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
A little beyond this, on the right, is a steep chimney leading
downward to the Intermediate Gully, at a point immediately below the
difficult pitch. This branch chimney was first ascended by the brothers
Woodhouse, and is stiff.
The continuation of our climb now begins to lose interest, and before
long we find ourselves at the foot of the final pitch of the Central
Chimney, whence the going is comparatively easy.
D BUTTRESS, separating the Intermediate and Easter Gullies, is,
in the writers’ opinion, the most entertaining and prettiest problem of
all. In its lower reaches it is quite easy and apt to disappoint until,
at the same height as the difficult pitch of the Intermediate Gully, it
rises almost vertically for above a hundred feet.
The way lies up a vertical arête, which recalls most strongly some
of the Coolin Ridges. The holds are sound and rough, but none too
large--just sufficient to leave a fair margin of safety in a very
exposed position. This delightful stretch gives out at an excellent
belay, beyond which the interest continues unabated for 50 feet or so,
until it ceases on a wide grass platform. Shortly beyond this the Easy
Terrace is again reached.
Before dealing with the easy climbs of the E Buttress, mention must
be made of three fine chimneys, two of which have been climbed since
Jones wrote his description of the Easter Gully. On page 235, after
he had ascended the first pitch of the Gully and attained the ‘great
hollow’ above it, he refers to ‘splendid branch gullies up to the
ridges on either side.’
Two of these branch gullies were climbed many years ago, that on the
left-hand wall, now called the South Chimney, by Mr. H. C. Broadrick,
and its counterpart on the North Wall by the brothers Woodhouse.
This latter is known as the Black Chimney. It is deeply cut, and looks
most forbidding. A closer acquaintance dispels most of its terrors, for
the holds are excellent, and the fearsome upper capstone can be rounded
on the right-hand side with comparative ease. It is, however, well
worth a visit, and the continuation up the E Buttress is not lacking in
interest.
Lower down than the South Chimney--a pretty problem in ‘backing up’--a
rectangular opening in the crags, almost immediately above the first
pitch of the Easter Gully, claimed the attention of Messrs. Woodhouse,
Westmorland, and the writers in April 1910. A heavy blizzard of snow
and hail, which fell at the time they made its first ascent, suggested
the name BLIZZARD CHIMNEY, and this was adopted. It has always
seemed rather a pity that the majority of the names on Doe Crag are so
prosy; the latter-day climbers have lacked the happy knack of giving
distinctive names to their exploits.
[Illustration:
G. P. Abraham & Sons, Photos. Keswick
THE BROADRICK’S AND HOPKINSON’S CRACKS DOE CRAG]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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