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
Climbers are absolutely incapable of any sustained effort when they
reach certain altitudes, and the limit depends on the individual. It
is the misfortune of some to feel an uncomfortable perturbation of the
heart when once a definite level is passed. They are well enough able
to exert themselves below that level, but can hope for no pleasurable
exercise above it. With every desire to climb, with muscle and mind
enough to excel in the sport, they are nevertheless debarred from
enjoying the high Alps. Let them therefore make the best of our British
hills for a while, and then perhaps proceed to the Dolomites in the
Austrian Tyrol for fuller applications at a safe low level of what they
have here learnt.
Solitary scrambling is universally condemned. Most climbers of
experience have learnt something about it, and are unanimous in their
unfavourable judgment. Nothing teaches the scrambler so quickly, if
his nerve is sufficiently strong; but the penalty paid for slight
mistakes is often extreme, and the risk is too great for him to be
justified in deliberately choosing the single-handed venture. A party
of two makes the strongest combination for most of the ordinary
Cumberland climbs; three are generally better for the severest courses.
Any beyond that number will to a greater or less extent increase the
difficulty of the ascent and the time spent in effecting it.
A rough classification is here appended of over a hundred well-known
courses judged under good conditions. They are divided into four
sets. The first are easy and adapted for beginners, the second set
are moderately stiff, those of the third set rank as the difficult
climbs of the district, and the last are of exceptional severity. Some
attempt has been made to arrange them in their order of difficulty,
the hardest ones coming last; but the variations of condition of each
due to wind, temperature, rain, snow, or ice are so extensive that
no particular value should be attached to the sequence. But even if
only approximately correct, the lists may help men in deciding for
themselves where to draw the line that shall limit their own unaided
performances. As for the items in the fourth class, they are best left
alone. Mark the well-known words of an expert (Mr. C. Pilkington): ‘The
novice must on no account attempt them. He may console himself with
the reflection that most of these fancy bits of rock-work are not
mountaineering proper, and by remembering that those who first explored
these routes, or rather created them, were not only brilliant rock
gymnasts but experienced and capable cragsmen.’
_Easy Courses._
Deep Ghyll, by the west wall traverse.
Cust’s Gully, Great End.
Traverse across Gable Crag.
‘Sheep Walk,’ Gable Crag.
D Gully, Pike’s Crag.
Broad Stand.
Needle Gully.
‘Slab and Notch’ Route, Pillar Rock.
Great End Central Gully (ordinary ways).
South-east Gully, Great End.
_Moderate Courses._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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