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
_Sixth Pitch._--Two wedged stones one above the other form a pitch
about twenty feet high. The route is first into the cave between the
stones, then up a short chimney and over the upper boulder. The second
on the rope should ascend as high as possible in the cave and, with
splendid anchorage, pay out the leader’s rope carefully. Sundry loose
stones are lodged on the right, and should be left discreetly alone.
_Seventh Pitch._--This is a chimney thirty feet high containing many
loose stones. It is crowned by a chock-stone. The ascent is directly up
the first part, and then over loose and dangerous rock on the right
for another twenty feet.
Steep grass leads out to the top, 500 feet from the base of the cliff.
BLEA CRAGS AND MOUSE GHYLL.--The Blea Crag climbs in Borrowdale
can be reached from Grange in thirty-five minutes; a fine general view
is to be seen from the picturesque bridge spanning the Derwent. There
are three gullies of interest; one to the south is now known as Mouse
Ghyll, climbed and christened in the autumn of 1897, by Mr. W. Cecil
Slingsby’s party; a second less-defined gully leads up the centre of
the crags; and to the north of this a third takes us by loose and
rather unsatisfactory pitches to the summit ridge.
Mouse Ghyll starts very narrow, with smooth walls running up to a great
height on either side. An easy pitch of ten feet brings us to a little
platform, whence a steep, double staircase, with good steps for each
foot, gives safe access to a great cavern sixty feet higher. Here the
real difficulties begin. The pitch is formed by two huge, overhanging
boulders, one above the other, with a grassy ledge between them. The
leader can be well anchored by his party, and makes a start up to the
left from the top of the rib of rock that supplies the ‘staircase.’
It is sensational work up to the grassy ledge, where again the leader
requires anchoring, and perhaps also a helping shoulder for the next
little chimney of some fourteen feet, between the upper boulder and the
left wall. When the first party were here, a startled mouse sprang
from the grassy ledge over the leader’s head, and dropped safely at the
bottom of the staircase ninety feet below. May it live long enough to
learn that the ghyll has been named in its honour!
On emerging from the chimney three routes show themselves. The first is
up two easy pitches that remain in the gully. To the right a chimney
leads by an open buttress to the top of the crags, and can be ascended
without trouble. But on the left a prominent chimney, succeeded by a
narrow crack, gives seventy feet of extremely tough climbing. It was
ascended by Messrs. George and Ashley Abraham, who made the second
ascent of Mouse Ghyll.
The central gully starts with a chimney, best taken on the right, and
continues with short and easy pitches until some large boulders wedged
in a vertical crack offer better fun. There are no further obstacles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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