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diff --git a/37993.txt b/37993.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1368cc --- /dev/null +++ b/37993.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4741 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - +England, by W. P. Haskett Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 - England + +Author: W. P. Haskett Smith + +Illustrator: Ellis Carr + +Release Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #37993] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLIMBING IN THE BRITISH *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Rory OConor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + CLIMBING IN THE BRITISH ISLES + + _ENGLAND_ + + + + + CLIMBING + IN THE BRITISH ISLES + + _3 vols. 16mo. Sold separately._ + + I. ENGLAND. + II. WALES. _In preparation._ + III. SCOTLAND. _In preparation._ + + LONDON AND NEW YORK: + LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + + + + + CLIMBING + IN + THE BRITISH ISLES + + _I.--ENGLAND_ + + BY + W.P. HASKETT SMITH, M.A. + MEMBER OF THE ALPINE CLUB + + WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS + BY + ELLIS CARR + MEMBER OF THE ALPINE CLUB + + AND FIVE PLANS + + LONDON + LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET + 1894 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Introduction + +The headings, for convenience of reference, are arranged in +one continuous alphabetical series, comprising the following +classes of subject: + + I. COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS WHICH ARE OF INTEREST TO THE + MOUNTAINEER + (_e.g._ Cumberland, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Ennerdale) + + II. PLACES WHICH ARE CONVENIENT AS CLIMBING CENTRES + (_e.g._ Keswick, Patterdale, Wastdale Head) + + III. MOUNTAINS AND ROCKS WHICH AFFORD CLIMBS + (_e.g._ Dow Crag, Pillar, Scafell) + + IV. CLIMBS OF REPUTATION, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR FINDING AND + ACCOMPLISHING THEM + (_e.g._ Deep Gill, Mickledoor, Napes Needle) + + V. TECHNICAL TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS + (_e.g._ back-and-knee, chimney, toe-scrape) + + VI. LOCAL NAMES FOUND AMONG THE HILLS, WITH OCCASIONAL + NOTES ON THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING + (_e.g._ bink, clough, gill, hause, hope) + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +For some years past there has been a remarkably rapid increase in the +number of men who climb for climbing's sake within the bounds of the +British Isles. + +When any young and active Englishman sees a rock and is told that the +ascent of it is regarded as a kind of feat, there is no doubt what he +will want to do. He will obey what has been the instinct of the race at +any time this forty years. But lately there has been a change. What was +formerly done casually and instinctively has for the last dozen years or +so been done systematically and of set purpose, for it is now recognised +that hill-climbing in these islands may form part of a real +mountaineering education. Many might-be mountaineers have missed their +vocation because they were in the position of the prudent individual who +would not go into the water until after he should have learned to swim: +they did not become Alpine because they were afraid that they should +make fools of themselves if they went on the Alps. Yet, had they only +known it, they might have found without crossing the sea many a place +which might have been to their undeveloped instincts what the little +pond at the end of the garden has been to many a would-be skater--a +quiet spot where early flounderings would be safe from the contemptuous +glances of unsympathetic experts. + +Icemanship can only be acquired through a long apprenticeship, by +tramping many a weary mile helplessly tied to the tail of a guide. But +one principal charm of hill-climbing lies in the fact that it may be +picked up by self-directed practice and does not demand the same +preliminary subjection. The course of Alpine instruction can only be +considered complete when Mr. Girdlestone's ideal of 'The High Alps +without Guides' is realised (an ideal, be it clearly understood, which +for fully ninety-nine out of every hundred climbers it would be +downright madness to attempt to carry into practice); whereas, while +rock-climbing may be enjoyed by amateurs without incurring the reproach +of recklessness, they at the same time experience the exquisite pleasure +of forming their own plans of attack, of varying the execution of them +according to their own judgment, and finally of meeting obstacles, as +they arise, with their own skill and with their own strength, and +overcoming them without the assistance of a hired professional. + +Nowhere can the mere manual dexterity of climbing be better acquired +than among the fells of Cumberland; excellent practising-ground presents +itself on nearly every hill. Compared with real mountains the crags of +Cumberland are but toys, but small as they are, they have made many and +many a fine climber; and the man who has gone through a course of +training among them, who has learnt to know the exact length of his own +stride and reach, and to wriggle up a 'chimney' in approved style with +shoulder, hip and knee, may boldly fly at higher game, and when he +proceeds to tackle the giants of the Alps or Caucasus has no cause to be +afraid of the result. + +As if with the express object of increasing their educational value to +the mountaineer, the hilly parts of Great Britain are peculiarly subject +to atmospheric changes. No one who has not experienced their effects +would believe the extent to which mist, snow, and even rain can change +the appearance of landmarks among the mountains; and, where landmarks +are less abundant or less striking, even the buffeting of violent wind +may cause an inexperienced man to change his direction unconsciously. +Valuable experience in things of this kind may be gained even in summer, +but in winter the conditions become more Alpine, and splendid practice +may be had in the use of the axe and rope. + +Not that the latter should be neglected on difficult rocks at any time +of the year. Even in places where it gives the leader no security and to +some extent actually impedes him, the moral effect of it is good. It +wonderfully increases those feelings of united and ordered effort, of +mutual dependence and mutual confidence, and finally of cheery +subordination of self, which are not the least of the virtues or the +joys of mountaineering. How these opportunities may be used the novice +will readily learn from Mr. Charles Pilkington's admirable chapters in +the Badminton 'Mountaineering,' and from Dr. Claude Wilson's excellent +little handbook on the same subject. It is the aim of the present work +to enable him to find suitable places where the principles so admirably +laid down by those authorities may be tested and applied, and to +understand the descriptions--often involving difficult technical and +local terms--which have been published of them. When anyone with +climbing instincts finds himself in a strange place his first desire is +to discover a climb, his second to learn what its associations are; what +is it called, and why? has anyone climbed it, and what did he think of +it? To such questions as these this book endeavours to provide an +answer. It offers, in short, to the would-be climber a link, with the +guidebook on the one hand and the local specialist on the other. + +It must always be remembered that a very fine rock may be a very poor +climb. It may be impossible or it may be too easy, or, again, the +material maybe dangerously rotten; and thus, though there are many +places where men can and do obtain useful climbing practice, there is +only one part of England to which resort is made simply for the sake of +its climbing. In consequence of this fact the greater part of the book +is devoted to the English Lakes, and especially to the south-west +portion of them, where the best climbs of all are to be found. But in +that district the art has been highly elaborated, and the standard of +difficulty and dexterity is even dangerously high. If men would be +content to serve an apprenticeship and to feel their way gradually from +the easier climbs onward, they would excite less apprehension in the +minds of those who know what these climbs are. If, on the other hand, +they rush, as too many do, straight from the desk in a crowded city, +with unseasoned lungs and muscles, in the cold and the wet, to attack +alone or with chance companions whatever climb enjoys for the moment +the greatest notoriety, frightful accidents are certain to occur. + +The books, too, which are kept specially for climbing records at some +places in the Lakes, such as Dungeon Gill, Buttermere, and, notably, +Wastdale Head, are misleading, owing to the widely different standards +of difficulty among the various writers. Printed accounts are so few +that this objection hardly applies to them. The most noteworthy beyond +all doubt are the two articles written for _All the Year Round_, in +November 1884, by Mr. C.N. Williamson, the late editor of _Black and +White_. It would be hard to exaggerate the effect which these articles +had in making the Lake climbs known. The same writer had previously +contributed articles of less permanent value to the _Graphic_ and the +_Daily News_. In 1837 two articles had appeared in the _Penny Magazine_ +(see _Lord's Rake_); in 1859 the late Professor Tyndall had written of +_Mickledoor_ in the _Saturday Review_, and more recently articles have +appeared in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, by Mr. W. Brunskill and by Mr. H. +A. Gwynne. The present writer contributed an article to the _Alpine +Journal_ of August 1892, and one containing very clear illustrations of +'back-and-knee' work and of an episode in the long climb on the Pillar +Rock to the pages of _Black and White_, in June 1892, while numerous +articles have appeared from time to time in such local papers as the +_Whitehaven News_ and the _West Cumberland Times_, and in the +Manchester, Leeds, and Bradford press. Of guidebooks the only one of any +value to climbers is Mr. Herman Prior's 'Pedestrian Guide.' + +Any value which the present book may have is largely due to the +excellent drawings of Mr. Ellis Carr, who most kindly came forward to +fill the place left by the lamented death of Professor A.M. Marshall. +Much assistance has been derived from sketches and photographs kindly +lent, those of Mr. Abraham, of Keswick, being especially useful. For the +valuable article on 'Chalk' I am indebted to Mr. A.F. Mummery, whose +knowledge of the subject is unrivalled; while Mr. J.W. Robinson, of +Lorton, has zealously assisted in all matters connected with Cumberland; +and I must gratefully acknowledge help given in other ways by Mr. J.E. +Morris and the Rev. C.J. Buckmaster. + + + + +CLIMBING +IN +THE BRITISH ISLES + +ENGLAND + + +=Alum Pot=, the name of which is also found in such forms as _Allen_ and +_Hellan_, lies just west of the Midland Railway, about halfway between +Horton and Ribblehead stations, and on the north-east side of +Ingleborough. It is one of the most striking and most famous of the +Yorkshire potholes, being an elliptical opening in the limestone, 120 +ft. long and 40 ft. wide, with a perpendicular depth of 200 ft. The +exploration of it was begun by Mr. Birkbeck of Anley in 1847, who, +assisted by Prof. Boyd Dawkins and a large party including three ladies, +made a complete examination in 1870. + + +=Angler's Crag=, on the south side of Ennerdale Water. The steep portion +is about 300 ft. There are also some similar crags on _Grike_ and +_Revelin_, close by; but none of them are worth a long walk, and the +only resting-place near is the Angler's Inn, at the foot of Ennerdale +Water. + + +=Apron-strings.=--Throughout Scotland and the North of England the +traditional explanation of large heaps of stones is that while some one +(generally the Devil or Samson) was carrying the stones in his apron the +strings broke and the stones fell in a heap. Many such heaps are to be +found, bearing the name of 'apronful' or 'bratful,' which means the same +thing. A good instance of the latter form is _Samson's Bratful_, in +Cumberland, between the rivers Bleng and Calder. For another good +instance see what is said about Wade's Causeway in _Murray's Handbook +for Yorkshire_, at p. 206. + + +=Aron.=--So Wilkinson (in his 'Select Views') calls _Great End_. It may +be that he misunderstood his guide, who was, perhaps, speaking at the +time of _Aaron Crags_, which are on _Sprinkling Fell_, and would be in +the line of sight to any one coming up from _Borrowdale_. In fact, the +path to _Sty Head_ passes not only _Aaron Crags_ on the left, but also +_Aaron Slack_ on the right. It is, of course, tempting to suggest that +Aron was the original Keltic name of Great End; but in Wales the name +Aran is generally applied to mountains of very different appearance to +_Great End_. + + +=Arrowhead=, a prominent rock in the _Napes_ of _Great Gable_, being +part of the ridge immediately west of _Eagle's Nest_. It was climbed on +April 17, 1892, by a large party, including Messrs. Horace Walker, +Baker, Slingsby, and others. In the following year, on the last day of +March, this climb was repeated by Messrs. Solly, Schintz, Brant, and +Bowen, who continued it right on to the top of the ridge. They kept +rather more on the ridge itself than the former party had done on the +way to the _Arrowhead_, and from that point the climb is along the +crest of the ridge. It is not a difficult climb for an experienced +party. The ridge has been called the _Arrowhead Ridge_. + +[Illustration: THE ARROWHEAD +(South side of Great Gable)] + + +=Ash Crag=, a rock in _Ennerdale_, near the _Black Sail_ end of the +_Pillar Fell_. It is the writer's belief that this is the rock which the +poet Wordsworth, in 'The Brothers,' has confused with the _Pillar Rock_. +At least a lad belonging to an old Ennerdale family, the Bowmans of +Mireside, was killed by falling from this rock at a date closely +corresponding to that indicated in the poem. + + +=Attermire=, one of the most picturesque limestone scars in Yorkshire. +It is reached from Settle on the Midland Railway, and may be seen on the +way to Malham Cove. + + +=Back-and-knee=: the process of supporting or raising the body in a +'chimney' by pressure against opposite sides with back and knees, or, +more usually, back and feet. + + +=Band.=--This word forms part of many hill names in the North of +England, and is also found in Scotland. Dr. Murray deals with it in the +'New English Dictionary,' but not in a satisfactory manner. He defines +it as 'a long ridge-like hill of minor height or a long narrow sloping +offshoot from a hill or mountain,' but it would be easy to adduce +instances where this could have no application. The word is used by +Douglas in his translation of Virgil to represent the Latin word +'jugum': + + Himself ascendis the hie _band_ of the hill; + +and from this Jamieson concluded that the word meant simply 'top of a +hill'--a definition almost as unsuitable as the last. The late Mr. +Dickinson, the leading authority on the Cumberland dialect, gave to the +word the meaning of 'a boundary on high uninclosed land,' and indeed the +frequent association of the word with personal names (often of clearly +Scandinavian character) seems to indicate some territorial significance. + + +=Bannerdale Crag= (C. sh. 57) may be taken on the way up _Saddleback_ +from Troutbeck station on the line between Keswick and Penrith. About +three miles up the stream is _Mungrisdale_, and still farther up along +the course of the stream one fork leads to _Scales Tarn_ and another to +_Bannerdale_, where there is a lead mine just north of the crags. There +is a rocky face some 600 ft. to 800 ft. high, offering climbing, which +is steep, but by no means first-rate. + + +=Barf.=--From the southern shore of Bassenthwaite Water there is a fine +steep scramble up this hill. On a bright winter's day it is rather +inspiriting, and the views are good. + +The name is more frequent in Yorkshire, where, according to Phillips, it +has the meaning of 'a detached low ridge or hill.' + + +=Beachy Head=, close to Eastbourne, in Sussex, is a very fine bold chalk +cliff, the first ascent of which is made about once in every two years, +if we may believe all that we see in the papers. The truth is that there +is a treacherous incline of some 600 ft., formed of chalk and grass, +both very steep and often dangerously slippery; and during the +Eastbourne season the coastguards at the top find their principal +occupation in supplying mechanical assistance to exhausted clamberers; +but for difficulty these cliffs will not for a moment compare with those +of half the height which carry on the line westward to _Birling Gap_. +The tops of these in many places literally overhang the sea, and there +are few points where a climber could make the slightest impression upon +them. On Beachy Head there is a dangerous-looking pinnacle, which was +climbed (by dint of cutting a step or two) in April 1894, by Mr. E.A. +Crowley. + + +=Bear Rock=, a queerly-shaped rock on _Great Napes_, which in the middle +of March 1889 was gravely attacked by a large party comprising some five +or six of the strongest climbers in England. It is a little difficult to +find, especially in seasons when the grass is at all long. + + +=Beck.=--In the North of England (except in Northumberland and Durham, +where 'burn' prevails) this is the usual word for a brook. It differs +from a 'gill' in being more open, and having banks less rocky and a +stream somewhat more copious. A gill may contain only a few drops of +water, or none at all, and still preserve its self-respect, but not so a +beck. Camden speaks of 'Beakes and Brookes.' + + +=Bell= enters into many North Country hill-names. It is commonly said to +indicate spots which were specially devoted to the worship of Baal, and +many arguments have been based upon its occurrence and distribution. If +there is anything in this assertion, the 'high places' for the worship +of Baal must have been most capriciously selected. My own belief is that +the term is purely descriptive and is applied to a convexity in the +slope of a hill. In Lowland Scotch the phrase 'bell of the brae' is not +uncommon and has the same significance. + + +=Bell Rib End=, a short drop on the narrow south ridge of _Yewbarrow_. +Though on a very small scale, it is not without interest, and was a +favourite with Mr. Maitland, one of the early explorers of Wastdale. + + +=Bield.=--This word not only occurs frequently in place names, but is +still part of living speech in North England and South Scotland. It +means shelter of any kind for man or beast, and in the latter case +especially a fox or a sheep. It is also used as a verb; in fox hunting, +for instance, the animal when run to earth is said to be 'bielded.' + + +=Bink=: a long narrow grassy ledge. (N. of Eng.) + + +=Black Sail.=--It has been suggested that this name, now borne by the +pass from Wastdale to Ennerdale between Pillarfell and Kirkfell, may +have originally been named from the mountain it crossed, and so may +possibly now preserve an older name of one of those two mountains. Dr. +Murray, writing to a local paper some years ago, did not hesitate to +affirm positively that Pillar Fell is entirely due to the Ordnance +surveyors, and that the original name was Black Sail, a fact which he +said could be proved by historical evidence. It would be extremely +interesting to see this evidence, but the name 'Pillar' certainly +appears in maps published long before that of the Ordnance. (See +_Sail_.) The pass (1,750 ft.) is very familiar to all climbing folk, +being the ordinary way of reaching the Pillar Rock from Wastdale Head. +It is generally preferred to _Wind Gap_ on account of greater variety +of view and better 'going,' and some make use of it even for the purpose +of reaching the Ennerdale side of _Great Gable_. + +The route, however, has one disadvantage. It is hot. It is no uncommon +thing to hear enthusiastic frequenters of the Lakes complaining of the +popular misapprehension that the sun never shines there, and urging that +people are so unreasonable as to notice the wet but to disregard the +warmth. Among these traducers of the Cumberland climate the frequenters +of the Black Sail route are not found. Argue not with such; but some +fair morning, when the reviler is most rampant, lead him gently into +Mosedale and watch with calm delight while he pants painfully up the +pass, trying his utmost to look cool, with the sun, which he has +maligned, beating down squarely upon his back and exacting a merciless +revenge. Many a time will he turn about and feign rapture at the taper +cone of Yewbarrow and the bold outline of Scafell; often will his +bootlace strangely come untied before his reverted glance catches the +welcome gleam of Burnmoor Tarn; but long before that time his heart +within him will have melted even as wax, and he will have registered a +vow that, when next the Cumberland sunshine is discussed, the seat of +the scornful shall know him no more. Mr. James Payn, having occasion to +allude to 'dry weather' in the Lakes, adds demurely, 'which is said to +have occurred about the year 1824'; but, from his own description of +Black Sail, it is clear that he deeply rued the sarcasm: 'You will begin +to find your pass quite sufficiently steep. Indeed, this is the severest +pull of any of the cols in the District, and has proved the friend of +many a gallant with his ladylove. To offer a young woman your hand when +you are going up Black Sail is in my mind one of the greatest proofs of +attachment that can be given, and, if she accepts it, it is tantamount +to the everlasting "Yes!"' We may be sure that, before he reached the +top, the witty novelist experienced remarkably 'dry weather,' and also +some of those symptoms which elsewhere he has himself described with +such scientific accuracy: 'Inordinate perspiration and a desperate +desire for liquids; if the ascent be persisted in, the speech becomes +affected to the extent of a total suspension of conversation. The temper +then breaks down; an unseemly craving to leave our companion behind, and +a fiendish resolution not to wait for him if his bootlace comes undone, +distinguish the next stage of the climbing fever; all admiration of the +picturesque has long since vanished, exuded, I fancy, through the pores +of the skin: nothing remains but Selfishness, Fatigue, and the hideous +reflection that the higher we go the longer will be our journey down +again. The notion of malignant spirits occupying elevated +regions--Fiends of the Fell--doubtless arose from the immoral +experiences of the Early Climbers.' + +Green's _Guide_ (1819) records a touching instance of a husband's +attentions surviving a test which we saw above, that even lovers find +severe: 'This is a steep and craggy ascent, and so laborious to man that +it might be imagined horses could not travel it; yet Mr. Thomas Tyson, +of Wasdale Head, has conducted Mrs. Tyson over this stony ground while +sitting on the back of her horse.' + +In Switzerland one might look back after a day's work, and fairly +forget ups and downs so slight as Black Sail; but many of the guide +books speak of it in terms which might apply to the Adler or the Felik +Joch. For instance, _Black's Picturesque Guide_ (ed. 1872) says: 'The +_hardy_ pedestrian with _very minute_ instructions _might_ succeed in +finding his way over the mountains, yet every one who has crossed them +will beware of the danger of the attempt and of the _occasional fatal +consequences_ attending a diversion from the proper path.' This is +highly encouraging; and the enterprising traveller who only breaks his +neck two or three times in the course of the journey will be of good +cheer, for he is making rather a prosperous expedition than otherwise. + + +=Blea Crag=, an isolated square stone on the left of the path to the +_Stake_, a long mile up _Longstrath_. It is climbed on the side which +looks down the valley. Messrs. Jones and Robinson recorded their ascent +of it in September 1893, but it seems that four or five years ago there +were traces on it of a previous ascent. + +'Crag' is not very commonly used of a single stone, as it is here and in +the case of _Carl Crag_. + + +=Borrowdale.