, a delightful short climb if taken from
the top of Scawfell; but if ascended from the foot of the precipice,
_via_ Steep ghyll, and then by the arête which lies between Steep
ghyll and Deep ghyll, it will give several hours of really good rock
work. Next to Scawfell are the Pikes and Great End. On both of these
interesting scrambles can be found. To the eastward, almost above the
inn, the slopes of Great Gable stretch up towards the Napes rocks,
where can be found the Napes Needle and several rock ridges. Further
away, on the north, lies the Pillar mountain, with its great buttress
of rock jutting out into Ennerdale. Up the Pillar Rock there are at
least half a dozen different routes, and none of them can be called
perfectly easy. But these are by no means all the climbs that can be
found near Wastdale Head. There are gullies on the Langdale Pikes and
on Pavey Arc, and another on Dow Crag near Coniston.
My first climb was on the Napes Needle. Since then I have been up
it many times, but it always remains as interesting as ever. I must
confess that the first time I tried it, it was too difficult for me,
and I was very glad of a helping hand from the first man up, for we
were climbing without a rope and had no nails in our boots, our proper
mountaineering equipment having been delayed at Drigg station; and as
we afterwards learned, we had shocked Dan Tyson of the inn by going to
the hills in what he considered were our Sunday clothes. But the Pillar
Rock is the most famous crag near Wastdale. It lies on the far side
of the Pillar mountain, and is not a great distance below the summit.
It consists of a mass of rock standing far out from the side of the
mountain, its precipices overhanging the head of Ennerdale. The end
nearest the Pillar mountain is cut off from the hill-side by a great
gash, whilst the other end plunges down almost perpendicularly for
about eight hundred feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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