MOSS GHYLL, UPPER VARIATION.--This starts some 20 feet to the right of the foot of the Great Chimney. A few feet up the face a crack is reached, and this can be followed to a small cairn. Here a choice of routes offers, one back to the top of the Great Chimney, and the alternative one to the Pisgah Ridge. A strong party led by Mr. F. Botterill first proved the possibilities of this variation, and described it as slightly more difficult than the direct exit up the chimney. MR. BOTTERILL’S CLIMBS.--The long sloping cracks, the upper parts of which were followed in the Collier’s and Keswick Brothers’ climbs, were ascended in their entirety at Whitsuntide 1903 by Messrs. F. Botterill, H. Williamson, and E. Grant. The crack nearest Mickledore Ridge is difficult throughout, and is, moreover, somewhat earthy and friable; there is no record of a repetition of its ascent. The companion crack was the scene of a remarkable _tour de force_. Mr. Botterill’s account of his exploit,[2] and the warning note sounded by a party of great skill and experience which unsuccessfully essayed the second ascent, will probably acquaint climbers with sufficient details to cause them to take the climb itself ‘as read.’ It is in a class apart, and, basing our judgment on a survey made on a rope from above, we do not recommend it. After a lapse of nearly twenty years, and repeated onslaughts by many parties, PIERS’ GHYLL was ascended throughout for the second time in September 1910. Mr. H. R. Pope, admirably backed up by Mr. R. B. Sanderson, succeeded in leading a large party up the various wet and friable pitches that go to make the climb. From a vivid description, written by Mr. Sanderson in the current number of the Fell and Rock Club _Journal_, we gather that, in spite of the constantly falling rocks in the Ghyll, the narrow pitch below the Bridge Rock is practically unaltered, and is still the greatest difficulty. It is necessary to stand immediately below the waterfall in order to work up a shallow, almost holdless groove. This is very steep; the rocks are, of course, wet and slippery; added to these is the uncertain nature and paucity of the holds--altogether a combination of difficulty, disagreeableness, and danger that most parties will care to court but very seldom. During the same holiday Messrs. Pope and Madan climbed from Tennis Court Ledge to the Fives Court on Pisgah Buttress by traversing from the right-hand end of the Ledge for a short distance. Thence they climbed directly up a steep rock-face for 15 feet or so to the Fives Court, a somewhat easier but much more exposed route than that up the crack utilised in the first ascent. Other variations of a minor character have been made on many of the older climbs; indeed so thoroughly has the face been scoured, that it would be a very rash man who would nowadays come down to the Wastwater Hotel and say that he had made a new route up Scawfell. CHAPTER III