=--'Divers Springes,' says old Leland in his 'Itinerary,' +'cummeth owt of Borodale, and so make a great _Lowgh that we cawle a +Poole_.' + +The 'Lowgh' is, of course, Derwentwater, and Borrowdale is the heart of +the finest scenery and the best climbing in England. It may be said to +stretch from _Scafell_ to _Skiddaw_, and excellent headquarters for +climbers may be found in it at _Lowdore_, _Grange_, _Rosthwaite_, and +_Seatoller_. With the aid of its wad mines and its _Bowder Stone_, it +probably did more during last century than anything else to arouse +public interest in the Lake country. The natives were not famed for +their intelligence, and many stories are told in support of their +nickname of 'Borrowdale gowks.' + +There is another _Borrowdale_ in Westmorland, and _Boredale_ is perhaps +the same name. + + +=Bowder Stone= in _Borrowdale_ was already a curiosity about a century +and a half ago, when it was visited by Mr. George Smith, the +correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_. Clarke, writing some years +later, says it bore the alternative names of _Powderstone_ and +_Bounderstone_; and being 'thirty-one yards long by eight yards high, +must therefore weigh over 600 tons, and is said to be the largest +self-stone in England.' It is not really a 'boulder' at all, but the +word is rather loosely used in Cumberland. + + +=Bow Fell= (2,960 ft.).--The name is probably the same as that of _Baugh +Fell_, also called _Bow Fell_, in Yorkshire. This graceful peak, +standing as it does at the head of several important valleys--_Eskdale_, +_Langdale_, _Dunnerdale_, and _Borrowdale_--is a great feature in Lake +scenery. There is not much rock-work on it, but a good deal of rough +walking and scrambling. From _Borrowdale_ or _Wastdale_ it is approached +by way of _Esk Hause_. On this side there is no climbing, except that +_Hanging Knot_, as the N. end of Bow Fell is called, descends to _Angle +Tarn_ in a long, steep, rocky slope which offers a pleasant scramble. + +On the _Eskdale_ side there is a gully or two which might be worth +exploring. + +By inclining to the right hand on emerging at the top of _Hell Gill_, or +to the left hand from the pony-track at the foot of _Rossett Gill_ we +reach _Flat Crags_, huge glacier-planed slopes of rock, overlooked by +what in winter is a fine _couloir_ of most alpine appearance. When +Messrs. J. & A.R. Stogdon ascended it (_Alpine Journal_, v. p. 35) the +inclination of the snow increased from 30 deg. at the foot to 63 deg. after 350 +ft. or more, and there was a large cornice at the top. In the account +which the same party inserted at the time in the Wastdale Head Book +steeper angles are given. + +In summer it is merely an open scree-gully; but the +insignificant-looking chimney just N. of it, and only separated from it +by a narrow ridge, is quite worthy of attention, though it has but one +pitch in it after the one at the foot. The descent is harder than the +ascent, and takes about twenty minutes. + +There is a fine rocky walk along the S. ridge, called _Shelter Crags_ +and _Crinkle Crags_, which descends towards the head of Dunnerdale, but +it is extremely unfrequented. + + +=Bram Crag= and _Wanthwaite Crag_ flank the coach road between +_Threlkeld_ and _Grasmere_ on the east. The best part is rather more +than two miles south of Threlkeld station. The climbing is somewhat +similar to that about _Swarthbeck_ on Ullswater, but on better and +sounder rock, and there is more of it. A good day's work will be found +among these crags, and a fine specimen of a 'sledgate' is deserving of +notice. + + +=Brandreth= is between _Borrowdale_ and the head of _Ennerdale_. The +name, which occurs elsewhere in the neighbourhood, denotes a tripod +(literally a 'grate,' usually made with three legs). The meeting-point +of three boundaries of counties, parishes, &c. is often so named. +Brandreth has only one short bit of bold rock--one of the many _Raven +Crags_. It is hardly worth a special journey, but may very easily be +taken by any one who attacks _Great Gable_ from _Borrowdale_. + + +=Brimham Rocks=, in Yorkshire, are very easily visited from Harrogate or +from Pateley Bridge. From the latter they are only four miles to the +eastward. The station for those who come from Harrogate is Dacre Banks, +from which the Rocks may be reached in an hour's walking. They are of +millstone grit and well deserve a visit, for nowhere are the grotesque +forms which that material delights to assume more remarkable. Some +resemble the sandstone forms common about Tunbridge Wells, and many +might very well stand for Dartmoor Tors; but others at first sight seem +so evidently and unmistakably to suggest human handiwork that one can +feel no surprise at the common notion that they were fashioned by the +ingenuity of the Druids. Several of them, though very small, can only be +climbed with considerable difficulty. + + +=Broad Stand=--a term commonly but, in my opinion, incorrectly used to +denote a particular route by which the crags of _Scafell_ may be +ascended direct from _Mickledoor_. There are numerous other places +within a few miles of this into the names of which this word 'stand' +enters, and a consideration of them leads me to the belief that it +signifies 'a large grassy plot of ground awkward of access.' This is +exactly what we find here. A break in the cliffs produces a large open +space which is the key to the ascent by the _Mickledoor Chimney_, to +that by the _North Climb_, and to that which, being the oldest, easiest, +and most frequented, has arrogated to itself as distinctive the name of +a feature which it should only share with the other two. Really all +three routes are merely different ways of reaching the Broad Stand. + +One of the earliest recorded ascents is that of Mr. C.A.O. Baumgartner +in September 1850, an account of which was sent by one of the people of +the dale to the local paper in these terms: 'The Broad Stand, _a rocky +and dangerous precipice_, situated between _Scaw Fell_ and the _Pikes_, +an ascent which is perhaps more difficult than even that of the _Pillar +Stone_.' The late Professor Tyndall climbed it in 1859, and described it +in the _Saturday Review_ of that year. It evidently had a great +reputation then, which was not, in his opinion, entirely deserved. It +seems to have been known in 1837 (see the _Penny Magazine_) to the +shepherds; and even in Green's time, at the beginning of the century, +one or two daring spirits had accomplished the feat. + + +=Buckbarrow= (C. sh. 79).--_Broadcrag_ (more north-east) is really part +of it, and about 400 ft. high. Buckbarrow rises near the foot of +Wastwater, opposite the best part of the Screes. When approached from +the head of the lake it appears as two huge rocky steps; but, as in the +case of _Eagle Crag_ in _Greenup_, the steps are not really in the same +plane. Seen from the slopes of _Lingmell_, it forms the boundary between +the mountains and the plain, to which it sinks in one very graceful +concave curve. It is not lofty--there are perhaps some 400 ft. of +rock--but by the shepherds it is reputed inaccessible. This is only true +in the sense that there are stiff bits on it which have to be evaded. It +is haunted by both the fox and the buzzard--connoisseurs on whose taste +in rocks the climber can generally rely. There is also climbing in the +whole line of rock (Broad Crag) which stretches away towards +_Greendale_. Since 1884, when the writer first became acquainted with +it, Buckbarrow has become rather popular, considering its remoteness +from _Wastdale Head_.--At Christmas 1891 a strong party, led by Messrs. +Robinson, Hastings, and Collie, ascended it 'from the fox's earth to the +hawk's nest,' and on April 15, 1892, a party containing several of the +same members climbed 'the first main gully on this [the north] side. +There are two short chimneys at the end of this little gill--one in each +corner, about ten to twelve yards apart.' The left one, up which Mr. +Brunskill led, was considered the harder. Afterwards Dr. Collie led two +of the party up the face of the cliff to the right of the next gully on +the west, which is marked by a pitch of about fifty feet low down. To a +house near the foot of Buckbarrow old Will Ritson and his wife retired, +after giving up the inn which they had kept for so many years and made +so famous at _Wastdale Head_. + + +=Buresdale=, the proper name of the valley between Thirlmere and +Threlkeld. Hutchinson, for instance, says: 'At the foot of _Wythburn_ is +_Brackmere_ [i.e. Thirlmere], a lake one mile in length ... from the N. +end of this mere issues the river Bure, which falls into Derwent below +Keswick.' He also mentions Buresdale in connection with _Layswater_, yet +another equivalent for Thirlmere. Guidebook writers seem to have +conspired together to obliterate this name from the map, and to +substitute for it the name _Vale of St. John_, which Sir Walter Scott +made famous. To revive the name of the river would be an act of only +posthumous justice, now that the Manchester waterworks have taken away +all its water; but the valley is still there, and ought to be called by +its genuine old name, which is of Scandinavian origin; compare with it +the Bure river in Norfolk, and fishermen will recall similar names in +Norway. + + +=Burn=: the Scotch word for a brook is hardly found south of the river +Wear. In Wythburn, Greenburn, and other cases it probably represents +_borran_ (stone heap). + + +=Buttermere=, a pleasant stopping-place from which many of the +Cumberland fells can be explored. It is a good centre for _Grassmoor_, +_Melbreak_ and the _Red Pike_ range, while _Borrowdale_ and _Ennerdale_ +are quite within reach. Once a day the Keswick waggonettes swoop upon +the place, bringing trippers by the score, but at other times it is a +quiet and enjoyable spot. + + +=Calf (The)= (2,220 ft.), in Yorkshire, near _Sedbergh_. _Cautley Crag_, +on the E. side of it, is very steep. In this corner of the county the +Yorkshire climber experiences the intense relief of seeing rocks which +are neither chalk, limestone, nor millstone grit. + + +=Camping.=--Camping out by rivers has always been more popular in +England than the same form of airy entertainment among the mountains. +The labour of carrying tents or sleeping-bags acts as the chief +deterrent. It is true that some thirty years ago a distinguished member +of the Alpine Club applied to Scafell Pike, and one or two other spots +where England is loftiest, the practice, which he has carried out on +many of the higher peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees, of watching sunset +and sunrise from the loftiest possible _gite_ which the mountain can +afford. Mr. Payn, too, has given us a most humorous narrative of how he +and his friends encamped on Fairfield. Also, about twenty years ago, +four stalwart climbers from Penrith made a regular camping tour of the +Lakes. Their tent was pitched on these spots: Penrith Beacon, Red Tarn +on Helvellyn, in Langdale under Pike o' Stickle, Sty Head, in Ennerdale +under Gable Crag, and on Honister. It weighed only 5-1/2 lbs., and yet +had a floor space of 8 ft. by 8 ft. + +It may be that, just as bicyclists suffered by the scathing definition +'cads on casters,' so the enthusiasm of the camper may have received a +check when he heard himself described with cruel terseness as 'a fool in +a bag.' Perhaps, again, our climate is not one which offers much +encouragement to any but the hardiest of campers. In the Lakes by far +the most popular (and probably, therefore, the most convenient) place +is the shore of Ullswater, where tents have been seen even in the depth +of winter. + + +=Carl Crag= lies on the sea-shore in Drigg parish. Mr. Jefferson says +that it is of syenite, and measures in feet twelve by nine by five and a +half, but it is deep in the sand. The legend is that while Satan was +carrying it in his apron to make a bridge over to the Isle of Man, his +_apron strings (q. vid.)_ broke and let it fall. It is probably an +erratic. With the name compare _Carlhow_, _Carlwark_, &c. + + +=Carrs=, in Lancashire, in the _Coniston_ range, north of the _Old Man_. +It is craggy on the east side. In _Far Easdale_ there is a line of crag +which bears the same name. Clearly neither can have anything to do with +'carrs' in its usual sense in the north, viz. 'low marshy ground.' + + +=Castle Rock= (C. sh. 64).--This rock in _Borrowdale_ is said to have +been crowned by a Roman fort. The west side is craggy for a couple of +hundred feet. It may serve to occupy a few odd hours for any one +stopping at _Grange_, _Rosthwaite_, or _Seatoller_. + + +=Caw Fell= (C. sh. 73).--The name is possibly the same as _Calf_, +_Calva_; compare also _Caudale_, _Codale_, &c. On the north side there +is a craggy bit about 200 ft. high. + + +=Chalk.=--Though this can hardly be regarded as a good rock for +climbing, much excellent practice can be gained on it. As a general +rule, it is only sufficiently solid for real climbing for the first +twenty feet above high-water mark, though here and there forty feet of +fairly trustworthy rock may be found. These sections of hard chalk are +invariably those which at their base are washed by the sea at high tide; +all others are soft and crumbly. + +[Illustration: CHALK CLIFFS NEAR DOVER] + +Whilst any considerable ascent, other than up the extremely steep slopes +of grass which sometimes clothes the gullies and faces, is out of the +question, traverses of great interest and no slight difficulty are +frequently possible for considerable distances. A good _objectif_ may be +found in the endeavour to work out a route to the various small beaches +that are cut off from the outer world by the high tide and cliffs. + +The best instances of this sort of work are to be found along the coast +to the eastward of Dover (between that town and St. Margaret's). Between +the ledges by which these traverses are in the main effected, and the +beach below, scrambles of every variety of difficulty may be found, some +being amongst the hardest _mauvais pas_ with which I am acquainted. +Owing to the proximity of the ground, they afford the climber an +excellent opportunity of ascertaining the upper limit of his powers. +Such knowledge is a possession of extreme value, yet in most other +places it is undesirable to ascertain it too closely. Chalk, it must be +remembered, is extremely rotten and treacherous, very considerable +masses coming away occasionally with a comparatively slight pull. In any +place where a slip is not desirable, it is unwise to depend exclusively +on a single hold, as even the hardest and firmest knobs, that have stood +the test of years, give way suddenly without any apparent reason. The +flints imbedded in the chalk are similarly untrustworthy; in fact, if +they project more than an inch or so, they are, as a rule, insecure. +The surface of the chalk is smooth and slimy if wet, dusty if dry, and +does not afford the excellent hold obtained on granite. As a whole it +may be regarded as a treacherous and difficult medium, and one which is +likely to lead those practising on it to be very careful climbers. + +To the westward of Dover (between it and Folkestone) a great amount of +climbing on grass and crumbly chalk slopes can be obtained; almost every +gully and face can be ascended from the sea, or the S.E. Railway, to +the top. It is desirable to remember that in dry weather the grass and +the earth which underlies it is of the consistency of sand, and great +care is requisite; after rain the grass is of course slippery; but the +underlying material adheres more firmly to the cliff. It is unnecessary +to add that a slip on any of these slopes would almost certainly prove +fatal. On the face of _Abbot's Cliff_, and to the westward (about +halfway between Dover and Folkestone), some traverses may be effected at +a height of 200 ft. or more above the base; they do not, however, +compare for climbing with the traverses on the other side of Dover. + +As one goes westwards, the angle of the cliffs becomes less, and from +_Abbot's Cliff_ towards Folkestone it is rarely necessary to use one's +hands, though very nice 'balance' is essential, as the results of a slip +would usually be serious. Above the _Warren_, still nearer Folkestone, +the slopes become easy, and after heavy snow afford excellent +_glissades_. + +The cliffs between Dover and St. Margaret's vary from 200 to 350 ft., +whilst those between Dover and Folkestone vary from 250 to 500 ft. in +height. + +In Sussex the chalk is well developed at and near _Beachy Head_, where +it attains a height of some 600 ft. Just west of this come several miles +of cliffs, lower indeed (about 300 ft.), but amazingly vertical. + +About _Flamborough Head_, in Yorkshire, this formation attains fine +proportions, while as far west as Devonshire _Beer Head_ is upwards of +400 ft. high. + + +=Chimney=: a recess among rocks resembling the interior of a chimney +open on one side. (See _Back-and-knee_.) + + +=Chockstone=: a northern word for a stone wedged between the sides of a +gully. A short word for this is greatly needed, and I would suggest that +it might be called a 'chock,' simply. + + +=Clapham=, a station on the Midland Railway, is an excellent centre for +_Ingleborough_ and the _Potholes_. + + +=Clark's Leap=, near _Swirl's Gap_ on Thirlmere, is a jutting rock, so +called from a suicide which took place there over 100 years ago. It is +one of many local absurdities of the novel called 'The Shadow of a +Crime' that this name is brought in as an antiquity in the eyes of +characters supposed to be living two centuries ago. + + +=Clough= (_Cleugh_, _Cloof_, _Cluff_, _Clowe_) is a North of England +word for a kind of valley formed in the slope of a hill. The first cut +in carving a shoulder of mutton produces a typical 'clough.' There is +seldom any climbing about a genuine clough, because it implies soil +rather than rock. Dr. Murray tells us that the word has no connection +with the Icelandic 'klofi,' yet assigns to the latter word the origin of +'cloof,' in the sense of the fork of a tree, or of the human body. To a +layman in such matters the two words bear a singular resemblance, both +in sound and in sense. + + +=Collier's Climb= on _Scafell_ was made by Messrs. Collier and Winser on +April 2, 1893, and a very severe climb it is. It begins from the _Rake's +Progress_ at a point 105 ft. west from the _North Climb_. After a direct +ascent of about 40 ft., a grassy platform on the right (facing the wall) +is reached. From here a narrow and somewhat awkward traverse leads back +to above the first part of the climb. This traverse could probably be +avoided by climbing directly upwards. There follows an easy ascent for +30 ft. still directly upwards. By traversing broad grassy ledges to the +right--i.e. towards _Moss Gill_--one of the inclined cracks so plainly +seen on the face of the cliff is reached, and the rest of the ascent +made in it. The only severe difficulties in the climb are: 1. at the +beginning, in leaving _Rake's Progress_; 2. at one point in the crack +where there is not much handhold for 10 or 15 ft. + + +=Combe Gill=, a fine gill in the north end of _Glaramara_. The climb is +a little over two miles from _Rosthwaite_, and about a mile less from +_Seatoller_. A very fine mass of rock (one of the many _Eagle Crags_) +stands at the head of the little valley, and up the centre of this crag +lies the way. It was climbed on September 1, 1893, by Messrs. J.W. +Robinson and W.A. Wilson, whose account of it is as follows: 'This very +fine gorge has three good-sized pitches in the lower part. These were +passed by climbing the right-hand edge of the gill--interesting work. A +return on to the floor of the gill was made near the top of the third +pitch, when a little scrambling led to a very fine waterfall more than +100 ft. high. Here climb in the water as little as you can; then diverge +slightly on to the right-hand wall of the gill just where the water +spouts over a small recess; next traverse across a rather difficult slab +into the cave under the final boulder, which is climbed on the left-hand +and is the last difficulty.' + + +=Coniston=, having the advantage of both railway and steamboat, is very +accessible, and, notwithstanding this, it is agreeably free from the +rush of excursionists. Practically it has one fine mountain--the _Old +Man_--and no more, though _Bow Fell_ and the _Langdale Pikes_ are not +entirely out of reach. There is much good scrambling in the rocks which +fringe the _Old Man_ and _Wetherlam_, and superb climbing in _Dow Crag_. + + +=Coniston Old Man.=--Quarrymen and miners have between them done an +immense deal towards spoiling a very fine mountain. They have converted +to base industrial uses the whole east side of the mountain, which +Nature intended for climbers. They have not yet invaded _Doe Crag_ +(q.v.), which is really part of it, but practically no one goes up the +_Old Man_ proper, except for the sake of the view, which is magnificent, +and no one ascends except from Coniston, varied in a few cases by +working north along the summit ridge and descending via _Grey Friars_ on +to the pass of _Wrynose_. + + +=Copeland.=--Camden says of Cumberland: 'The south part of this shire is +called _Copeland_ and _Coupland_, for that it beareth up the head aloft +with sharpedged and pointed hilles, which the Britans tearme _Copa_.' +Leland alludes to this when he makes a ludicrously pedantic suggestion: +'Capelande, part of Cumbrelande, may be elegantly caullid Cephalenia.' +_Cop_ is found in Derbyshire also, as a hill-name, and hunting men will +not need to be reminded of the Coplow in Leicestershire. + +[Illustration: CONISTON AND DOE CRAG] + + +=Cornwall.=--To the true-souled climber, who can enjoy a tough bit of +rock, even if it is only fifty, aye, or twenty feet high, the coast of +Cornwall with its worn granite cliffs and bays has much to offer. It is +interesting almost the whole way round the coast. Granite prevails, but +at _Polperro_ we have cliffs belonging to the Lower Devonian period, and +for some ten or twelve miles going west from _Chapel Point_ we find +rocks of the Silurian order. At many points round the _Lizard +Promontory_ there are remarkable rocks; but some of the finest cliff +scenery in England is to be found between the _Logan Rock_ and the +_Land's End_. These are on the regular tourist tracks, and conveniently +reached from good hotels; but the north coast of Cornwall is here easy +of access. There are fine cliffs about _Gurnard's Head_ and _Bosigran_, +which are well worth a visit, from St. Ives or Penzance (7 or 8 miles). +There is a small inn at _Gurnard's Head_. _Bedruthan Steps_ are +well-known, and _Trevose Head_, _Pentire_ (Padstow), _Tintagel_ and +_Penkenner Point_ are only a few of the many grand rock-scenes on this +coast. + + +=Coterine Hill.