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
Looking up at the left wall of the Ghyll we could see that our slender
chimney was but the beginning of a long crack that cut obliquely into
the wall, and curled upwards in a fine sweep of eighty feet towards the
summit of the Low Man. The curtain of rock that closed in the crack
on its right hand made our next few yards rather troublesome, for it
encroached on our ledge and rendered the work too open. Facework is
always more trying than chimney climbing, especially when ice is about.
But the leader’s recollection of the ease with which this part could
be overcome in summer time divested it of all its fancied terrors and
perhaps of some of its real dangers, and he had therefore a better time
of it than his companions, whose extremities were somewhat benumbed
by their patient waiting in awkward places, and whose activities were
confined to their vivid imaginations. All actual danger was over when a
horizontal ledge was reached well above the centre-level of the gully,
which we followed with ease to the broken rocks that almost form a
third pitch for Deep Ghyll.
Here the pleasantest way of finishing the day was to cut steps in the
snow up the central gully, the angle gradually steepening from 35° to
55° at the top. That way we therefore took, and were soon enjoying
the plums. But a rise of a few feet will show the Professor’s Chimney
immediately to the left, cutting deeply into the rock between the
Scawfell Pinnacle on the left and Pisgah on the right, and terminating
at a fine-looking notch, ‘The Jordan,’ in the sky-line. Exactly
opposite, on the right-hand side of the ghyll, is the Great Chimney, a
black and formidable square-walled recess crowned by a jammed boulder.
This was for a long time regarded as impossible and scarcely ever
attacked, but at last it yielded to the combined ingenuity of Messrs.
Blake and Southall, and has since shown itself to be very amenable when
approached with due precaution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account