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
Information embodied in the following notes of the successive pitches
has been supplied by the brothers Abraham of Keswick, whose interesting
photograph of the great pitch in the middle of the ascent is reproduced
facing page 286.
_First Pitch._--Chock-stone about fifteen feet high, passed to the left
on the face of the rock. Good hand and foot holds.
_Second Pitch._--Small chock-stone. Both hands are reached up to the
top of the stone and a straight pull over effected with the arms. The
obstacle is about nine feet high.
_Third Pitch._--Sundry boulders forming a block, about fifteen feet
high. The right-hand side of the gully is ascended until the leader is
well wedged under the block. Then he can pass out to the left and over
at the top.
_Fourth Pitch._--This is the most severe of the whole set, and the
direct climb up the left wall is probably as stiff a problem as can
be found in the district. Two immense boulders, one over the other,
separated by a gap of four feet, form the roof of a cave. The retaining
walls of the gully form the sides of the cave, and the ascent is to be
effected on the left. From a short distance this appears to be a smooth
vertical slab; even on close inspection the holds it offers appear to
be of the most minute dimensions.
The second man on the rope should mount as high up the interior of the
cave as possible. After climbing under the first boulder the leader
takes a long step out to the left wall, on a sloping ledge. Then using
side holds on the boulder itself, with his feet or knees against the
main wall, he has to work up gradually to a little jammed boulder two
feet above the lower one. This is an extremely fatiguing operation. On
to this block he must lift his knees, and then he can cautiously drag
up so as to stand on it.
The upper boulder is then passed by throwing the left leg across to
a slight foothold, whence a thrust forward of the body is effected
through wet soil and tufted ferns. This is particularly unpleasant
after rainy weather, and is probably at all times somewhat risky. The
height of the pitch is thirty-two feet.
A variation has been found which makes the passage of this obstacle
much more feasible. It leads first downwards to a grassy ledge on the
right, and then up by succeeding shelves until the upper level of the
pitch is reached, when the return traverse back to the bed of the gully
can be easily managed. Hitherto all parties, except the first and third
in the chimney, have preferred to avoid the fourth pitch, and their
preference is most reasonable.
_Fifth Pitch._--This is an easy chimney twenty feet long, lined with
grass and ferns, and marked at the summit by a fallen tree.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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