=--Leland, in his 'Itinerary,' says that Ure, Sawle, and +Edon rise in this hill, and that 'the Hedde of Lune River by al +Aestimation must be in _Coterine Hill_, or not far fro the Root of it,' +adding that, in the opinion of Mr. Moore of Cambridge, the river Lune +'risith yn a hill cawlled _Crosho_, the which is yn the egge of +Richemontshire.' + +There is _Cotter-dale_ on the Yorkshire slope of the hill in which these +rivers rise, and the celebrated Countess of Pembroke, in 1663, when she +crossed from _Wensleydale_ to _Pendragon Castle_, calls her journey +'going over _Cotter_, which I lately repaired,' the last words showing +that it was a recognised pass. + +In all probability Leland's form represents '_Cotter End_,' by which +name, though not given in most of the maps, part of the hill is still +known. + + +=Cove=: often means 'cave' in Yorkshire and Scotland, but as a rule it +is a large recess in a hill-side. + + +=Craven=--_Camden_ remarks that the country lying about the head of the +river Aire is called in our tongue _Craven_, 'perchance of the British +word _Crage_, that is a _Stone_. For the whole tract there is rough all +over, and unpleasant to see to; which [with?] craggie stones, hanging +rockes, and rugged waies.' + +Modern climbers, however, find it hardly rocky enough for them, at least +above ground, and have been driven to invent a new variety of +climbing--the subterranean. Exploration of the numerous _potholes_ which +honeycomb the limestone hills has of late years become a favourite +pastime, and, in truth, it combines science with adventure to a marked +degree. + +Any one who tarries for any length of time among these Yorkshire dales +should read Mr. H. Speight's handsome volume, which gives a very +complete account of the beauties and the curiosities which they have to +show. + + +=Cross Fell=, in Cumberland, long enjoyed the reputation being one of +the highest mountains in England, and as late as 1770 its height was +calculated at 3,390 ft., which is some 500 ft. more than it is entitled +to. It was earlier than most English mountains in becoming the object of +scientific curiosity, and an account of it will be found in the +_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1747. It is chiefly celebrated for the Helm +Wind originating from it. + + +=Cumberland= is the premier climbing county. The best centres are +_Wastdale Head_, _Rosthwaite_ or _Seatoller_, _Buttermere_, _Keswick_ +and _Eskdale_. The cream of the climbing is on those fells which are +composed of rocks belonging to what is called 'the Borrowdale Series,' +such as _Scafell Pillar_, _Gable_, _Bowfell_, and as a rule the finest +climbs are found on the sides which face the north and east. _Cross +Fell_ does not belong to the same mountain-system as those just +mentioned, and offers little climbing. The best cliffs on the coast are +about _St. Bees_ Head. + + +=Cust's Gully=, on Great End.--To the large and increasing number of men +who visit the Lakes in winter, perhaps no climb is better known than +this. In the spring of 1880, a party, including one of the greatest of +lady mountaineers, and over twenty members of the Alpine Club, ascended +this 'very interesting chimney or couloir, which, being filled with ice +and snow, gave unexpected satisfaction. There is a very remarkable +natural arch in this couloir, which Mr. Cust claims to have been the +first to discover, and he was therefore entrusted with the guidance of +the party.' The orthodox approach is by way of Skew Gill, which is +conspicuous at the right hand on nearing Sty Head from Wastdale. A short +distance beyond the head of this gill our gully is seen rising on the +right, marked by the conspicuous block of stone. Being, as the Scotch +say, 'back of the sun,' this gully often holds snow till comparatively +late in the season. Indeed, in winter, it is sometimes so much choked +with snow that the arch disappears, and it is even said that +self-respecting climbers, who recognise that a gully ought to be +followed with strictness, have felt bound to reach the block by +tunnelling, instead of walking over the top. In the spring of 1890 there +was a tremendous fall of stones, by which the gully was nearly filled. +Except in snow time, loose stones are an objection, and many find it +more interesting to ascend by a small gully, almost a branch of +'Cust's,' on the right hand. As climbs neither of them will compare with +the more eastern gullies. + + +=Dale=: curiously used in Derbyshire for each separate section of a +river valley, which elsewhere would form only one dale. + + +=Dalegarth Force=, in Cumberland, near Boot, in Eskdale. The wall on the +north side of this extremely pretty little fall is very low; but, being +granite, offers one or two problems to the climber. _Stanley Gill_ is +another name for the same place. + + +=Dartmoor=, a high upland moor, forming a vast reservoir, from which +most of the Devonshire rivers are fed. It is curious rather than +beautiful, and more interesting to the geologist, the antiquary, and the +fisherman than it is to the mountaineer. Yet it is instructive even to +him, for the frequency of rain and mist and the paucity of landmarks +which can be seen more than a few yards off, coupled with the necessity +of constantly watching the ground, render it one of the easiest places +in the world in which to lose one's way in any but the finest weather. +There are no true hills, but here and there a gradual rise of the ground +is seen, with a lump or two of granite grotesquely planted on the top of +it. These are the _Tors_. As a rule they are very small, but often +present problems to the climber, and are seldom without interest of some +sort. + +A great many may be reached from Tavistock or the little inn at +_Merivale Bridge_. + + +=Dead Crags= (C. sh. 56) are lofty but disappointing rocks on the north +side of Skiddaw. There is perhaps 500 ft. of steep crumbly rock, +something like _Hobcarton_. + + +=Deep Gill.=--The name is not infrequent; for example, there is one on +the south side of _Great Gable_, east of the _Napes_, but now it is +always called _Hell Gate_. The Deep Gill is on _Scafell_, and falls into +the _Lord's Rake_. The first mention of it was made in August 1869 by +Mr. T.L. Murray Browne, who wrote in the Visitors' Book at Wastdale +Head: 'The attention of mountaineers is called to a rock on Scafell on +the right (looking down) of a remarkable gill which cleaves the rocks of +Scafell and descends into Lingmell Gill. It looks stiff.' The rock +alluded to is the _Scafell Pillar_ and the gill is _Deep Gill_. It is +well described by Mr. Slingsby in the _Alpine Journal_, vol. xiii. p. +93: 'After a couple of hundred steps had been cut in the snow in Lord's +Rake and at the bottom of Deep Gill, which joins the former at right +angles, we reached the first block--a large rock perhaps 15 ft. +square--which overhangs the gill, and so forms a cave. Below the rock +the snow was moulded into most fantastic shapes by occasional +water-drips from above. At the right hand of the big rock a few small +stones are jammed fast between it and the side of the ravine, and they +afford the only route up above the rock. These stones can be reached +from the back of the little cave, and occasionally from the snow direct. +Hastings--who is a very powerful fellow and a brilliant climber--and I +got on the stones, as we did last year. He then stood on my shoulder, +and, by the aid of long arms and being steadied by me, he reached a tiny +ledge and drew himself up. Mason and I found it no child's play to +follow him with the rope. Some two hundred more steps in hard snow +brought us to the only place where we could attack the second block. +Here three fallen rocks stop the way, and on the left hand is the +well-nigh ledgeless cliff which terminates far away overhead in the Sca +Fell Pinnacle, or Sca Fell Pillar. On the right a high perpendicular +wall effectually cuts off the gill from the terraces of Lord's Rake. On +the left hand of the gill a small tongue of rock, very steep, juts out +perhaps 40 ft. down the gully from the fallen block nearest to the +Pinnacle wall, and forms a small crack, and this crack is the only way +upward. From a mountaineer's point of view the stratification of the +rocks here is all wrong. The crack ends in a chimney about 20 ft. high, +between the wall and a smoothly polished boss of rock. Hastings, still +leading, found the crack to be difficult, but climbed it in a most +masterly way. All loose stones, tufts of grass and moss, had to be +thrown down, and, in the absence of hand and foot hold, the knees, +elbows, thighs, and other parts of the body had to do the holding on, +whilst, caterpillar-like, we drew ourselves upward bit by bit. The +chimney is best climbed by leaning against the Pinnacle wall with one's +back and elbows, and, at the same time, by walking with the feet +fly-like up the boss opposite. From the top of the boss a narrow sloping +traverse, perhaps 12 ft. long, leads into the trough of the gill. With a +rope this is an easy run; without one it would not be nice. A stone +thrown down from here falls over both blocks and rolls down the snow out +of the mouth of Lord's Rake on to the screes far away below. The crack, +chimney, and traverse, short distance though it is, took us about an +hour to pass. The climb from Deep Gill to the gap from which the +Pinnacle is ascended is a very good one, which two men can do much +better than one. The Pinnacle itself from the gap is perhaps 25 ft. +high, and is really a first-rate little climb, where the hands and the +body have to do the bulk of the work.' + +[Illustration: DEEP GILL, SCAFELL +(The Lower Pitch)] + +The date of Mr. Slingsby's attempt was March 2, 1885, and that of his +successful ascent March 28, 1886: but as early as 1882 this climb had +been made, piecemeal, by the present writer, who, however, never, so far +as he can remember, blended the different items into a continuous climb +until the summer of 1884, when he descended the whole length of the +gill in company with Mr. Chr. Cookson, of C.C.C., Oxford. A yet +earlier descent of the gill had been made at Easter 1882 by Messrs. +Arnold Mumm and J.E. King, of the same college, who found such a +phenomenal depth of snow that the obstacles were buried, and they were +able to walk from end to end without using their hands. The same thing +happened again in January 1887, when Messrs. Creak and Robinson were +able to walk up over both pitches without having even to cut a step. + +The lower pitch may also be passed by using a recess resembling one half +of a funnel in the red rock of the vertical south wall of the gill. The +worst part of this is where you leave the funnel and begin to coast +round in order to re-enter the gill. The space comprised between the two +pitches can be entered very easily by passing round the foot of the +_Scafell Pillar_, or with much more difficulty down the vertical south +wall. The upper pitch may be passed in two ways, besides the incline. +One is by means of a narrow side gully, the upper stage of which is most +easily passed by following the ridge which divides it from the main +gill. The third way is the most direct and the most difficult, lying +between the incline and the great block. Mr. Owen Jones seems to have +invented it in the year 1892, and took up a party by it on that occasion +with the assistance of a good deal of snow, and another party in the +month of August 1893, when there was no snow at all. There is no more +fashionable winter climb than _Deep Gill_, and about Christmas time the +clink of the axe echoes among its crags from dawn to dusk. + +It is reached from Wastdale Head in about an hour and a half. The +shoulder of _Lingmell_ has first to be rounded, and it makes little +difference either in time or fatigue whether this be done comparatively +high up or by taking the high road to the bridge near the head of the +lake or by an intermediate course. At any rate, a long grind up _Brown +Tongue_, in the hollow between _Lingmell_ and _Scafell_, cannot be +avoided, and when the chaos called _Hollow Stones_ is reached a vast +outburst of scree high up on the right hand indicates the mouth of +_Lord's Rake_. After a laborious scramble up this scree the rake is +entered, and only a few yards further the lower pitch of Deep Gill is +seen on the left hand. + + +=Deep Gill Pillar.=--See _Deep Gill_ and _Scafell Pillar_. + + +=Derbyshire= is well endowed in point of rock scenery, but it is not +really a climber's country. The rocks are of two kinds--the Limestone, +of which Dovedale may be taken as a type, and the Millstone Grit, which +prevails further north. The former shows many a sharp pinnacle and many +a sheer cliff, but is often dangerously rotten, while the latter assumes +strange, grotesque forms, and, when it does offer a climb, ends it off +abruptly, just as one thinks the enjoyment is about to begin. It is, +nevertheless, much more satisfactory than the limestone, and many +pleasing problems may be found on it, especially in the neighbourhood of +the _Downfall_ on _Kinder Scout_. For this Buxton or Chapel-en-le-Frith +is of course a better centre than Matlock. + + +=Devonshire.=--The inland climbing in this county is very limited. Of +granite there are the _Tors_ of Dartmoor and the Dewerstone near +Plymouth, and there is a remarkably fine limestone ravine at Chudleigh, +but there is little else worthy of mention. But the coast of Devonshire +is exceptionally fine, and perhaps no other county can show such a +variety of fine cliffs. At _Beer Head_ we have chalk; at _Anstis Cove_, +_Torbay_, and _Berry Head_ limestone; at _Start Point_ and _Stoke Point_ +slate. For bold cliff scenery few parts of the Channel can rival the +piece between _Start Point_ and _Bolt Tail_. + +On the north coast of Devon there are many striking cliffs. Among them +may be noticed _Heddon's Mouth_, _Castle Rock_ (at Lynton), some rocks +about Ilfracombe, the granite cliffs of _Lundy_, _Hartland Point_; in +fact much of the coast from Clovelly right away to Bude in Cornwall is +remarkably fine. + + +=Dixon's Three Jumps=, on Blea Water Crag (High Street, Westmorland), so +called from the famous fall here of a fox-hunter about the year 1762. + +Perhaps no one ever fell so far and yet sustained so little permanent +injury. As an instance of 'the ruling passion strong in death,' or at +least in appalling proximity to death, it may be mentioned that, on +arriving at the bottom, he got on his knees and cried out, 'Lads, t' fox +is gane oot at t' hee eend. Lig t' dogs on an' aa'l cum syun.' He then +fell back unconscious, but recovered, and lived many years after. + +Another Dixon fell while fox-hunting on Helvellyn in 1858, but was +killed. There is a monument to him on Striding Edge. + + +=Dodd=: a round-topped hill. The word is common in the Lowlands and in +the North of England. It is often said to mean a limb of a larger +mountain, but Dodd Fell in Yorkshire would alone refute this, being the +highest hill in its neighbourhood. + + +=Doe Crag=, in Eskdale (C. sh. 74), is a bold rock, long reputed +inaccessible, low down on the north side of the approach to _Mickledoor_ +from the east. The Woolpack in Eskdale is the nearest inn. The rock, as +a climb, is very inferior to its namesake at Coniston (see _Dow Crag_). + + +=Door Head=, the _col_ between _Yewbarrow_ and _Red Pike_. There is +capital scree here, and a very rapid descent into Mosedale may be made +by it. Men who have spent the day on the Pillar sometimes return to +Wastdale Head round the head of Mosedale, and wind up by racing down +these screes from the _col_ to the stream below. The distance is about +650 yards, and the perpendicular drop about 1,200 ft. Anything less than +five minutes is considered very 'good time.' + + +=Doup=: any semicircular cavity resembling half an egg-shell (N. of +Eng.). + + +=Dow= (or =Doe=) =Crag=, in Lancashire, lies just west of _Coniston Old +Man_, being only divided from it by _Goat's Water_. The climbing here is +second to none. There are three or four superb gullies. Perhaps the best +is in a line with the head of the tarn and the cairn on the _Old Man_, +and another scarcely, if at all, inferior is nearly opposite a very +large stone in the tarn. The first ascent of one was made by Mr. +Robinson and the writer in the year 1886; that of the other by a party +including Messrs. Slingsby, Hastings, E. Hopkinson, and the writer in +July 1888. The last-mentioned (with indispensable aid from the rope) +afterwards descended an intermediate gully of terrific aspect. + +[Illustration: DOE CRAG, CONISTON +The lowest pitch of the central gully. The top of the wedged block is +reached by mounting the shallow scoop on the left of the picture, and +then coasting round into the gully again.] + +Towards the foot of the tarn the gullies are much less severe. + +Above is an illustration of the first pitch of the gully climbed in +1888. Mr. Hastings led up the shallow crevice seen on the left of the +picture, and on reaching the level of the top of the pitch contoured the +intervening buttress into the chimney again. This is no easy matter and +required great care. + + +=Dunald Mill Hole.=--One of the earliest descriptions of a '_Pothole_' +will be found in the 'Annual Register' for 1760, where this curiosity is +treated of at some length. It is a good specimen of a common type, and +lies between Lancaster and Carnforth. + + +=Dungeon Gill=, in Langdale, deserves mention in any treatise on British +climbing, inasmuch as the poet Wordsworth has made it the scene of an +early deed of daring performed by an idle shepherd boy-- + + Into a chasm a mighty block + Hath fallen and made a bridge of rock, + The gulf is deep below. + +The gulf and the mighty block are both there still; but there is more +pleasure in seeing the former than there is excitement in crossing by +the latter. + + +=Eagle Crag.=--Rocks of this name are pretty numerous in the North of +England, and, like the 'Raven Crags,' are, as might be expected, always +bold and precipitous. + +_On Helvellyn._--Canon Butler, in his article on the Lakes in 1844, +which appeared in _Longman's Magazine_, describes in an amusing manner +an adventure which he had on this rock. It is on the right-hand side of +the track from Patterdale to Grisedale Hause. + +_In Easdale_ (W. sh. 17).--This is easily found by following up the +stream which runs into Easdale Tarn. There is not more than 200-300 ft. +of crag, and much of it is very rotten, but with pretty bits of climbing +here and there. Grasmere is the only place from which it is conveniently +reached. + +_In Greenup_ (C. sh. 75) is as noble a rock as can be found in England. +As seen from Borrowdale near Rosthwaite it has the appearance of two +huge steps of rock, but the steps are really separate rocks, one behind +the other--Eagle Crag and Pounsey Crag. Large portions of each of them +are quite unclimbable, and much of them is too easy to be worth doing, +so that the amount of interesting climbing to be met with is less than +might be expected. Close by is Longstrath, where there is a little work +which may be combined with this (see _Blea Crag_ and _Serjeant Crag_). +The foot of Eagle Crag is reached from Rosthwaite or Seatoller in less +than an hour. + + +=Eagle's Nest=--one of the ridges of the _Napes_ lying between the +_Needle_ and the _Arrowhead_. On April 15, 1892, Messrs. Slingsby, +Baker, Solly, and Brigg ascended it and found it extremely difficult for +150 ft. At one point, about on a level with the top of the _Needle_, +there is room for one person to sit down, and here the second man on the +rope joined the leader and gave him a shoulder up. To this place they +gave the name of the _Eagle's Nest_, and it is almost the only point at +which any material help can be given to the leader. + +The part just above this they considered the stiffest part of the climb; +but when they reached a patch of grass just below a slanting chimney the +difficulties moderated. From the bottom to where the ridge joins the +_Needle Ridge_ they took two hours and ten minutes. + + +=Eel Crag.=--The word 'Eel,' we are told, is identical with 'Ill,' which +is seen in _Ill Bell_ and the numerous _Ill Gills_, and means 'steep.' +If so the name ought to be more frequent in the Lake country than it is, +and it might be suggested that in some cases 'eagle' may have been worn +down to 'eel.' There are two crags of the name in Cumberland, not very +far apart. + +_In Coledale._--These rocks are steep, but too much broken up to be +really worth a visit on their own account. However, after _Force Crag_ +has been tried, these are conveniently near. + +_In Newlands_ (C. sh. 70).--Among the rocks which flank Newlands on the +east much good material may be found. One is reminded a little of the +Wastwater Screes, but of course these are not on anything approaching +that scale. The greatest height of the craggy part is only about 400 ft. + + +=Eight-foot Drop.=--On the Pillar Rock is the passage from the ridge of +the _Curtain_ down onto the lower part of the _Steep Grass_. It figures +in some of the earlier accounts as a formidable feature of the ascent. +Nowadays it is known how much easier it is to keep on the flank of the +curtain, and only leave it when at the top of the chimney which runs up +from the head of _Steep Grass_. No 'drop' is, in fact, necessary; but +the climb, though not in any sense difficult, is generally regarded as a +good test of neatness of style. + + +=Ennerdale.