Rock-climbing in the English Lake District: Third EditionJones, Owen Glynne
General
Rock-climbing in the English Lake District: Third Edition
Jones, Owen Glynne
Lake District (England) -- Description and travel; Mountaineering; Rock climbing -- England -- Lake District
One of the finest little tarns of the district lies 900 feet below
the summit of Harrison Stickle, on its north-east side. Stickle Tarn
is almost as solitary as Easedale, and its surroundings are decidedly
finer. It is about an hour’s walk from Dungeon Ghyll, by a small
footpath keeping close to the stream that is fed by the lake waters.
The view across the tarn is a delight to climbers’ eyes. The great
cliffs of Pavey Ark, rising 700 feet above the lake, are darkly
reflected in the still waters. They are deeply cut by two gullies
that immediately arrest attention. Each marks a little notch in the
sky-line. A third notch further to the left indicates the head of a
slighter indentation in the face of the cliff, which, so far as I know,
has not yet been explored. The right-hand ‘Great’ Gully was first
climbed by Haskett Smith in the summer of 1882. The left, called the
‘Little’ Gully by way of antithesis, the same climber explored in June,
1886. A lady ascended the Great Gully in 1887, and later years have
seen a steady succession of visitors to these crags.
Well towards the north end of the cliff is a wide scree gully with a
square notch at its crest. Near the foot of this a safe natural path
may be followed obliquely across the face. This is the well-known
Jack’s Rake. It starts rather steeply, but soon assumes a gentle,
uniform gradient. It crosses the Great Gully a hundred feet below the
top; there then follows a rather awkward bit for the walker, who will
need to scramble up a corner to get on to the last portion of the
rake. It crosses the Little Gully within fifty feet of the Summit,
and ends on the buttress just beyond. Two chimneys spring from the
level of Jack’s Rake to the north of the Great Gully, which both look
interesting. Our pleasant scramble is thus described by Gwynne: ‘This
ledge [i.e. Jack’s Rake] offers a multitude of good opportunities
to the climber. It runs obliquely across the face of the precipice,
but it need not necessarily be followed throughout its length by the
mountaineer who wishes for something a little more exciting. About
half-way up there runs on to the ledge a chimney which--when it is
not a small waterfall--forms a pleasant climb to some broken rock
above, whence the summit is easily reached. If, however, the water in
the chimney makes it uncomfortable and unpleasant for the climber, he
may still arrive at the top of it by choosing a long bit of steep,
smooth rock on the left. There are two clefts which afford fairly good
hand-and-foot holds, and from there the top of the chimney is attained.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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