=--For a valley which not only is one of the largest and most +impressive in the Lake country, but contains moreover a share of the +most perfect mountain in broad England--Great Gable--and all of the most +famous rock--the Pillar--singularly little is popularly known of +Ennerdale. But, when we consider that the place is one which is, or +should be, hallowed to all devout Wordsworthians as the scene of one of +the finest productions of their poet, the thing becomes +incomprehensible. To begin with, the guide-books have never done it +justice. In area of paper covered with descriptions of it English +Lakeland is probably many square miles ahead of any equal portion of the +earth's surface. But guide-book writers love to stand upon the ancient +ways; and any one who takes the trouble to compare West or Otley with +the works of to-day must admit that, except in matters of detail, the +advance has been incredibly small. The public are better judges of +accuracy than of enterprise, and what pleases the public pays. These +gentlemen, therefore, worthy and painstaking as they are, share to some +extent in the narrow aspirations of the hireling, and, indeed, we are +tempted to believe that their motives in shunning Ennerdale were not +wholly foreign to the character of him who 'fleeth because he is +afraid,' for they have brought up a terrible report of the dale. If, +however, this has been a wise precaution on their part, a means of +deterring any inquirer from exposing their want of energy, it has been +rewarded with a large measure of success. Here is an inviting prospect +for a timid traveller: 'Ennerdale Lake ... is so wild in the character +of its shores and in its position among the mountains as to have caused +more terrors and disasters to strangers than any other spot in the +district. At every house from Wastdale Head to Ennerdale Bridge stories +may be heard of adventures and escapes of pedestrians and horsemen in +Mosedale and the passes of Black Sail and Scarf Gap' (Whellan's 'History +of Cumberland,' 1860). Can it be wondered at that, in the face of such +terrors as this, very few people find their way into Ennerdale, except +those who with fear and trembling cross the head of it on their way +between Buttermere and Wastdale Head? Every guide-book, indeed, mentions +Ennerdale and the Pillar by name, because it gives an opportunity for +quoting the well-worn lines from 'The Brothers,' after which a few +meagre remarks may be expected to follow on the 'Pillar Mountain,' the +'Pillar Rock,' and 'Ennerdale Lake,' expressions of which not one, +strictly speaking, is correct, for the proper name of the first is +beyond all doubt 'Pillar _Fell_,' 'mountain' being an innovation of +tourists and guide-book writers, who between them have made 'Pillar +_Rock_' sound more familiar than the genuine name 'Pillar _Stone_,' and +have almost ousted 'Broadwater' in favour of 'Ennerdale Lake.' + +Printed authorities are scanty, because Ennerdale is of very recent +discovery. The early guide-books simply know nothing about it. West +(1778) does not mention it, and the gifted authoress of that touching +poem 'Edwina' did not even know how to spell its name: + + But chiefly, Ennersdale, to thee I turn, + And o'er thy healthful vales heartrended mourn, + Vain do thy riv'lets spread their curving sides + While o'er thy glens the summer zephyr glides. + +And yet Mrs. Cowley was by no means indifferent to such points. Indeed, +we owe the origin of this exquisite poem to her etymological zeal and to +her desire to immortalise the brilliant suggestion that the name +'Wotobank' was derived from some one having once said, 'Woe to this +bank!' It may even be that the spelling is a symbolical subtlety--a kind +of refinement on 'word-painting' intended to shadow forth to less poetic +minds, by the sinuosity of the superfluous 's,' the unique manner in +which the rivulets of this happy valley are wont to 'spread their +curving sides.' One of the earliest visitors to Ennerdale appears to +have been the artist Smith, of Derby (1767), who sketched the lake, as +did also Wilkinson in 1810. Wordsworth had been there before 1800, and +Green's description shows that he was much struck by the scenery of +upper Ennerdale. But, though visitors to Ennerdale have been and still +are few, most of these few speak highly of its beauties, 'partly +perhaps,' says Mr. Payn, 'in consequence of their having endured certain +inconveniences (with which they are anxious that you should also become +acquainted) when belated in that lovely spot.' The dale is not without +its associations. Formerly it was a deer forest, the property of the +Crown by forfeiture from the father of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey. The +Sandford manuscript speaks enthusiastically of 'the montaines and +fforest of Innerdale, wher ther is reed dear and as great Hartts and +Staggs as in any part of England. The bow-bearer is a brave gentleman.' +But it is now many years since the last of the herd was destroyed, and +no one living can remember the days when Ennerdale could show--what in +almost any landscape is a crowning beauty--the stately figure of a great +red stag. Certainly an element of romance has here been lost; but how +can that be felt so long as here and there some aged man survives to +keep green among the dalesmen the memory of 't' girt wild dog'? The +stories told of this remarkable animal would fill volumes and form a +highly interesting study in contemporary mythology; and yet, when we +consider the state of unparalleled excitement into which the whole +countryside was thrown at the time, and the assiduity with which it has +ever since been talking over the events of that stirring period, we +shall find cause to wonder, not that the story in some of its details +should have acquired a slight legendary flavour, but rather that the +great bulk of the incidents narrated should be so thoroughly well +authenticated. Certainly it is a lesson in faith, and makes it easier to +credit stories such as that which Ovid tells with so much spirit of the +Calydonian boar; for if in the days of modern firearms a dog can defy a +large district and kill a couple of sheep a day for nearly half a year +together, there is less reason for doubting that in old days an amount +of destruction and devastation which would not discredit a modern +minister could be wrought by the unaided exertions of one malevolent +pig. For months the dog was hunted and shot at, but seemed to lead a +charmed life; in the excitement farming operations were terribly +neglected, until at last, in the person of John Steel of Asby, arose the +modern Meleager. + +Many a story is told of that exciting time, and one especially has hit +the fancy of the dale. Until recently the custom was that fox-hunts +should take place on one particular day of the week--a day the selection +of which for a Southern meet would, however convenient, be regarded with +considerable surprise. Possibly this custom was held to govern +dog-hunting also; for one Sunday, as the Rev. Mr. Ponsonby (probably the +identical 'homely priest' who is mentioned in 'The Brothers') was +conducting Divine Service, the attentive cars of the congregation caught +the sound of some commotion without, followed by the rush of hounds and +the panting of human lungs. There could be no mistaking these signs. A +faint murmur passed round the sacred building, 'T' girt dog!' and in an +instant the reverend gentleman was the only male within the walls. A +moment's pause, and then female sympathy and female curiosity triumphed, +and the other and better half of the congregation disappeared. The story +goes in Ennerdale (but for this we decline to vouch) that the aged +pastor, casting a sorrowful glance upon the empty benches, hastily +adjusted the robes of his office, and ere the last petticoat had +fluttered from the porch was in full career to join the headlong hunt. + +For five months Ennerdale had been in a state of convulsive excitement, +for the first and last time, it is said, 'syn t' Flud'; the honour of +having enlivened the dale is fairly divided between the Deluge and the +Dog. + +To see Ennerdale as it should be seen, and to get a clear idea of the +surrounding district, there is no better plan than to mount from +Buttermere to Red Pike--the Rigi of Cumberland--and from there follow +with eye and, if necessary, map the following account of a 'run,' +telling how 'oald Jobby o' Smeathat tallyho't a fox ya Sunday mworning, +just as day brak, oot ov a borran o' steeans, abeunn Flootern Tarn, i' +Herdas end; an' hoo it teukk ower be t' Cleugh gill an' t' hoonds viewt +him sa hard 'at he teuk t' Broadwater an' swam 'cross t' hee end on't, +an t' dogs went roond an' oop t' Side Wood ... an' they whisselt him oop +be t' Iron Crag, an' be t' Silver Cwove an then throo t' Pillar, an' a +gay rough bit o' grund it is. Hoo he shakt 'em off a bit theer, an' they +at him agean an' meadd o' ring amang t' rocks. Hoo they ran him roond be +Black Sail, an' Lizza hee faulds an' clam oot be t' Scarf Gap an' on to +t' Wo' heead an' they beeldit 'am onder t' Brock Steeans an' he was +seaff aneugh theer.' + +With or without the fox-hunt this view from Red Pike is magnificent, yet +there are several others which run it very close. What, for instance, +can be better, just at the clearing of a shower, than the look-out from +the Pillar Fell on the opposite side of the valley? From the gloom and +grandeur around it the eye travels right along to the smiling green of +the open country beyond the lake bordered by a line of glittering sea. +This view has one drawback in that you cannot at one time be looking +both from the Pillar and at it; but then it is hardly possible to enter +Ennerdale at all without seeing this rock, the real glory of the valley, +from many effective points; and, moreover, no day there is complete +without a quiet half-hour spent in floating on the lake about sunset; +for, whether it be due to the westerly lie of the dale or to some other +cause, the fact remains that the Ennerdale sunsets are not to be beaten +among the Lakes. By the early morning light the upper part of the valley +should be explored, and the marvellous view enjoyed from Haystacks: from +the 'bulky red bluff of Grasmoor' on the right to the dark recess of +Mosedale half seen upon the left all is beautiful; separated from +Crummock and Buttermere, which are both well seen, by the steep Red Pike +range, Broadwater throws in a dash of life to relieve the desolation of +upper Ennerdale, while the richly coloured screes of Red Pike sweep down +in striking contrast to the forbidding frown of the Pillar Fell. We have +seen a fine water-colour sketch which renders this view with great +fidelity. It has additional interest as the work of the first amateur +who ever scaled the Pillar Stone--Lieut. Wilson, R.N. + +The scenery of Ennerdale, however, would not long have remained +beautiful if the Ennerdale Railway Bill, promoted in 1883 and 1884, had +been suffered to pass into law. That scheme was happily defeated, and +the only modern touches added to the dale have been the galvanised wire +railings recently erected along the sky-line, and the blue indicators +set up on the Black Sail and Scarf Gap track. + + +=Eskdale.=--There are two dales of the name in Cumberland, but the only +one which is of interest to mountaineers is reached by the little +railway from Ravenglass. Lodgings, largely used by Whitehaven people, +are to be had, but the most convenient inn is the Woolpack, about a mile +up the valley from the terminus of the line. From no place can +_Scafell_, _The Pikes_, or _Bow Fell_ be more easily explored, while the +Coniston range is quite within reach, and the Wastwater _Screes_ are +more accessible than they are from Wastdale Head. The valley itself is +only second to Borrowdale, and there are grand falls and deep pools in +the Esk. There are also some good rocks, though not quite equal to the +description of Hutchinson, who says that 'Doe Cragg and Earn Cragg are +remarkable precipices, whose fronts are polished as marble, the one 160 +perpendicular yards in height, the other 120 yards.' Both of these will +be seen on the way up to _Mickledoor_, the former standing on the +right-hand side at the foot of the steep ascent. It is strange that so +few climbers ever go to this valley. + + +=Esk Pike=, a name given by the shepherds to a peak of 2,903 ft., which +stands at the head of the Esk valley. Being left nameless by the +Ordnance six-inch map, it has attracted to itself the nearest name it +could find, and is very commonly called _Hanging Knot_, which, in +strictness, applies only to the north shoulder of Bow Fell, where it +hangs over Angle Tarn. It would save some confusion if this name had a +wider currency than it has. At the head of Eskdale there is a rather +good gully, which was climbed at the end of September 1892 by Messrs. +Brunskill and Gibbs, whose account of it is that 'its direction is +W.N.W., and it consists first of a short pitch of about 10 ft.; then a +slope of 20 ft. at an angle of 60 deg.-65 deg., the holds in which are fairly +good; and, last, another pitch at a somewhat similar angle, with an +awkward corner of rock to round. Above this to the top is an easy +scramble.' + + +=Fairfield= (2,863 ft.), in Westmorland, sometimes called Rydal Head in +old books, stretches down to Grasmere and Ambleside; but it is from +Patterdale that it should be seen and climbed. One of the best things on +it is _Greenhow End_, which stands at the head of Deepdale. The steep +part, which is not wholly crag, is 400 or 500 ft. high, and faces N.E. + +This is the mountain which Miss Martineau so greatly longed to ascend, +and every one knows Mr. Payn's account of how he encamped upon it. + +There is another _Fairfield_ in the Coniston Fells. + + +=Falcon Crag=, a couple of miles from Keswick, beside the road to +Borrowdale, is not more than 150 or 200 ft. high, but at many points so +vertical as to be quite unclimbable. The steepest side is also the most +exposed to the public gaze. On the south side there is a deep gully in +which excellent scrambling is to be had. + + +=Fellpole= is a much better word than its foreign equivalent, +'alpenstock'. Except in the depth of winter on the highest fells it is +of much more use than an axe, which is, of course, indispensable when +there is much snow or ice. On difficult rocks either axe or pole is a +great incumbrance; but where there is much scree, or steep grass, or +broken ground, all three of which abound on the Fells, a pole is a very +great comfort on the descent. Of course, while being used for this +purpose, it must be kept behind the body. On the steep nose of +_Fleetwith_ a fatal accident occurred to a young woman solely in +consequence of her attempting to descend with her stick held improperly +in front of her. This is a fault which nearly all beginners commit. +Nevertheless, it is perfectly legitimate to use the pole in that way if +it is to break the force of an abrupt drop from rest to rest--as, for +instance, when a slope is broken into binks separated by drops of from +three to six feet. In such cases a jump is often dangerous, and the life +of Mr. Pope, lost on _Great Gable_ in 1882, is only one of many which +have been similarly sacrificed. + + +=Force Crag= is reached from Keswick by way of Braithwaite station and +the long _Coledale_ valley. Here the track of the disused mining tram is +a well-engineered road direct to the foot of the crag, where the +fragments of the baryta mine are littered about. The best climb is up to +the basin, into which pours the force, and then, leaving the force on +the right, ascend a steep, dry gully. The rock is very treacherous, +being not only loose, but covered with long fringes of rotten heather. +It is very difficult to get out, as the top part steepens rapidly. The +force is very fatal to sheep. On one occasion the writer counted no less +than six of their carcasses in the basin. + + +=Froswick.=--It is most easily reached from Staveley or Windermere by +following up the valley of the Kent, or from Ambleside by crossing the +Garbourn Pass into the same valley. This hill resembles _Ill Bell_ and +_Rainsborrow Crag_ in character, and has a very steep face towards the +north-east, 300 or 400 ft. high. It is on sheet 20 of the Ordnance map +of Westmorland. + + +=Gaping Gill Hole=, in Yorkshire, on the south side of _Ingleborough_, +is most easily got at from Clapham, on the Midland Railway. It lies +higher up than the well-known _Clapham_ or _Ingleborough Cave_, and both +should be visited in the same expedition. The actual funnel is about 8 +ft. by 20 ft., and Mr. Birkbeck, of Settle, partly descended it many +years ago. There is a ledge of rock about 190 ft. down, from which a +plumb-line drops a further distance of 166 ft. Strangers often pass +close to the place without finding it. + + +=Gash Rock.=--We are indebted to Colonel Barrow for this name, which he +bestowed on _Blea Crag_ in Langstrath apparently for no better reason +than that he knew a man called Gash, who did not know the name of the +rock, or how to climb it. + +This rock is the 'spy fortalice' spoken of in Prior's Guide. It is an +upstanding block of squarish outline, conspicuous on the left hand as +one ascends Langstrath from Borrowdale. It is climbed from the side +which faces down the valley, and is rather a stiff little rock of its +inches. + +It was climbed by Mr. Owen Jones and Mr. Robinson on September 6, 1893, +but there is some doubt whether it had not been done before (see _Blea +Crag_). + + +=Gavel=--apparently the local form in the North of England of the +Southern 'Gable.' In the older maps 'Great Gable' is usually spelt in +this way, and for part of that mountain the name _Gavel Neese_ (i.e. +nose) still lingers among the shepherds. Generally speaking, in the less +frequented parts, where the names are used only by the shepherds, we +find this form. Thus we have _Gavel Fell_ between Loweswater and +Ennerdale, _Gavel-pike_ on St. Sunday Crag, _Gavelcrag_ on the south end +of _High Street_, and again on _Seat Sandal_, and this form is used in +the Lowlands of Scotland, while on the more frequented _Skiddaw_ we get +_Gablegill_. In Icelandic, 'gafl' is said to mean 'the end of a house or +of a ship.' + + +=Gill= (or _Ghyll_).--In a large part of the North of England this is +the regular word for a stream flowing between walls of rock. It is by +many regarded as a test-word for Scandinavian settlements, and it is +certainly more abundant in such districts, but notice should be taken of +the fact that in Kent it is applied to the steep wooded slopes of a +brook-valley. There is good authority for both spellings, but the less +romantic of the two is to be preferred. + + +=Gimmer Crag=, just behind the inns at _Dungeon Gill_ in _Langdale_, has +good scrambling on it. Mr. Gwynne says of it: 'Between _Harrison +Stickle_ and the _Pike O' Stickle_, commonly called the _Sugarloaf_, +there is a splendid crag that is full of opportunities. This fine piece +of rock, although it has the appearance of being easy, has the +disadvantage of being wet, and therefore more or less dangerous. +However, there are times even in the Lake District when the rain ceases +and the sun shines, and it is then that the climber should gambol upon +this crag.' + + +=Glaramara=--a long broken hill stretching from Stonethwaite along the +east side of Borrowdale to Esk Hause. Its name is only less disguised +than its nature in the description given of it in the 'Beauties of +England,' p. 65: 'Glamarara is a perpendicular rock of immense height.' +Sir W. Scott has confused it with _Blencathra_. It contains very little +climbing, but _Combe Gill_ and _Pinnacle Bield_ may be mentioned. + + +=Gordale Scar=--a magnificent limestone ravine near _Malham Cove_, in +Yorkshire, on the line of the great Craven Fault. Bell Busk is the +nearest station, but Settle (6 miles) is generally more convenient. It +has been prosaically compared to a winding street between enormously +high houses, with a river falling out of the first-floor window of one +of them. It is easy to pass out at the head, leaving the water on the +right hand; but on the other side of the water there is quite a little +climb, which, however, the writer has seen a lady do without assistance. + + +=Goyal.=--This west-country word for a gully will not require +explanation for readers of Mr. Blackmore's 'Lorna Doone.' + + +=Grain=: the northern word for a prong, and hence the usual name for the +branches of a stream. + + +=Grassmoor= (2,791 ft.) in the older maps and guide-books (such as +Robinson's) is often called Grasmere or Grasmire. The only climbs which +it presents are on the side which drops steeply down towards the foot of +Crummock Water, and the only inns within a convenient distance are at +Scale Hill (1 mile) and Buttermere (3 miles). There are two gullies +which furrow the mountain side nearly from top to bottom. The more +southerly of these has two pitches in it close to the foot, and the +upper of the two is generally thought as hard as anything on the +mountain. The approved method of doing it is to keep the back to the +rock until the top of the pitch is nearly reached, and then to break out +on the south side. Above this pitch the gully is of little interest. The +north gully is of more sustained merit, but, as seen from below, less +prominent, and therefore easily overlooked. It may, however, be +recognised by its liberal output of scree. It has three pitches near the +foot, and in all three the hold is somewhat scanty. The first forms a +narrow gully rising from left to right, and is the highest and hardest. +Higher up than these a broad wall of rock some 40 ft. high cuts across +the gully and gives a pretty climb. Above the wall there is a branch to +the left containing one little pitch, but the main channel continues. +Loose stones are now the only source of excitement, and climbers are +recommended to get out to the right and finish the ascent along the +rocky ridge of the bank. It is very safe climbing on this face, yet full +of interest and instruction, and for the initiation of a 'young hand' +nothing could be better. + + +=Great End= (2,984 ft.) has not received justice at the hands of the +Government map-makers, who have scamped their work most shockingly. The +six-inch map would lead the innocent, stranger to imagine that he could +ascend from Sprinkling Tarn by a smooth and gradual slope. The cliffs +are on the right-hand side on the way from Sty Head to Esk Hause, and +are reached from Wastdale or Borrowdale by way of Sty Head, and from +Langdale by Rossett Gill. The best general view is from Sprinkling Tarn. +Col. Barrow, when citing Great End in his book as an instance of a +mountain with one impossible side, no doubt refers to these cliffs, +which, however, long before he wrote, had been climbed in every +direction. He might reasonably object to _Cust's Gully_, invented in +1880, as being quite at the end of the cliff; but from a point some way +below the foot of that gully there is an easy passage, sloping up the +face of the cliff very much like Jack's Rake on _Pavey Ark_, and this +passage was descended by Mr. Cust in the same year that he discovered +the gully. A little later a couple of ardent fox-hunters got into +difficulties in one of the main gullies, and so drew more attention to +these rocks. The whole face was pretty thoroughly explored by the +present writer in the summer of 1882. Two very fine gullies face +Sprinkling Tarn. _Great or Central Gully_, the nearer of the two to +_Cust's_, is also the wider, but not quite so long as the other. It has +a copious scree at the foot, and more than half-way up it divides into +three. The central fork is grassy, that to the right is more abrupt, +while the left-hand way lies for several yards up a wet slide of smooth +and very steep rock. On the slide itself there is hold enough for +comfort; but on getting off it at the head to the left hand there comes +a bit on a disgustingly rotten buttress which even good climbers have +often found very unpleasant. Above this the gully is more open and +very easy, but splendid climbing may be had on either side of it. + +[Illustration: GREAT END FROM SPRINKLING TARN +A, Position of _Brigg's climb_ (not seen); B, The east gully; C, The +great central gully; D, _Cust's gully_.] + +_The South-East Gully_, as it is usually called, has its mouth only some +20 yards east from that of the last. Being much narrower, it is bridged +by numerous 'choke-stones,' and, while less fine than the other in snow +time, offers in summer a better and rather longer climb. Half-way up or +less there is a fork, the dividing ridge forming quite a sharp _arete_. +Above it the forks coalesce, and as it nears the top the climb can be +varied a good deal. + +_Brigg's_ (or _Holmes'_) _Pitch_, of which a photograph will be found in +the Climbers' Book at Wastdale Head, is still nearer to Esk Hause, which +it faces. Mr. Holmes and the Messrs. Brigg, who climbed it on Easter +Monday 1893, describe the difficulty as consisting in a cave formed +quite at the foot of the cliff by a jammed stone, the top of which is +reached by way of the rocks on the north side of it. + + +=Great Gable= (2,949 ft.) may be ascended with equal ease from Wastdale +or the head of Borrowdale, and is within easy reach of Buttermere. The +simplest way up is by Sty Head, from which half an hour's rough walking +lands one on to the top. The only alternative for Wastdale is 'Moses +Sledgate,' alias _Gavel Neese_, a ridge of rather steep grass, which +offers a very direct way. There is a bit of scrambling on White Napes, a +rocky mass which tops the Neese. Beyond this _Westmorland's Cairn_ is +left on the right hand and the summit cairn comes into sight. People +coming from Buttermere usually go round the head of Ennerdale over +Green Gable, and this is the way generally taken by Borrowdale visitors +for the return journey. The climbing on this mountain is quite +first-class. The _Napes_, _Napes Needle_, and _Kern Knotts_ are +separately described, but in addition to these there are grand crags +overlooking Ennerdale. These are referred to in Col. Barrow's book in +the passage where he defies the Alpine Club to ascend the most difficult +side of certain Lake mountains. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF GREAT GABLE +A, _Westmorland's Cairn_; B, _White Napes_; C, E, _Little and Great Hell +Gate_; D, _Great Napes_; F, _Napes Needle_.] + +[Illustration: GREAT GABLE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST +A, _Kirkfell_; B, _Beckhead_; C, _White Napes_; D, _Great Napes_; +E, _Westmorland's Cairn_; F, Summit; G, _Tom Blue_; H, _Kern Knotts_. +The path to _Sty Head_ is seen mounting from left to right.] + +No one seems even to have looked at these crags till in 1882 Mr. Pope +met his death on this side of the mountain. In that year the writer +found that it was an easy matter to coast along the face of the cliff at +about two-thirds of the height of it, and a year or two later that for +all the ferocious appearance of these rocks there is a natural passage +by which a mountain sheep of ordinary powers might ascend them. Close to +this are the remains of a sort of hut of loose stones, evidently the +refuge of some desperate fugitive of half a century or more ago. Local +tradition speaks of a notorious distiller of illicit whisky, who was +known to have a 'hide' somewhere in this wild neighbourhood. The top of +the easy passage bears by prismatic compass 23 deg. from the highest cairn, +and is marked by a large stone. + +To the east of this spot there is fine climbing, the rocks being on a +grand scale and difficult on that account. At intervals large masses are +detached by such agencies as frost, and heavy falls result. One of these +carried with it a slab pinnacle which, though only about 15 ft. high, +was remarkably difficult. The writer, and Messrs. Hastings and Robinson +gave themselves the trouble of climbing it, and consequently heard of +its untimely departure with deep regret. + +In April 1890 Mr. J.W. Robinson greatly assisted subsequent climbers by +inserting a sketch in the Wastdale Head book, and this sketch has been +the usual basis of later work. + +Gable has the threefold excellence of being splendid to look at, +splendid to look from, and splendid to climb; and one can easily +understand the enthusiasm of Mr. F.H. Bowring, who has ascended it over +one hundred times. + + +=Green Crag.=--A good piece of rock, though not as sound as it might be, +at the head of _Warnscale_, the recess between _Fleetwith_ and _Scarf +Gap_. It is reached from Buttermere by way of Gatesgarth, and then by +the quarry track which goes up on the south side of Fleetwith to _Dubs_. +There is a fine gully in the crag which is unmistakable. A note of the +ascent of it was made by Messrs. J.W. Robinson and W.A. Wilson in +August 1889. + + +=Griff=--a valley-name in east Yorkshire, probably connected with +'greave,' which is common in Derbyshire. Phillips says that the +Yorkshire word means 'a narrow, rugged valley.' + + +=Gurnard's Head=, in Cornwall, not far from St. Ives, is a fine +promontory on which there is good climbing. It is here that the +greenstone ends and the granite begins, prevailing from this point +practically right on to the Land's End. + + +=Hanging Knot.=--See also _Esk Pike_. The steep breast above Angle Tarn +contains no continuous climb, but there are several good bits in the +rocks and gullies which connect the terraces. + + +=Hard Knot.=--'Eske,' says Camden, 'springeth up at the foote of +_Hardknot_, an high steepe mountaine, in the top whereof were discovered +of late huge stones and foundations of a castle not without great +wonder, considering it is so steepe and upright that one can hardly +ascend up to it.' + +This refers of course to the Roman camp, which is nowhere near the top. +The 'mountaine' scarcely deserves the name; it is not high, and though +rugged offers no climbing. Writers much later than Camden refer to it as +if it were one of the highest hills in England. Even Gray, in his +_Journal_, says 'Wrynose and Hardknot, two great mountains, rise above +the rest.' + +[Illustration: HANGING KNOT FROM ANGLE TARN] + +The usually accurate West introduces in the funniest way both 'the +broken ridge of Wrynose' and 'the overhanging cliff of Hardknot' into +his description of the view from Belle Isle on Windermere, and says that +they, with others,'form as magnificent an amphitheatre, and as grand an +assemblage of mountains, as ever the genius of Poussin,' &c.; and then +adds a note to say that they 'are named as being in the environs, and +are in reality not seen from the island.' + + +=Harrison Stickle=, 'the next neighbour of _Pavey Ark_, is another happy +hunting-ground for beginners. There are at least four good routes up. +There is one to the north-east which is fairly difficult. Due south +there are two or three rather steep gills, that may be climbed with a +certain amount of ease. But in no case should the climber, even on the +easiest of these routes, omit to use the rope and take every precaution +against preventable accidents.' Thus speaks Mr. Gwynne in the _Pall Mall +Gazette_, and to his remarks little need be added, except that it must +be borne in mind nothing on this group is quite in the same class as +_Pavey Ark_. The obvious starting-point for either is Dungeon Gill at +the very foot, where there are two inns, but Grasmere is within easy +reach, being only about an hour further off. + + +=Hause= (_hass_, _horse_, _-ourse_, _-ose_): used in the North for a +pass. The word means 'neck' or 'throat,' the latter being the sense most +felt in local names, where it refers more to lateral contraction than to +vertical depression, being thus parallel to _gorge_ rather than to +_col_. + + +=Haystacks=, just east of Scarf Gap, has one craggy bit on it where, as +appears from the curious map published in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for +1751, eagles then built. The name is often quoted as an instance of the +Norse word which occurs in _Stack Polly_, and frequently on the Scotch +coast, but West says it was called _Hayrick_ (_sic_) on account of its +shape. + + +=Hell Gate.=--A channel on _Great Gable_, just by the east end of the +_Napes_. It is the outlet for immense quantities of scree. The older +name, _Deep Gill_, has during the last twenty years being quite +supplanted. The present name, if less pretty, is more precise, and saves +confusion with the better known _Deep Gill_ on _Scafell_. + + +=Hell Gill.=--There are many gills and becks bearing this name. Speaking +of one in Yorkshire, Leland says it is 'a Bek called Hell Gill because +it runnithe in such a deadely place. This Gill commithe to Ure.' The +idea is amplified by Camden: 'Where Richmondshire bordereth upon +Lancashire amongst the mountaines it is in most places so vast, +solitary, unpleasant and unsightly, so mute and still also that the +borderers dwelling thereby have called certaine riverets creeping this +waie "Hellbecks." But especially that about the head of the river Ure, +which having a bridge over it of one entier stone falleth downe such a +depth, that it striketh in a certaine horror to as many as looke downe.' +The best known Hell Gill, which at one time had considerable reputation +as a climb, is quite near the foot of _Bowfell_ on the Langdale side. +Though on a small scale, it is highly picturesque. The south fork is +hardly passable in ordinary weather owing to a small waterfall, below +which is a deep pool flanked by perpendicular walls of rock, and except +in very dry seasons it is necessary to crawl up the red rotten slabs, +steep, slimy, and wet, which form the north fork. The gill should be +visited more often than it is, as it is directly on one of the best ways +up the mountain from Dungeon Gill and Langdale generally. + + +=Helm Crag.=--Colonel Barrow, speaking of this hill, observes that +climbing among these rocks requires care. There are places quite as +dangerous and as difficult as on any rock-work on the Alps. He was +deterred from climbing the rock which is supposed to resemble a mortar, +by a slab of rock slanting sideways, but in his opinion there was no +great difficulty, except that arising from the absence of hold for hand +and foot--an exception of some importance. + + +=Helvellyn.=--A mountain which belongs equally to Grasmere and to +Patterdale, though the latter has by far the finest side of it. +_Striding Edge_ on this side was at one time considered to present +terrors such as the hardy mountaineer was not likely to encounter +elsewhere. This side is cut up into deep coves, which are exceedingly +steep and afford many opportunities for scrambling, and near the path in +Grisedale there is one of the numerous _Eagle Crags_. + +On the west side there is no climbing on the mountain itself, but on the +range of _Dodds_, which runs away to the north, there is capital work to +be found; see _Bram Crag_ and _Wanthwaite Crags_. It was in connection +with Helvellyn that Colonel Barrow issued his famous challenge to the +Alpine Club. After stating that he had ascended the mountain by every +possible way of getting up it, and that it is the easiest of mountains +to ascend from any direction that is possible, he continues: 'No one, I +think, will venture the impossible, which may be found on all the +highest mountains in the Lake District. They have their precipitous +sides for adventurous climbers, who, I promise, will never get up them +even if they have a mind to try--viz., these, _Great Gable_, _Great +End_, _Helvellyn_, _Fairfield_, &c. Most of the difficult things in the +Alps have been accomplished. Here is a new field for any of the +adventurous climbers of our club: let them try these precipitous sides!' +Helvellyn was long regarded as the loftiest of the Lake mountains, the +height assigned to it by West being 3,324 ft., and even its tame grassy +slopes towards _Wythburn_ were thought very terrible indeed. In the +'Beauties of England' Thirlmere is described as 'a scene of desolation +which is much heightened by the appearance of the immense craggy masses, +that seem to hang on the sides of Helvellyn, from whose slopes they have +apparently been severed, but arrested in their tremendous progress down +the mountain by the impulse of gravitation. Huge and innumerable +fragments of rocks hang pendant from its sides, and appear ready to fall +and overwhelm the curious traveller who dares to ascend its wild and +fantastic heights.' + + +=Heron Crag=, Eskdale.--A rock in _Eskdale_ (q.v.) which was long +reputed inaccessible. It was supposed to be 120 yards high, and to have +a front like polished marble. It will be found north of the Esk river, +not far from _Throstlegarth_ (Cumberland, sheet 79). + + +=High Level.=--This name was bestowed about the year 1880 on a +particular route, by means of which the north-east foot of the _Pillar +Rock_ may be reached from _Black Sail_ along the face of the mountain, +thus avoiding the descent into Ennerdale and the subsequent laborious +ascent to the rock. The saving in time is very considerable, but the way +is so easily missed in thick weather that a stranger who attempted it +would probably gain nothing but an exciting walk. + +After reaching the slight hollow between _Lookingstead_ and _Pillar +Fell_, _Green Cove_ is seen below. Here a descent may be made at once, +but it is better to proceed westward till about two dozen uprights of +the iron railing are passed, and then to descend, keeping as much to the +left as the cliffs will allow. The whole art of choosing a line along +this face is to cross each successive cove as high up as may be done +without getting impeded by rocky ground. The ridges which separate the +coves mostly form small headlands, and just above each headland a strip +of smooth grass crosses the ridge. Economy in time is usually of more +importance at the end than at the beginning of a day, and it is well to +know that, whereas from the foot of the rock to _Black Sail_ by way of +the valley would take up the greater part of an hour, Mr. Hastings and +the writer once timed themselves on the _High Level_, and found that +they reached _Lookingstead_ in 18 minutes and the ford in Mosedale in +seven minutes more. + + +=High Stile=, in Cumberland, between Ennerdale and Buttermere, has a +height of 2,643 ft., and on its north-west side a few good crags. It is +best reached by following up the course of _Sour Milk Gill_ from the +foot of Buttermere to _Bleaberry Tarn_, which can be reached from any of +the inns in an hour's walking. In a note made in the Wastdale Head book +in August 1887, Mr. Robinson called attention to these rocks, and he it +is who has done most of the exploration here. + +The principal climbing is in and about a gully in the centre. A course +may be taken up very steep grassy binks with the gully on the right +hand. The gully itself was climbed direct in September 1893 by Messrs. +Jones, Robinson and Wilson, and they found the second pitch very +difficult. The same party also ascended 'a short, black-looking chimney +away round on the left of the great crag, and nearer the top of the +mountain.' The very hard upper pitch was passed on the right hand, and +the final pull was by the arms alone. Both climbs are in full view from +Rigg's Buttermere Hotel. + +The mountain is called _High Steel_ in some early maps, and in that of +the Ordnance it comes on sheet 69. + + +=High Street=, with the Roman road running all along its ridge, lies +between Patterdale and Mardale Green, in Westmorland. It has a fine +precipitous side towards the latter place at Blea Water (see _Dixon's +Three Jumps_), and at the south end of it, about Gavel Crag and +Bleathwaite Crag, there are some good rocky faces, which can be readily +found by following up the course of the beck from Kentmere. + + +=Hobcarton Crags= have a considerable repute, which they have only +retained by reason of their not being very easily got at. The simplest +way of reaching them from Keswick is to take the train to Braithwaite, +then go up the straight Coledale until Force Crag is passed, then trace +the stream which comes down the hill on the right. Hobcarton is just +over the ridge, and the crags are on the left-hand side of the valley. A +descent may be made of a ridge which forms the right bank of a gill, +which runs from near the col where you are now standing; the gill itself +is too rotten. + +The _Crags_ are very steep and very rotten; but there is one curiosity +about them, in the shape of a continuous sloping ledge, growing very +narrow indeed towards the top. It rises gradually in the direction of +_Hopegillhead_. The crags are picturesque, but can be traversed in any +direction without difficulty, and present no definite climb. Another way +of reaching them from Keswick is by crossing Whinlatter Pass, and on the +far side turning up the first valley to the left hand. + + +=Honister=, one of the grandest crags in Cumberland, is reached from +either Buttermere or Borrowdale. It is one of the chief attractions of +the 'Buttermere Round' made by the breaks from Keswick. If quarrymen +could only have been persuaded to let it alone, it would have been a +delightful climbing ground; as things are, we can only look and long. +Apart from the great crag there is a fine view of the lakes below from +the summit (called _Fleetwith Pike_). Owing to its position near the +black-lead mines, this was one of the earliest Lake mountains of which +we have a recorded ascent. It was made before the middle of last +century, and, so far as can be made out, these early mountaineers +ascended from Seathwaite and passed to the northward of _Grey Knotts_, +and so to the top of Fleetwith. 'The precipices were surprisingly +variegated with apices, prominencies, spouting jets of water, cataracts +and rivers that were precipitated from the cliffs with an alarming +noise' [Sourmilkgill]. On reaching the apparent top, they were +astonished to perceive a large plain to the west, and from thence +another craggy ascent, which they reckoned at 500 yards. 'The whole +mountain is called _Unnisterre_ or, as I suppose, Finisterre, for such +it appears to be.' In about another hour two of the party gained this +summit--'the scene was terrifying--the horrid projection of vast +promontories, the vicinity of the clouds, the thunder of the explosions +in the slate quarries, the dreadful solitude, the distance of the plain +below, and the mountains heaped on mountains that were lying around us +desolate and waste, like the ruins of a world which we only had survived +excited such ideas of horror as are not to be expressed. We turned from +this fearful prospect, afraid even of ourselves, and bidding an +everlasting farewell to so perilous an elevation. We descended to our +companions, repassed the mines, got to Seathwayte, were cheerfully +regaled by an honest farmer in his _puris naturalibus_, and returned to +Keswic about nine at night.' + + +=Hope= (_-hop_, _-up_): used by Leland as equivalent to 'brook,' but +usually taken to mean a retired upland valley. The Icelandic 'hop' is +applied to landlocked bays. + + +=Hough=--a hill name in east Yorkshire. Phillips says that it is +equivalent to 'barf,' and means 'a detached hill.' It is pronounced +'hauf.' If this be the exact sense, it can hardly be the same word as +'heugh,' which is used further north for 'crag' or 'precipice,' and it +is perhaps merely another form of 'how' or 'haugh.' + + +=How= (_-oe_, _-ah_, _-a_, _-haw_): a Norse word for a burial mound, +found all over the North of England. + + +=Ice-axe.=--On the high Fells in time of snow an axe is a safeguard of +vital importance. Quite apart, too, from the comfort and security which +it alone can give, it is an implement which can only be properly +manipulated after long practice, and consequently a beginner should +eagerly avail himself of every opportunity of acquiring dexterity in the +use of it. From Christmas to Easter there is nearly always snow enough +on the fells of Cumberland to give excellent practice in step-cutting. + + +=Ill Bell.=--A Westmorland hill forming a series of three with +_Froswick_ and _Rainsborrow Crag_. Its north or north-easterly face is +very steep for a height of about 300 ft. Staveley is perhaps the best +starting-point for these three; but they can be managed quite easily +from Ambleside or Mardale Green. _Ill Bell_ is on sheet 20 of the +Ordnance map of Westmorland. + + +=Ingleborough=, 2,361 ft., one of the most striking of the Yorkshire +mountains, of which the poet Gray spoke as 'that huge creature of God.' +Readers of the 'Heart of Midlothian' will remember how it reminded +Jeannie Deans of her 'ain countrie.' The most exaggerated ideas of its +height formerly prevailed. Even in 1770 it was commonly reckoned at +3,987 ft., and Hurtley actually gives 5,280 ft. + +Its top is only about four miles from Clapham, and ponies can go all the +way. It is ascended far and away more frequently than any other +Yorkshire hill, and consists mainly of limestone cliffs and slopes of +shale, with a certain amount of millstone grit. + +Here are some very remarkable caves (see _Alum Pot_ and _Gaping Gill +Hole_), and of some of these there is an early description by Mr. Adam +Walker in the _Evening General Post_ for September 25, 1779, which is +quoted by West, and an account of an ascent of it made in the year 1761 +is also extant. + + +=Jack's Rake= is a natural passage across the face of _Pavey Ark_ in +Langdale. The first notice ever taken of it by any but shepherds was a +note in the visitors' book belonging to the inn at Dungeon Gill by Mr. +R. Pendlebury, who spoke highly of it, considering it to be a striking +yet simple excursion among magnificent rock scenery. After a time the +world came to look at _Pavey Ark_, and seeing an impossible-looking +combination of ravine and precipice, concluded, not unnaturally, that it +must be what Mr. Pendlebury had found a pleasant yet simple stroll. +Under this delusion, they began to try to climb what is now known as the +Great Gully in _Pavey Ark_, and did not expect to find a place anything +like the real _Jack's Rake_. + +Mr. Gwynne, in 1892, says of it: 'Along the face of the cliff there runs +a ledge that looks from below hardly wide enough for a cat to stand +upon. However, if an attempt is made to climb it, it will be found wide +enough for two fat men walking abreast. Towards the top it tapers off +again, and the climber will have to do a bit of scrambling to get on to +the summit of the precipice. This is a climb which offers no difficulty +whatever, unless the climber is given to attacks of giddiness, and if +that is the case there will hardly be any need to tell him that he has +no business there at all. This ledge, however, offers a multitude of +good opportunities to the climber. It runs obliquely across the face of +the precipice, but it need not necessarily be followed throughout its +length by the mountaineer who wishes for something a little more +exciting. + +'About halfway up there runs on to the ledge a chimney which, when it is +not a small waterfall, forms a pleasant climb to some broken rock above, +whence the summit is easily reached. If, however, the water in the +chimney makes it uncomfortable and unpleasant for the climber, he may +still arrive at the top of it by choosing a long bit of steep smooth +rock to the left. There are two cliffs which afford fairly good hand and +foot holds, and from there the top of the chimney is attained.' + +It is remarkable that a gallery more or less resembling this is found on +many of the chief precipices in the Lakes. There is a steeper one on the +Ennerdale Crags of _Great Gable_; there are two on the Ennerdale face of +the _Pillar Rock_, and on _Scafell_ the _Rake's Progress_ and _Lord's +Rake_ in their mutual relation closely resemble this rake and the wide +gully at the north end of it. + +[Illustration: PAVEY ARK AND STICKLE TARN +A, Narrow gully; B, Big gully; C, D, Smaller gullies; E, Wide scree +gully. From the foot of E to A runs _Jack's Rake_.] + + +=Kern Knotts= are on the south side of _Gable_, close to the _Sty Head_. +There is a short but difficult gully here on the side facing Wastdale, +which was climbed by Messrs. Owen Jones and Robinson in 1893, but +described by them under the name of _Tom Blue_, a rock much higher up +the mountain. + + +=Keswick.=--Though rather too distant from the very best climbing, this +is an excellent centre in point of variety. + +Of _Skiddaw_ and _Saddleback_ it enjoys a monopoly, while _Helvellyn_, +_Gable_ and _Scafell Pikes_ are all within the compass of a day's work. +The railway is a convenience, of course, but not as useful as one might +expect in extending the field of operations, because most of the places +to which it goes are of little interest. The town is very well supplied +with driving facilities, such as coaches, breaks and omnibuses. + +The clay-slate of which the Skiddaw and Grassmoor groups are composed +provides climbing of smaller quantity and inferior quality to that found +among the harder rocks of what is called the 'Borrowdale Series,' but +there are a few good scrambles west of Derwentwater, such as _Eel_ (or +_Ill_) _Crag_, _Force Crag_, and _Hobcarton_. The nearest good rocks are +in the neighbourhood of _Wallow Crag_, but there is no pleasure in +climbing with a crowd of gaping excursionists below. A much pleasanter +day may be spent in a visit to _Wanthwaite_. Of Keswick itself an early +writer says that the poorer inhabitants subsist chiefly by stealing or +clandestinely buying of those who steal the black-lead, which they sell +to Jews and other hawkers; but whatever changes the character of the +people has or has not undergone, it is not easy to believe that the +scenery is the same as that which the early writers describe. + +Camden's tone is neutral: 'Compassed about with deawy hilles and fensed +on the North side with that high mountaine _Skiddaw_ lieth _Keswike_;' +but two centuries later, when the place began to be fashionable, this +description would not have satisfied any one. The great characteristic +of the scenery was considered to be its power of inspiring terror. Dr. +Brown in his famous 'Letter' dwells upon the 'rocks and cliffs of +stupendous height hanging broken over the lake in horrible grandeur, +some of them a thousand feet high, the woods climbing up their steep and +shaggy sides, where mortal foot never yet approached. On these dreadful +heights the eagles build their nests, ... while on all sides of this +immense amphitheatre the lofty mountains rise round, piercing the clouds +in shapes as spiry and fantastic as the very rocks of Dovedale.... The +full perfection of Keswick consists of three circumstances, _beauty_, +_horror_ and _immensity_ united.' + + +=Kirkfell= has two fine buttresses of rock at the back, facing +Ennerdale, but they are broken up and so only fit for practice climbs. +They are, however, not unfrequently assailed by climbers who imagine +themselves to be scaling the crags of Great Gable. The direct ascent +from Wastdale is one of the steepest lengths of grass slope to be found +among these hills. The only gully on this fell is _Illgill_, which faces +_Lingmell_ and contains two or three severe pitches. It is rather seldom +visited, and is exposed to falling stones. + + +=Lancashire.=--Though some of the rough country which borders on +Yorkshire contains a rocky bit here and there, Lancashire climbing has +no real interest except in that part of it which belongs to the Lake +country. The climax of this part is reached in the neighbourhood of +_Coniston_. South of the Lakes there are some limestone crags of +striking form. The impression produced on Defoe by what we consider the +exceptionally beautiful scenery of the Lune valley is curious. 'This +part of the country seemed very strange and dismal to us (nothing but +mountains in view and stone walls for hedges; sour oatcakes for bread, +or clapat-bread as it is called). As these hills were lofty, so they had +an aspect of terror. Here were no rich pleasant valleys between them as +among the Alps; no lead mines and veins of rich ore as in the Peak; no +coal-pits as in the hills about Halifax, but all barren and wild and of +no use either to man or beast.' + + +=Langdale.=--(See _Bowfell_, _Pavey Ark_ and _Pike o'Stickle_, _Gimmer +Crag_, _Harrison Stickle_, _Oak How_.) By many thought the finest valley +in Westmorland; the name is often written Langden or Langdon by old +authorities. + +Dungeon Gill has always been a favourite haunt of climbing folk, and +from this base strong walkers can easily manage to reach _Scafell_, +_Gable_, _Coniston_, _Old Man_, or _Helvellyn_ in the day. + + +=Limestone= is abundant in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and forms the fine +cliffs of Cheddar in Somerset, Berry Head in Devon, Anstis Cove and +others; indeed most of the south coast of Devon and Cornwall east of +Penzance is of this material. Chudleigh Rock and Morwell Rocks on the +river Tamar are very striking. West, speaking of this rock in +Lancashire, says, 'The whiteness and neatness of these rocks take off +every idea of _horror_ that might be suggested by their bulk or form.' +In England it is very rare to find limestone which is a satisfactory +material on which to climb. + + +=Lingmell=, called _Lingmoor_ by Wilkinson, is a mere shoulder of +Scafell Pike. It has, however, some fine cliffs facing those of _Great +Napes_ on Gable; between these two Housman thought a collision imminent. +These used to be thought inaccessible, but were climbed by Mr. Bowring +about 1880. There is a striking view of them from near Sty Head. The eye +looks right along the dark ravine of Piers Gill, which is apparently +overhung by the long line of these crags, rising from tongues of rock +divided by huge fan-shaped banks of scree. There is a good deal of +chance about the climbing here. It may be exciting, or you may just +happen to avoid what difficulties there are. It is a very treacherous +rock, especially low down, where curious long stone pegs are lightly +stuck in the ground and come away at the first touch. A few feet below +the top stands a curious pinnacle of forbidding appearance, of which a +sensational photograph has been taken; but Mr. Robinson found one side +from which the top is reached with ridiculous ease. Further west there +are gullies facing Kirkfell which are worth climbing, though there is +much unsound rock. (See also _Piers Gill_.) + +[Illustration: LINGMELL AND PIERS GILL] + + +=Lingmoor=, rather over a mile south-east of Millbeck Inn, and near Oak +How, is a little pinnacle of which a photograph and a description by Mr. +H.A. Gwynne will be found in the Climbers' book at that place. In old +maps the name is sometimes found applied to _Lingmell_. + +[Illustration: LORD'S RAKE AND RAKE'S PROGRESS +A, The foot of _Moss Gill_; B, The foot of _Steep Gill_; +C-D, _Lord's Rake_; C-A, Part of _Rake's Progress_.] + + +=Lord's Rake.=--A well-known scree-shoot in the north face of Scafell, +for the ascent of which from Mickledoor it offers an easy route without +climbing. The earliest account of its being used for this purpose is in +the _Penny Magazine_ for 1837 at p. 293: 'It is very laborious and looks +dangerous, but in fact there is no risk except that of a sprained +ankle. It is through the Lord's Rake, a shaft between two vertical walls +of rock about five yards across all the way up, and twenty or +twenty-five minutes' hard climbing on all fours up a slope of about 45 deg.. +The place must have been cut out by a watercourse, but is now dry and +covered with light shingle. It looks right down into Hollow Stones (the +deep vale between the Pikes and Scafell), and most fearful it does look, +but it is not dangerous. When we reached the inn at Eskdale over Scafell +my shepherd was very proud of having brought me through the Lord's Rake, +and the people were much surprised. It seems to be rather a feat in the +country. It is the strangest place I ever saw. It may be recommended to +all who can bear hard labour and enjoy the appearance of danger without +the reality.' 'Prior's Guide' contained the first good description of +this rake. + + +=Luxulion=, in Cornwall, is of interest to the mineralogist and the +travelled mountaineer on account of its enormous block. + +According to Mr. Baddeley, this is the largest block in Europe, larger +than any of the famous boulders at the head of the Italian lakes, and it +may take rank with the largest known, the Agassiz blocks in the Tijuca +mountains near Rio Janeiro. He gives the dimensions as 49 feet by 27 +feet with 72 feet girth, yet makes no allusion to the _Bowder Stone_ in +_Borrowdale_, which in another work he describes as being 60 feet long, +30 feet high, and weighing 1,900 tons. It would appear, therefore, that +the _Bowder Stone_ is considerably larger than the largest stone in +Europe without being so remarkable for size as another stone in England. + + +=Malham Cove.=--A fine example of the limestone scenery of the Craven +Fault. The river Aire gushes forth from the base of the cove, which can +easily be seen in the same excursion as _Gordale Scar_. The nearest town +is Skipton-in-Craven and the nearest station Bell Busk, but Settle is +very little farther and will generally be found the most convenient +starting-point. + + +=Mardale Green=, at the head of Hawes Water, is a delightful and little +visited spot. In the way of climbing it commands _High Street_, _Harter +Fell_, _Froswick_, _Ill Bell_, and _Rainsborrow Crag_. The best near +climbs are about _Bleawater_ and _Riggindale_. + + +=Mellbreak.=--One of the few Cumberland fells which the indefatigable +Colonel Barrow seems to have left unvisited; yet no one who stops at +Scale Hill or Buttermere will consider wasted a day spent upon it. The +proper course is to begin at the end which faces Loweswater village and +ascend by _Frier's Gill_, a nice little climb. Having reached the top of +the gill and then the summit plateau, proceed to the hollow about the +middle of the mountain, and from there descend the highly curious +_Pillar Rake_, which gradually slopes down towards the foot of Crummock +Water. It is not a climb, but any one who is not content with the study +of mountain form can find climbing in the little gullies which ascend +the rocks above the rake. Sheet 63 of the Ordnance map of Cumberland +contains it. + + +=Mickledoor Chimney=, in the cliffs of Scafell, is not the easiest, but +the most obvious point at which to attack them. It is conspicuous from +the _Pikes_, and would probably be selected by any experienced stranger +as the most vulnerable point. It was visited about the year 1869 by Mr. +C.W. Dymond, who contributed to 'Prior's Guide' the earliest and best +description of it. He says that, 'leaving _Mickledoor_ Ridge, you pass +the fissure leading to _Broad Stand_, and continue descending steeply +for two minutes, which brings you to a narrow gully in the rock, with a +thread of water trickling down it over moss. This is the _cheminee_ to +be ascended, and there is no special difficulty in it until you are near +the top. Here the gully, of which the 'chimney' forms the lower section, +is effectually blocked for some distance, and the only alternative is to +climb out of it by the rock which forms the right wall, and which is +about 12 ft. high, the lower six vertical and the upper a steep slant. +This, which can only be scaled _a la_ chimney-sweep, is exceedingly +difficult, as is also the gymnastic feat of escaping to _terra firma_ +from the narrow shelf on which the shoulder-and-hip work lands you.' +This is very clear and in the main correct, but there is another and +easier exit much lower down called 'the Corner,' and there is a third +exit only a few feet from the mouth of the chimney. All these are on the +right hand, for the opposite bank is not only much higher and much +smoother, but would lead to nothing if it were surmounted. It is not +really necessary to enter the chimney at all, for the edge presented +where the bank cuts the wall bounding the screes is quite assailable, +and just right of it there is a point which may even be called easy; +but two terrible accidents which have occurred at this spot prove the +necessity of care. + +Until the extraordinarily dry season of 1893 the moss-grown block at the +very head of the chimney had never been climbed. It was accomplished on +the 12th of September by Mr. W.H. Fowler. By standing on the shoulders +of a tall man he was able to reach a slight hold and to establish +himself on a rough rectangular block forming the floor of a recess big +enough to hold one man. The block above it was holdless, and overhanging +and loose stones were a great nuisance. + + +=Micklefell.=--The highest mountain in Yorkshire, but except on that +account it possesses no special attraction. The best starting-point is +the High Force Inn in Teesdale, 5 miles from Middleton. By making the +round of the mountain from High Force to Appleby some very fine +rock-scenery may be enjoyed. + + +=Millstone grit.=--A material which is very abundant in Yorkshire and +Derbyshire. It is fairly firm, but seldom affords a climb of any +sustained interest. Few kinds of rock weather into such eccentric forms, +and of this propensity _Brimham Rocks_ are a good example. It forms most +of the 'Edges' in Derbyshire, and generally speaking a precipice at the +top of a hill is of this material, while those at the foot are of +limestone. + + +=Moses' Sledgate= is a curious track, which has evidently been +engineered with considerable care, running from near Seatoller in +Borrowdale at the back of _Brandreth_, round the head of Ennerdale below +_Green_ and _Great Gable_, and then over Beck Head and down Gavel Neese +into Wastdale. The question is, who made it and for what purpose was it +used? A few years ago, the writer, while climbing with two friends among +the crags on the Ennerdale side of _Great Gable_, stumbled quite by +chance on something which seemed to throw a side-light on the question. +This was a ruined hut thickly overgrown with moss, and showing no trace +of any wood having been employed in its construction. The spot had +evidently been chosen primarily with a view to concealment, and the +result of enquiries kindly made since then by one of my friends has been +to elicit proof of certain traditions still lingering among the older +inhabitants of these dales concerning a noted distiller of illicit +spirits, who flourished and defied the law among these wild retreats. At +the same time it is not easy to believe that a smuggler would have +undertaken the construction of such a path as this. In the South of +England, it is true that the smugglers were considerable roadmakers; but +that was at a time when smuggling was a great and well-organised +institution, and it seems much more probable in this case that Moses +made use of an old path constructed for some purpose which had at that +time been abandoned. + +The terms 'Moses' Path' and 'Moses' Trod' are also used to describe this +track. It is not noticed in the guide-books, but something is said about +it by Mrs. Lynn Linton. + + +=Moss Gill=, on Scafell, is the next gully on the east or _Mickledoor_ +side of _Steep Gill_. The name _Sweep Gill_ ('from the probable +profession of the future first climber of its extraordinary vertical +chimneys') was suggested for it by Mr. Gilson shortly after its +discovery, but that name has been entirely superseded. The first mention +of it in the Wastdale Head book is a note by the present writer in June +1889, recommending it to any one in search of a new and difficult +climb. His party on that occasion was repulsed after reaching the great +blocks, which have only been passed since by the aid of the artificial +step subsequently cut in the rock. It was tried again a fortnight later +by a party under Mr. R.C. Gilson, which got very nearly, but not quite +as far. Two days later the same party explored the gill from above and +descended in it for a considerable distance. It was not, however, till +three and a half years later, at Christmas, 1892, that the climb was +accomplished by Dr. J.N. Collie, G. Hastings, and J.W. Robinson, and +their account of it is: + +[Illustration: MOSS GILL AND STEEP GILL +A, _Moss Gill_ (Collie's exit); B, _Moss Gill_ (Collier's exit): +C, Top of _Steep Gill_. Just below the point to which A and B converge +is the artificial step.] + +'The chief points in this climb are, First--to begin on the rock wall to +the right of the foot of the gill and not in the very foot of the +chimney itself, then enter the gill just below the first great pitch, +which may be turned by climbing the wall on the right hand on to a grass +ledge of considerable size, called the "_Tennis Court_"; enter the gill +from here again, and pass into the cavern under the great boulder.' + +'We found,' says Dr. Collie, 'that below the great slab which formed the +roof, another smaller one was jammed in the gully, which, stretching +across from side to side, formed the top of a great doorway. Under this +we passed and clambered up on to the top of it. Over our heads the great +rock roof stretched some distance over the gill. Our only chance was to +traverse straight out along the side of the gill, till one was no longer +overshadowed by the roof above, and then, if possible, climb up the face +of rock and traverse back again above the obstacle into the gill once +more. This was easier to plan than to carry out; absolutely no +hand-hold, and only one little projecting ledge jutting out about a +quarter of an inch and about two inches long to stand on, and six or +eight feet of the rock wall to be traversed. I was asked to try it. +Accordingly, with great deliberation, I stretched out my foot and placed +the edge of my toe on the ledge. Just as I was going to put my weight on +to it, off slipped my toe, and if Hastings had not quickly jerked me +back, I should instantly have been dangling on the end of the rope. But +we were determined not to be beaten. Hastings' ice-axe was next brought +into requisition, and what followed I have no doubt will be severely +criticised by more orthodox mountaineers than ourselves. As it was my +suggestion I must take the blame. _Peccavi! I hacked a step in the +rock_--and it was very hard work. But I should not advise any one to try +and do the same thing with an ordinary axe. Hastings' axe is an +extraordinary one, and was none the worse for the experiment. I then +stepped across the _mauvais pas_, clambered up the rock till I had +reached a spot where a capital hitch could be got over a jutting piece +of rock, and the rest of the party followed. We then climbed out of the +gill on the left, up some interesting slabs of rock. A few days later +the gill was again ascended by a party led by Mr. J. Collier. They did +not follow our track to the left after the overhanging rock had been +passed, but climbed straight up, using a crack which looks impossible +from down below, thus adding an extra piece of splendid climbing to the +expedition.' + +Only four days after Dr. Collie, a party of five climbers, led by Dr. J. +Collier, made the second ascent of Moss Gill. The description given by +their precursors was of great assistance, and except that the gill was +entered much lower, the same line was followed up to the traverse from +the great boulder. Here, instead of climbing out to the sky line on the +left side, the ascent of the gill itself was completed by climbing the +vertical moss-grown wall on the right. This part was entirely new, and +Dr. Collier's note of his variation, or we may say correction, for his +climb is the more direct of the two, is that the ascent of the wall was +made by using the cleft of the gill for about 15 ft., when a resting +place was reached. Above this point they climbed about 15 ft., and then +traversed out on the face of the wall for about 8 ft. by some ledges +which afforded just sufficient hold. They then ascended vertically about +6 or 8 ft., re-entering the cleft above a small platform of jammed +stones ('Sentry Box'). This gave a starting-point for the completion of +the ascent, which was made by climbing out on to the face of the wall to +enable the jammed stones at the top of the pitch to be turned. These +last stones did not appear to be secure and were avoided. From this +point the gill continues upward at an easy slope, with one pitch of +about 15 ft. to the back of the small summit on the left of _Deep Gill_. +Two days later the ascent was repeated by Dr. Collier in company with +Professor H.B. Dixon and the late Professor A.M. Marshall, the latter +of whom inserted in the Climbers' book a remarkably bold and effective +outline sketch of the gill, with explanatory notes. Speaking of the +climb, he said that Mr. Collier led throughout, and that the success of +the climb was due entirely to him. The climb is a very fine one, and, +except for the leader, is entirely free from danger. At the very awkward +return from Tennis Court Ledge into the gully, the leader can by a short +traverse fix himself directly above the rest of the party. During the +traverse from the 'window' the leader can fix the rope over the +'belaying-pin.' In the great chimney the _Sentry Box_ is a place of +absolute safety. The climb is difficult, but no part of the chimney is +harder than the short rock face leading up to Tennis Court Ledge, and +the most awkward traverse (if covered with snow) is the one from Tennis +Court Ledge back into the gully. For a party of three 80 ft. of rope +would be enough; 100 ft. perhaps better. On January 9, 1893, Mr. O.G. +Jones attacked this formidable climb entirely by himself, following Mr. +Collier's route up to the foot of the Great Chimney, and then Mr. +Hastings' exit to the left. Heavy snow had fallen since the previous +ascents and the climb appeared to be exceedingly difficult. Almost every +hold had to be cleared of snow; essential precautions rendered the climb +of five hours' duration, and it was not completed till after dark (5.45 +p.m.). While clearing snow from the more remote portions of the _Collie +traverse_ from the _window_, in search of the third step, the difficulty +of balancing proved too great, and he fell into the gully below. A rope +had been secured round the _window_ and thus prevented his passing +beyond the snow patch on which he fell. The _window_ 'sill,' already +loose, was on the verge of falling, and was therefore pushed over into +the gully. Returning two days later, he found that the two lowest +chimneys in the gill could be taken straight up, and that the simplest +way of reaching Tennis Court Ledge is by 'backing up' the chimney till +the level of the recess in the right-hand face is reached. 'The recess +is near enough to be taken with a stride. It would seem that the Tennis +Court Ledge and traverse back into the gully may be entirely dispensed +with by continuing up the chimney, the small jammed stones being firm +enough to render the necessary assistance. While making these +suggestions concerning small details in the climb, it may be mentioned +that at the _Collie traverse_, which the writer's experience leads him +to think is the most dangerous piece in the gill, an axe may be of much +help to a party. A man fixed on the _window sill_ may press the point of +the axe into a conveniently placed notch in the slab facing him, so that +the lower end of the handle shall supply a firm hand-hold for any one +stretching round the third step. + + _Heights calculated by Mr. Jones._ + + Foot of Gill on Rake's Progress 2,625 ft. + Snow Patch below Tennis Court Ledge 2,805 " + Tennis Court Ledge 2,840 " + Foot of jammed stone pitch 2,870 " + Window in jammed stones 2,895 " + Snow patch above 2,920 " + Top of left-hand exit 3,140 " + Top of Moss Gill proper 3,170 " + +It must, however, be borne in mind that these measurements, though +useful for the purposes of comparison, cannot be absolutely correct, +seeing that Scafell itself is only 3,162 ft. high. On February 11 +Messrs. Slingsby, Woolley, and R. Williams found the gully very +difficult owing to ice, and recorded an emphatic protest against any +one following their example by attempting it, 'except when the rocks are +dry and quite free from ice.' + +On the last day of March Messrs. Brunskill and Gibbs followed, with a +slight improvement, Dr. Collier's route, and made the subjoined +observations, taken apparently with greater care than those by Mr. +Jones: + + Foot of Gill at Rake's Progress 2,570 ft. + Snow Patch above jammed stones 2,865 " + Top of Great Chimney or Moss wall 2,965 " + Top of Gill (neck leading to Deep Gill Pisgah) 3,065 " + +It will be seen that while the points are all made lower than Mr. +Jones's table, the height between the commencement of the climb and the +snow patch above the jammed stones is exactly the same--295 ft. In this +case an observation was taken at the cairn on the top of Scafell, and +the aneroid stood at almost exactly the correct figure, which somewhat +confirms the figures now given. + + +=Napes.=--A collection of fine rocks, starting up like a stack of organ +pipes on the south side of _Great Gable_. The extremity of them nearest +to _Kirkfell_ is called _White Napes_, and sometimes Gable Horn. East of +this is a gap known as _Little Hell Gate_. East of this comes _Great +Napes_, and east of them again is _Great Hell Gate_, which is called +Deep Gill in the Ordnance map. + +In September, 1884, a note by the present writer in the book at Wastdale +Head drew attention to these excellent rocks. They are now one of the +most favourite climbs in Wastdale, and contain the well-known _Needle_, +the _Bear Rock_, and the _Arrowhead_, with their respective gullies and +_aretes_. + +Just west of _Hell Gate_ there is a considerable width of very large and +steep rock, which continues nearly to the _Needle Ridge_, with only a +few steep and shallow gullies, in which the grass is very rotten. West +of this ridge there is a deep gully, grassy, but exceedingly steep. The +ridge beyond this was ascended in April, 1892, by Messrs. Slingsby, +Baker, Solly, and Brigg, who called it the _Eagle's Nest_ (q.v.). The +narrow gully west of this ridge is apparently that which was climbed on +December 29, 1890, by Mr. R.C. Gilson. He describes it as 'the gully on +the left as you face the mountain of the gully coming down left of the +_Needle_.' He proceeds to say that it presented no special difficulty, +except at a point about one-third of the way up, where there was a large +boulder and a smooth slab thinly glazed with ice. It was claimed as a +first ascent when climbed on April 17, 1892, by Messrs. Solly and +Schintz. West again of this is the ridge of the _Arrowhead_ (q.v.). We +are here getting near the end of _Great Napes_, which are separated on +the west from _White Napes_ by the scree gully which is called _Little +Hell Gate_. + + +=Napes Needle.=--A rock of very striking form, which, by an eminent +mountaineer, has been compared to a violon-cello. + +It stands at the foot of the _Needle Ridge_ in the _Napes_, and was +first climbed by the writer about the end of June, 1886. The second +ascent was made on March 17, 1889, by Mr. G. Hastings, and the third +by Mr. F. Wellford on June 22, Mr. J.W. Robinson following on August 12 +in the same year. + +[Illustration: NAPES NEEDLE FROM THE WEST +A, _Needle Ridge_; B is reached from below by means of a deep crack +which goes right through the rock. In order to get to C from B it is +necessary to pass round behind to the crack seen at D, along which one +may pass to C, and thence direct to the top.] + +Miss Koecher (March 31, 1890) was apparently the first lady to ascend. + +It was first climbed from the west; the way on the opposite side is +perhaps less severe, but longer and more varied. + +The rock is frequently photographed, and an illustrated article on it +appeared in the _Pall Mall Budget_ of June 5, 1890. + + +=Needle Ridge= is that ridge of the _Napes_ on _Great Gable_ which is +immediately behind the _Napes Needle_. It was discovered in 1884 by the +writer and Mr. Robinson, and ascended by them in a somewhat desultory +fashion; that is to say, they cut in from the east side nearly at the +top of the difficult face which forms its lower extremity, and also +avoided the topmost piece by passing over on to the easy terrace on the +west side of the ridge. The _arete_ was climbed in a strict and +conscientious manner for the first time by the writer in 1886. This was +a descent, and apparently the first strict ascent was made by Messrs. +Slingsby, Hastings Hopkinson, and a brother of the writer. + + +=North Climb.=--The first to describe this climb on Scafell was Mr. +Seatree, who says: + +'From the ridge we traversed a ledge of grass-covered rock [the Rake's +Progress] to the right, until we reached a detached boulder, stepping +upon which we were enabled to get hand-hold of a crevice 6 or 7 ft. +from where we stood. To draw ourselves up so as to get our feet upon +this was the difficulty; there is only one small foot-hold in that +distance, and to have slipped here would have precipitated the climber +many feet below. Having succeeded in gaining this foot-hold, we found +ourselves in a small rectangular recess, with barely room to turn round. +From here it was necessary to draw ourselves carefully over two other +ledges into a small rift in the rocks, and then traverse on our hands +and knees another narrow ledge of about 8 ft. to the left, which brought +us nearly in a line with Mickledoor Ridge. From here all was +comparatively smooth sailing.' + +This climb had been made many years before (1869) by Major Ponsonby +Cundill, R.E., who left his stick in the deep crack behind the ledge +which Mr. Seatree traversed on his hands and knees. The stick was found +in 1884 by Mr. Chas. Cookson. This ledge, by the way, should certainly +be walked or at least sidled in an upright attitude, otherwise ungainly +gambollings are necessary when the time comes for stepping off at the +other end. The descent of the _North Climb_ is decidedly difficult, +unless the ascent has been made just previously, and the climb whether +up or down is an excellent test of style. + +A couple of yards to the left there is an alternative to the +'rectangular recess,' and it is known as the 'Rift.' It is to be done by +a wild struggle. It was at one time the wetter and harder of the two +ways, but the conditions are now reversed. + + +=Old Wall.=--On the east side of the Pillar Rock a natural line of rock +runs down to the head of _Walker's Gully_, having, however, a narrow +passage by means of which sheep may reach the Low Man. A hundred years +ago or more, the shepherds built a wall of loose stones to stop the +sheep, and though little of the wall remains, the name clings to the +spot. At one time the _North-east Route_ was usually spoken of as the +_Old Wall Way_. + + +=Patriarch.=--By this name the Rev. James Jackson, of Sandwith in +Cumberland, was very widely known. It is an abbreviation of one which he +himself invented and assumed--'Patriarch of the Pillarites.' Some +considerable mention of him is made by Mr. Williamson, but his readers +will be glad to have further particulars, for this was a man of no +ordinary stamp. Born at Millom just before the series of naval victories +which closed the eighteenth century, he passed his boyhood in the thick +of the Buonaparte struggle and shared in it personally when a mere lad. +However, he soon changed the colour of his coat and entered the Church; +but long before his connection with the Pillar he had ceased to take any +active part in his profession. Thenceforward he lived at his ease, +amusing himself by rambles and scrambles far and near among the fells. +'I have knocked about,' he said himself, 'among the mountains ever +since, till I may almost say "I knaw iv'ry craag."' That he was somewhat +of an egotist cannot be denied. In his letters as in his poems his own +feats form the burden of his song. To this point all topics converged +with the same certainty that all roads are said to lead to Rome. He was +never tired of relating how, for instance, in his sixty-ninth year he +had one day walked 46 miles in 14-1/2 hours, on the third day following +56 miles in 18 hours, and after a similar interval 60 miles in less than +20 hours, thus accomplishing within one week three walks, any one of +which might well knock up many a man of half his age; how, on another +occasion, he had found two brethren of his own cloth struggling feebly +to surmount the difficulties of Rossett Gill; how, taking pity upon +their tender years, he had transferred their knapsacks to his own +venerable shoulders and, striding on before, encouraged them to complete +their weary task. A man aged between sixty and seventy might fairly +plume himself on such an exploit. He also rejoiced greatly in the fact +that he had been the first student of St. Bees College--a distinction of +which, as he justly said, no one could ever deprive him. But the feat on +which he especially prided himself was one of bodily activity. During +the third part of a century he held the living of Rivington, near +Bolton-le-Moors. It chanced that the weathercock of his church had +become loose, and the masons rather shrank from the risk of going up to +secure it. Here was an opportunity which our friend could not forego; +and Rivington witnessed the unwonted spectacle of a beneficed clergyman +of the Church of England solemnly swarming up his own steeple and making +fast the vane 'under circumstances of terror which made the workmen +recoil from the task, and the gazing rustics turn sick with horror at +the sight!' While walking proudly back to his parsonage he composed a +commemorative epigram which will bear quotation: + + Who has not heard of Steeple Jack, + That lion-hearted Saxon? + Though I'm not he, he was my sire, + For I am 'Steeple Jackson'! + +Indeed, his fancy was as lively as his limbs were supple. He was ever on +the watch for some analogy or antithesis; ever producing some new +alliteration or epigram expressive of such contrasts as that between his +age and his activity. His favourite description of himself was 'senex +juvenilis'--an idea which he frequently put into English, e.g.: + + If this in your mind you will fix + When I make the Pillar my toy, + I was born in 1, 7, 9, 6, + And you'll think me a nimble old boy. + +On the late Mr. Maitland, a well-known climber, as only second to +himself in age and ardour, he bestowed the title 'Maitland of Many +Mounts' and 'Patriarch Presumptive of the Pillarites.' There is nothing +strange in his thus designating a successor and bestowing titles of +honour; for these are matter of royal privilege, and he looked upon +himself as the Mountain Monarch and always expected climbers to attend +his mimic court and pay him homage. But he had many a high-flown alias +besides. When Mr. Pendlebury came under his notice he contrasted himself +with the Senior Wrangler, rather neatly, as the 'Senior Scrambler'; +after his ascent of the Pillar he dubbed himself 'St. Jacobus Stylites'; +and many other titles are introduced into the occasional poems on which +he expended much of his ingenuity. + +His bodily powers were not allowed to rust away. 'My adopted motto,' he +said, 'is "Stare nescio,"' and some idea of his boundless love of +enterprise may be formed from one of his letters: 'I have been twelve +months afloat on the wide, wide sea. I have been beneath the falls of +Niagara. I have sung "God save the King" in the hall of St. Peter's; I +have ascended Vesuvius in the eruption of 1828; I have capped Snowdon in +Wales and Slieve Donard in Ireland, and nearly all the hills in this +district.... It only remains for me to mount the Pillar Rock!' Before +the end of the following May this hope was gratified, and a proud moment +it was for this veteran climber when, seated serenely on the summit, he +was able to record in a Greek inscription (written, as he carefully +notes, 'without specs') his ascent of the famous rock. Think of the +life, the energy, the determination that must have been in him! Years +seemed to be powerless to check the current of his blood. Where are we +to look for another of his age--he was now in his eightieth +year--showing any approach to the same combination of enterprise, pluck +and bodily vigour? It cannot be wondered at that his success filled him +with the keenest delight. He wrote off at once in high glee to his +friends and felt quite injured if, in their reply or their delay in +replying, he detected any sign of indifference to his exploit. But true +to his motto 'Stare nescio,' he was not content with this. Within a +month we find him expressing a fear that his title 'Patriarch of the +Pillarites' might not be acknowledged by 'the Western division of the +Order,' and announcing his intention of climbing the Pillar from the +west also in order to secure his claim. He playfully proposes, moreover, +that while he, 'the aged errant knight,' with his faithful squire +toiled up from the west, a certain fair Pillarite should arrive at the +summit from the east and crown his success on the spot by the bestowal +on him of her hand and heart. According to all approved precedent the +'aged errant knight' ought to have bound his lady's favour around his +clerical hat and ranged the mountains extorting from the passing tourist +at the point of his alpenstock a confession of her peerless beauty; or +for her sake betaken himself to the Rock and there passed nights of +vigil and days of toil assisting distressed damsels in the terrible +passage of the 'Slab.' Whatever he did, he made no attempt on the west +route. Perhaps despair of the reward had cooled his zeal--zeal +conditional like that of the Hindoo teacher who, when asked whether he +professed the creed which he was anxious to teach, naively replied, 'I +am not a Christian; but I expect to be one shortly--if sufficient +inducement offers.' + +There is a sad and sharp contrast in turning from his high spirits and +playful fancy to his sudden death. It has been described elsewhere. +Though fourscore and two was (as he himself expressed it on the very day +of his death) the 'howdah' on his back, it cannot be said that the +ever-growing howdah had crushed its bearer. His vigour was unimpaired. +Like Walter Ewbank, + + To the very last, + He had the lightest foot in Ennerdale. + +Indeed, the same thing might have happened to a boy. It was an accident; +but it might be rash to say that it was a misfortune, or that he would +himself have regarded any other death as preferable. His life had +already been longer and more varied than falls to ordinary men; but the +change could not long have been delayed. A few months would have seen +his faculties failing and his powers decayed. To a man of his habits and +temperament inaction would have been the most terrible affliction, and +though he might have dragged on for years, his strength would truly have +been labour and sorrow. + +Two years before he had stood close to this very spot. 'Almost all the +mountains,' he said, 'which I had known in youth, in manhood, and in old +age were visible, and seemed to give me a kindly greeting "for auld lang +syne." In the fervour of admiration I might have chanted, "Nunc +dimittis, Domine, servum tuum in pace."' We may well believe that, had +the old man foreseen his fate, he would have gladly welcomed it, and +have found for it no fitter place among all his beloved mountains than +this quiet cove almost within the shadow of the majestic rock. + + +=Patterdale= is a place where a climber may spend a week or two with +much enjoyment, though the quality of the rocks is by no means +first-rate. It is the best centre for _Helvellyn_, _Fairfield_, and _St. +Sunday Crag_, and convenient for _Swarthbeck_ and the whole _High +Street_ range. On _Place Fell_, fine as it looks, there is not much +worth climbing. _Deepdale_ and _Dovedale_ are both worth exploring. + + +=Pavey Ark=, one of the Langdale Pikes, is easily reached in +three-quarters of an hour from Dungeon Gill. On it will be found some +splendid climbing, including the _Big Gully_, the _Little Gully_, +_Jack's Rake_ (q.v.), and many minor points of interest. The two chief +gullies stand on either side of a buttress of rock, the top of which +forms a tooth on the sky line. The _Little Gully_ is on the south side +of it, and is V-shaped, giving a very straightforward but pleasant +climb. But the _Great Gully_ has two considerable difficulties, one low +down and the other near the top. The lower is caused by a huge block +covering a considerable cavern. The way is either right through the +cavern and out again through a narrow hole, or up a high grassy bank on +the right hand. In either case a narrow place is reached, walled in +between the big block and a smaller one on the right hand. Here the +difficulty is that the walls nearly meet towards the top, so that it is +necessary, in order to get room for the head, to go rather 'outside.' +However, a second man with a rope can hold the leader very securely, and +a piece of rock having come away, the headroom is much more commodious +than it used to be. Just below the level of _Jack's Rake_ there are some +very 'brant and slape' inclines of wet or muddy rock, which most people +consider the worst part of the climb. There is very little hold, and +what there is was on the occasion of the first ascent lubricated by a +film of fine mud. On reaching _Jack's Rake_ several variations may be +made, and straight ahead there is a very neat little chimney. These +upper rocks are of splendid gripping quality; rough as a cow's tongue, +it would be quite difficult to make a slip on them. The Big Gully was +climbed by the writer in the summer of 1882, and the small one in June +1886. In March 1887 Mr. Slingsby made a note about the former in the +Wastdale Head book. He says that it took his party two hours and forty +minutes, but his estimate of the height of the gully at 1,300 ft. is +more than double of the truth, and must be due to a slip of the pen. + +[Illustration: PAVEY ARK (NEAR VIEW) +A, Narrow gully; B, Big gully; C, D, Smaller gullies; E, Wide scree +gully. From the foot of E to A runs _Jack's Rake_.] + +In the book at Millbeck there is a note by the same distinguished +climber, dated May 30, 1887, in which he records an ascent of this gully +made by Miss Mabel Hastings, and gives the height of it as 600 or 650 +ft. + + +=Penyghent.=--The sixth in height of the Yorkshire hills, but long +supposed, on account of its finer shape, to be the highest of them all. +As late as 1770 it was reckoned at 3,930 ft. It can be ascended from +Horton station in little over an hour. Celtic scholars revel in the +name; they practically agree that it means 'head of something,' but +cannot accept each other's views as to what that something is. When +Defoe was in this neighbourhood he saw 'nothing but high mountains, +which had a terrible aspect, and more frightful than any in +Monmouthshire or Derbyshire, especially _Pengent Hill_.' + + +=Piers Gill=, in Wastdale, on the north front of _Lingmell_, has a vast +literature of its own. As a rock ravine, not in limestone, it is only +second to _Deep Gill_ on _Scafell_ and the great gully in the Wastwater +_Screes_, both of which are far less easy of access than this, which can +be reached from Wastdale Head in half an hour. The difficulties depend +entirely on the quantity of water. One, the 'cave pitch,' may be passed +at the cost of a wetting almost at any time; but above it is another, +known as the 'Bridge Fall,' from a vast column of fallen rock which +spans the stream a few yards above it, which is at all times difficult, +and in nineteen seasons out of twenty wholly impossible. + +Until the unprecedented drought of 1893 it had never been climbed. Even +then a less brilliant climber than Dr. Collier would scarcely have +succeeded. His ascent was made on April 29, 1893, and his companions +were Messrs. Winser, W. Jones, and Fairbairn. The big pitch was found to +be 40 or 50 ft. high, the lowest part of it apparently overhanging. The +first few feet were climbed about three feet to the right of the falling +water, after which the leader was able to reach the other side of the +gill by stretching his left foot across it just outside the water. By +this means this great and hitherto insuperable difficulty was overcome. +Unless we are entering on a cycle of dry seasons, the exploit is one +which will not be repeated for some time. + +Various accidents and minor mishaps have taken place in Piers Gill. One +is described by Mr. Payn, and the injured man was, I believe, a shepherd +called Tom Hale. Mr. W.O. Burrows had a bad fall above the bridge, and +people descending from the _Pikes_ are often pounded about the same +spot. Some years ago a tourist had to pass the night in the gill without +food, but protested that he was 'quite consoled by the beautiful +scenery.' The discovery of the route up the east side of the _Pillar +Rock_ was within an ace of being delayed for years, owing to the band of +bold explorers who were to work it out becoming entangled in _Piers +Gill_ while on their way to _Wastdale Head_. + +The name is spelt 'Pease' by Mr. Payn and by most of the early +authorities, and judging by the analogy of other places in the North of +England this would appear to be more correct. + + +=Pike o' Stickle=, also known as _Steel Pike_ and sometimes as the +_Sugarloaf_, drops into Langdale from the north in one continuous slope, +which for length and steepness has not many rivals in England. The top +piece of the hill is curiously symmetrical, and resembles a haycock or a +thimble. It is not easy to find satisfactory climbs on it. Mr. Gwynne +says of it: 'A very fine peak, that, viewed from the valley, has very +much the appearance of the Moench. It runs down towards the _Stake_ Pass +in a spur, which must be the starting-point of most of the climbs on +this mountain. There is a curious gully here, too, which is worthy of +the climber's attention. It does not run from top to bottom, but +suddenly begins about the middle of the crag. The difficulty is to get +at this gully, and some pretty climbing can be obtained in the attempt.' + + +=Pillar Rock.=--There are but three directions from which the _Pillar_ +is commonly approached--namely, Ennerdale (Gillerthwaite), Buttermere, +and Wastdale Head. In each case the guide-books (except Baddeley's) +exhibit a suspicious shyness of specifying any time for the walk. +Wherever the present writer gives times, they must be understood to be +the quickest of which he happens to have made any note; for the best +test of times is a 'reductio ad minima.' A journey may be indefinitely +prolonged, but it cannot be shortened beyond a certain limit; thus, +_Scafell Pike_ cannot be reached from Wastdale Head in much less than 60 +minutes of hard going, while the walk up the Pillar Fell cannot be cut +down much below 75 minutes. This supplies us with a trustworthy +comparison, although for a hot day that pace is not to be recommended; +in each case double the time is not more than a fair allowance. Never +let yourself be hurried at starting, come home as hard as ever you like; +it is the chamois-hunter's system, and by far the best. Baddeley seems +to reverse the principle, for he allows 2 to 2-1/2 hours for the ascent +via Black Sail, and says that it is shorter by Wind Gap; yet for the +_descent_ from Wind Gap (which is, say, 20 minutes short of the summit) +he gives as a fair allowance 2 to 3 hours. Perhaps he preferred +conforming to what is apparently the approved fox-hunting style: + +[Illustration: PILLAR ROCK +A, B, Summits of Shamrock; C, Shamrock gully; D, Pisgah; E, High Man; +G, Curtain; H, Steep Grass; I, Foot of Great Chimney; I, K, Walker's +gully; J, Low Man; L, J, West route; M, Waterfall; N, I, East Scree.] + + Harkaway! See, she's off! O'er hill and through whol + We spank till we're gaily nar done, + Than, hingan a lip like a motherless fwol, + _Sledder heammward, but nit in a run_. + +[Illustration: PILLAR ROCK FROM THE NORTH +A, _High Man_; B, _Low Man_; C, _Shamrock_; D, _Walker's gully_; +E, Below this is the _waterfall_. The _terrace_ runs past the foot of +Walker's gully to the foot of the _waterfall_.] + +[Illustration: PILLAR ROCK FROM THE SOUTH +A, Top of rock and of _West Jordan climb_; B, Top of _Central Jordan +climb_; C, Top of _East Jordan climb_; D, G, The _Curtain_; +E, The _Notch_; F, The _Ledge_. The mass of rock in the foreground is +_Pisgah_.] + +_From Ennerdale_: From Gillerthwaite, a farmhouse nearly a mile and a +half above the lake, the Pillar is not far distant; but the direct way +is exceedingly rough, and it will be found best to make use of the path +up _Wingate Cove_, skirting round the mountain, when by that means a +considerable height has been gained. The way is so rough that many +people think it an economy of labour to go right on up the gap, and then +left over the summit of the mountain. + +One of the best ways of approaching the Pillar is to sleep at the little +inn at the foot of the lake and row up from there to the water head. For +walking the whole way from the inn to the fell-top Baddeley allows 3 to +3-1/2 hours. + +_From Buttermere_: After crossing _Scarf Gap_ some keep to the track as +far as the summit of the Black Sail Pass, and then turn to the right up +the ridge of the Pillar Fell, while others adopt the more laborious plan +of working upwards after descending the valley until nearly opposite the +Rock, which in this way is certainly seen to much greater advantage. If +the return be made by way of the mountain ridge, some little time may be +saved by descending into Ennerdale down _Green Cove_, nearly half a mile +short of Black Sail and 250 ft. higher; for Black Sail, being much +nearer the head of the valley than either Scarf Gap or the Pillar, can +only be used for going from one to the other at the expense of making a +considerable _detour_. For the ascent, however, Green Cove is not so +decidedly recommended, as many will prefer to make the round by the +regular pass for the sake of the more gradual rise. + +_From Wastdale_: The vast majority of visitors come from this direction, +and almost all follow the same track, plodding up from Mosedale to the +top of _Black Sail_ and then turning left along the ridge of the +mountain. Mosedale, by the way, must not be confused with any of the +numerous other valleys of the same name: it sometimes appears in the +form 'Moresdale' or 'Mossdale' (Moos-thal, near Laibach in Austria, is +exactly parallel), and generally indicates scenery of a dreary +character; for such valleys are often, as in this case, the half-drained +beds of ancient lakes, by the loss of which the scenery has seriously +suffered. + +[Illustration: PILLAR FELL] + +Ladies who ascend by Black Sail will find it best to keep to the path as +long as possible, i.e. as far as the top of the pass, but others may +save something by breasting the hill on the left soon after reaching +_Gatherstone Head_, apparently a glacier mound, which rises just beyond +where the track crosses the stream (Gatherstone Beck) which comes down +from the pass. + +On reaching the ridge it is no doubt safer, especially if there be mist +about, for those who are not familiar with the way to go right on to the +flat top of the mountain; the proper point from which to commence the +descent is easily found, in all weathers, by following the +compass-needle from the cairn to the edge of the mountain; a rough and +steep descent of 400 ft. follows, which in winter demands considerable +care. At first the course is to the right, but it soon strikes a small +ridge which curves down to the Rock. It is, however, a waste of labour +to ascend to the summit of the mountain at all. The ridge of the +mountain is divided into steps, and at the foot of the uppermost of +these a deep cove called _Great Doup_ is seen on the right. It may be +recognised even in a mist, as it is just beyond a curious rock running +out with a narrow edged top many feet from the hill-side. Less than 100 +yards down the Doup the falling scree has nearly buried the cairn and +iron cross erected to the memory of the Rev. James Jackson. Beyond this, +as soon as the big rocks on the left permit, the track skirts round, and +after one or two ups and downs comes into full view of the famous Rock. +If, however, the object be to reach the north or lowest side of the +Rock, it is not necessary to descend into Ennerdale from Black Sail; for +there is the _High Level_, a fine scramble all along the breast of the +mountain from _Green Cove_--the first large hollow on the right, just +beyond _Lookingsteads_; but the way is rather intricate, and unless +properly hit off involves considerable fatigue and loss of time. At the +very least half an hour will be required in either direction, and a +stranger will certainly take much longer. + +Those who are anxious to pursue 't' bainest rwoad' may save ten minutes +or more in the walk from Wastdale by making use of _Wind Gap_ at the +head of Mosedale. Hard work it undeniably is, but more shady than Black +Sail, and--when the way is familiar, though no one can go very far +wrong, unless he clings to the main valley too long and goes up to +_Blackem_ (Black Combe) _Head_--quicker also, occupying about ninety +minutes. Mr. James Payn calls it (poetically) 'a sort of perpendicular +shaft--a chimney such as no sweep would adventure, but would use the +machine--which is said to be the dalesman's pass into Ennerdale; you may +thank your stars that it is not _your_ pass.' + +It really adds little to the labour of this way and affords a far finer +walk if the complete circuit of Mosedale be made along the hill-tops. +Ascending behind the inn and keeping round just under _Stirrup +Crag_--the north end of _Yewbarrow_, _Dore Head_ is soon reached, and it +is easy walking by the _Chair_, _Red Pike_, _Black Crag_ and _Wind Gap_ +on to the _Pillar Fell_. + +For the return to Wastdale _Wind Gap_ is very rough and hardly to be +recommended. Mr. Baddeley is not very consistent about it, for he says, +'the best descent is by _Windy Gap_'; but again, 'the descent from +_Windy Gap_ to Wastdale is, for reasons stated before, unsatisfactory'; +and thereupon he recommends Black Sail. The latter gives a rapid +descent--the inn may be reached in twenty-five minutes from the top of +the pass; but a quicker return may be made by crossing the ridge after +emerging from Great Doup, and shooting down _Wistow Crags_ into +Mosedale by a large gully filled with deliciously fine scree. + +Should it be preferred to make the circuit of Mosedale on the return +journey, an equally fine glissade may be enjoyed from _Dore Head_; but +the screes require judicious selection and dexterity on the part of the +slider. + +[Illustration: PILLAR ROCK FROM THE WEST +A, Summit of _High Man_; B, _Pisgah_; C, _Low Man_; D, _Jordan Gap_. +The _West route_ ascends from this side to the depression between +A and C.] + +It may here be said that stout walkers may visit all the mountains of +Wastdale Head in one day comfortably, and in few places is a finer walk +to be found. Start, say, at 10 A.M. for Scafell; then, by Mickledoor, +the Pike, Great End, Sty Head, Great Gable and Kirkfell to the Pillar, +returning in the manner described above in time for dinner. In June +1864, as Ritson's Visitors' Book records, J.M. Elliott, of Trin. Coll. +Camb., made this round, including Steeple and Yewbarrow, and found that +it took eight and a half hours; probably, however, he came over Stirrup +Crag and not Yewbarrow _top_, which would entail something like three +miles extra walking. He approached Scafell by way of Mickledoor, +returning from it to the same point, and those who do not know the Broad +Stand well had better follow his example; for it is a bit of a climb, +and the descent especially is not easy to find. By going to Mickledoor +first (and there is no shorter way to Scafell) each man can see what he +has before him, and decide for himself whether it would not be better to +leave Scafell out of his programme. + +Before entering into the history of the Pillar it is almost +indispensable to give a short general description of its main features +in order to assist the comprehension of the facts narrated. Difficult as +it must always be to find an image which shall supply a stranger with +any clear idea of a mass so irregular and unsymmetrical as this, yet its +general appearance and the arrangement of its parts may be roughly +apprehended in the following manner:--Imagine a large two-gabled church +planted on the side of a steep hill. From the western and loftier gable +let there rise, at the end nearest the mountain, a stunted tower. +Finally let the building be shattered and all but overwhelmed under an +avalanche of _debris_. What will be the effect? Naturally the stream of +stones will be much deeper above than below, and, while nearly burying +the tower and upper ends of the roof, will flow along between the two +gables and run off, as rainwater would do, at the far end. Angular +fragments, however, remain at rest unless the slope is very steep, and +consequently a long talus will be formed sloping down to the brink of +the sudden drop at an angle of something like 45 degrees. Here we have a +fair representation of the Pillar mass: the tower will be the High Man, +and the gable from which it rises the Low Man. It will be readily +understood that the second gable may be a source of some confusion to +those who are ignorant that there is more than one, and from some points +may disguise or altogether conceal the tower. This is why it is called +the _Sham Rock_; but it is only from below that it would be recognised +as part of the Pillar mass, for from above it is wholly insignificant. +When viewed from immediately below, the tower is concealed behind the +gable from which it rises, and the whole mass of rock bears a rough +resemblance to the letter =M=; but from above, the High Man, with which +alone the climber from the east side has to reckon, is also the only +part of the rock which he is likely to observe. The result is that, when +the Low Man is mentioned to anyone who knows only the Easy Way, the +reply is usually on the model of the poet Wordsworth's only joke: 'Why, +my good man, till this moment I was not even aware that there _was_ a +Low Man!' Yet the Low Man is by far the finer object of the two, and its +cliffs are at least six times as high as those of what is called the +High Man. The only side from which the latter shows a respectable +elevation is the west, where the scree lies much lower, because it has a +free escape, instead of being pent up between the two gables like the +east scree. + +In winter-time, when the inequalities are all smoothed over with a sheet +of hard snow, both sides of the rock are rather dangerous, but +especially the eastern, where a man who slipped would have the greatest +difficulty in stopping himself before he shot over the precipitous gully +at the end. This gully (occupying, as it were, the place of the +water-pipe) is known, in allusion to an accident which occurred there in +1883, as _Walker's Gully_. + +When the question arises of how to climb the _High Man_, it is obvious +that the scree just above it will be the nearest point to the summit; +but equally obvious that the climb, though short, would be nearly +vertical. The plan which at once suggests itself for getting to the top +is to work round to the back of the rock and climb it from the top of +the ridge behind. The ridge may be reached from either side, and in this +fact we have the secret of two of the most important climbs. + +So much for the general appearance of the Pillar; but the part which +admits of the easiest and most varied attack is the east wall of the +_High Man_, and of this side it is necessary to give a more detailed +description. This part of the rock is the only one which is at all well +known to the general public, and its chief features, being well marked, +have for the most part received, by common consent of climbers, +distinctive names. In order to see the formation of the rock properly it +is well worth the climber's while to descend for a few yards and mount +the _Sham Rock_ on the other side of the east scree. The peculiar +structure of the opposite wall may now be clearly seen. + +[Illustration: PILLAR ROCK FROM THE SOUTH-EAST +A, _Pisgah_; B, _Jordan_; C, Summit; D, Top of _Curtain_; +E, Corner between the _Curtain_ and the main rock.] + +On our left hand, between the mountain and the rock, is seen an outlying +mass severed from the High Man by a deep square-cut gap. When the Pillar +is looked at from the direction of the mountain-top, this gap is +entirely concealed by the outlying piece, which then appears to present +a fairly easy way direct to the summit. 'The climber (says Mr. +Williamson) mounts gaily and with confidence, only to find himself cut +off from the High Man by an impassable cleft.' He sees it indeed with +his eyes, but he cannot go up thither. Hence the names--_Pisgah_ for the +false rock, and _Jordan_ for the chasm. A very well-known Pillarite once +proposed to bridge the cleft with a plank or ladder and hold a tea-party +on the top. This very original idea was not carried into execution, but +certainly, without some such application, the passage of _Jordan Gap_ is +a formidable undertaking; for the north wall is only less vertical than +the other, and though barely 60 ft. high--not much more, that is, than +half as much as must be climbed by any other route--this is decidedly +one of those cases in which the longer way round will prove to be the +shorter way up. + +On the extreme right--and rather below us--is the nearly level top of +the Low Man; while not far from where broken cliffs lead up to the +higher rock a curious natural post standing on the ridge marks the point +from which a small deep channel is seen to come down towards _Walker's +Gully_. This channel is of small importance, except that high up on the +southern bank of it the glacier markings are most distinctly to be seen. +The channel itself soon curves more towards the north and plunges over +the fearful cliff which faces the Liza, forming the key to the great +climb on that face. From the foot of _Jordan Gap_ a broad smooth slope +of rock runs horizontally along the face of the High Man, giving to it +somewhat the formation of the 'pent-house wall' of a tennis court. The +steepness of the scree, which runs down from left to right before our +feet, makes the drop from this slope much greater at the Low Man end; +but it will give no false idea of this side to say that, roughly +speaking, the cliff is broken into three fairly equal portions, of about +60 ft. each, namely, a vertical wall above, connected with a steep and +rugged part below by a smooth stretch sloping at an angle not far short +of 40 degrees. The importance of this 'pent-house' is very great; for, +as it gives an easy passage right across this face of the rock, every +climb which is possible from below may be cut into from the side, and +thus more than half the labour of the ascent is saved. Indeed, any +mountain which allows its entire front to be traversed in this way by a +passable ledge exposes every weak point in so reckless a manner that the +attack becomes marvellously simplified. + +Lastly should be noticed two rough curtains of rock which run down from +the top of the Stone near the centre, and enclose between them what is +called the _Great Chimney_. This chimney is the key to the climb on this +side. The curtain on the south of it is the only one which is at all +complete, and as it forms a kind of _arete_ running up to the summit, it +is known indifferently by either name--the _Curtain_ or the _Arete_. + +The easiest way to picture to oneself the features of the Great Chimney +is to imagine a huge armchair, the 'seat' of which measures 20 yards +from back to front and is tipped uncomfortably forward and downward at +an angle of nearly 45 degrees. The _Curtain_ forms the right 'arm,' and +from a level with the top of the 'back,' which is 50 ft. high, runs down +very nearly but not quite as far as the front edge of the 'seat.' In +the narrow space thus left lies the _Ledge_, which makes it possible to +pass round under the end of the arm and gain the 'seat,' which is called +the _Steep Grass_. The same point may also be reached by climbing, as an +alternative to the _Ledge_, over the lower part of the 'arm' through a +deep nick--the _Notch_; and in either case the joint between 'arm' and +'back,' being badly cracked, offers an easy way (the 'small chimney' or +'jammed-stone chimney') of reaching the top of the back, which is the +edge of a small plateau forming the summit of the High Man. Lastly, it +should be noticed that the _Steep Grass_ can only be reached from below +by a severe climb of 70 ft.--the _Great Chimney_ climb. + +The side from which the Pillar is commonly climbed is not that by which +the summit was first attained. The first successful attempt was made +from the West, and it is doubtful whether for a quarter of a century any +other route was known. But on the discovery of the Easy Way the older +route was forgotten, and now enjoys a reputation for difficulty which is +not deserved: it is looked upon as some little distinction to have +accomplished it. In the preface to one of Wordsworth's poems the year +1826 is mentioned as the date of the first ascent. This is confirmed by +a comparison of the second and third editions of Otley's 'Guide' (1825 +and 1827), in the former of which the rock is declared unclimbable, +while the latter mentions the victory of 'an adventurous shepherd.' The +successful climber was not, however, a shepherd, but a cooper, named +Atkinson, and living at Croftfoot, in Ennerdale. It is likely that his +adventurous soul may have been fired by Otley's declaration that the +rock was inaccessible. The perseverance of a friend has hunted out a +contemporary notice of the ascent in the county paper, which remarks +that, 'though the undertaking has been attempted by _thousands_, it was +always relinquished as hopeless.' This proves, at all events, that even +then the rock had a reputation. Subjoined is a list of those who have +followed on Atkinson's track, so far as is known, up to 1873: + + J. Colebank (shepherd); + W. Tyson (shepherd), and J. Braithwaite (shepherd); + Lieut. Wilson, R.N.; + C.A.O. Baumgartner; + M. Beachcroft and C. Tucker. + +Summarising the various methods of ascending the rock, we may say that +the west side first yielded in 1826; the east side probably about 1860; +the south side in 1882, and the north side in 1891. The _Easy Way_ (as +it is generally called) on the east side was discovered in 1863 by a +party of Cambridge men led by Mr. Conybeare, and Mr. A.J. Butler, the +late editor of the _Alpine Journal_. Mr. Leslie Stephen had visited the +rock earlier in that year without finding a way up it, but in 1865 he +was more successful, and wrote an account of it in Ritson's book; the +account, as usual, was first defaced and afterwards stolen. The +_Northeast_, or _Old Wall_, _way_ was discovered by Matthew Barnes, the +Keswick guide, while with Mr. Graves, of Manchester. The central and +western climbs from _Jordan_ were done by the writer in 1882, as was the +eastern one in 1884, the last being scarcely justifiable under any +circumstances, and especially without a rope. The direct climb of the +_Great Chimney_ (starting on the south wall of it) was done about the +same time, and curiously enough--for it is safe and comparatively +easy--does not appear to have been done since. The long climb on the +north face was accomplished by Messrs. Hastings, Slingsby, and the +writer in 1891. It has been described in an illustrated article in +_Black and White_ (June 4, 1892), and by Mr. Gwynne in the _Pall Mall +Budget_. It should not be touched except by experienced climbers. + + +=Pinnacle Bield=, on the east side of _Glaramara_, is a rocky part of +the mountain and a famous stronghold for foxes. On the way up from +_Langstrath_ there is a very steep bit for about 500 ft. + + +=Pisgah.=--A name given in 1882 to the outlying rock on the south side +of the Pillar Rock, from which it is severed by an all but impassable +chasm, not seen until it bars the way. The term has in subsequent years +been applied almost generically. + + +=Pitch=: any sudden drop in the course of a rock gully, usually caused +by some large stone choking the channel and penning back the loose +stones behind it. Such a stone is then said to be 'jammed,' 'wedged,' or +'pitched,' and is sometimes called a 'chockstone' (q.v.). + + +=Pot-holes= are frequent in the Yorkshire limestone. The rivers for +considerable distances have underground courses. At each spot where the +roof of one of these tunnels happens to fall in a 'pot-hole' is +produced. They are very numerous about Settle and Clapham. Some are of +very great depth and can only be explored with the aid of much cordage +and many lights. The explorer of pot-holes has to face all the perils of +severe rock climbing, and, moreover, to face them for the most part in +the dark. It would be hard to imagine anything more weird than one of +these darksome journeys, rendered doubly impressive by the roar of +unseen waters and the knowledge that abrupt pitches of vast depth are +apt to occur in the course of the channel without the slightest warning. +(See _Alum Pot_, _Dunald Mill Hole_, _Gaping Gill Hole_.) + + +=Pow=: a sluggish rivulet. + + +=Professor's Chimney.=--A name bestowed by Messrs. Hopkinson on the exit +most towards the left hand as one comes up _Deep Gill_ on _Scafell_. Out +of this chimney, again to the left, diverges that which leads up to the +neck between the _Scafell Pillar_ and its Pisgah. To this latter chimney +the name is erroneously applied by many, though, indeed, they might urge +with some reason that if it comes to a scramble for one name between two +gullies the more frequented ought to get it. + + +=Rainsborrow Crag.=--A noble rock in Kentdale, Westmorland. It is, +perhaps, most easily got at from Staveley, but from Ambleside it is only +necessary to cross the Garbourne Pass, and the crag is at once +conspicuous. It is of the same type as _Froswick_ and _Ill Bell_, but +finer and more sheer than either of them. + + +=Rake=: a word common in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and the Lakes, which has +been much misunderstood. It usually happens to be a scree-gully, but the +fundamental idea is straightness. + + +=Rake's Progress.=--This is a natural gallery on the face of the +Mickledoor crags of _Scafell_. It has been best described by Mr. +Williamson, who says: '_Mickledoor_ may be reached by scrambling up the +steeply sloping screes which form its Wastdale slope; but the easier and +more romantic approach is by the grassy ledge, which will be seen +projecting from the face of the Scafell precipice. This ledge or shelf +is in but few places less than four feet wide. In places it is composed +of shattered heaps of rock, which seem barely to keep their equilibrium; +but though there is a precipice of considerable height on the left hand, +the passage along the ledge is free from risk so long as the rock wall +on the right is closely hugged. By one who watched from below the +passage along the ledge of some of the early pioneers of lake climbing +it was christened the _Rake's Progress_, and the name appears apt when +it is remembered that the ledge leads from the lower limb of the _Lord's +Rake_ to the _Mickledoor Ridge_.' The first published description of the +_Rake's Progress_ is contained in a letter by the late Mr. Maitland to +one of the local papers in October 1881. He there states that he had +recently traversed it for the fifth time, but had not previously to that +occasion visited Deep Gill. Several grand climbs start from the +_Progress_, including _North Climb_, _Collier's Climb_, _Moss Gill_, +_Steep Gill_, and the _Scafell Pillar_. + + +=Raven Crag.=--This name is generally the sign of a hard, if not of a +good, climb. One of the finest stands on the west side of Thirlmere, +near the foot, or what used to be the foot of it before Manchester took +it in hand; a second is on the _Pillar Fell_ just east of the rock; a +third and fourth on _Brandreth_ and _Gable_, and indeed there is one on +almost every fell. + + +=Red Pike=, in Cumberland, overlooking Buttermere, is a syenite hill, +and commands a glorious view, especially strong in lakes, but there is +next to no climbing to be had on it. The best way up it is to follow the +course of Ruddy Beck from the southernmost corner of Crummock Water, but +the rocky amphitheatre in which Bleaberry Tarn lies is better seen if +the somewhat rougher route by Sourmilkgill and its east bank be +followed. + + +=Red Pike=, also in Cumberland, is a Wastdale fell, and lies between +_Yewbarrow_ and the _Steeple_. The north side of it has abundance of +small climbs, which, with the exception of _Yewbarrow_, are, perhaps, +more easily reached than any others from the inn at Wastdale Head; but +they are little visited, because everyone wants to fly at the highest +game and do the climbs which are most talked about. This fell is +sometimes called _Chair_, from the fact of there being a curious stone +seat on it near the ridge, and not far from _Door Head_. + + +=Red Screes=, in Westmorland (2,541 ft.), are very steep in the +direction of the Kirkstone (after which the pass of that name is said +to be called), falling about 1,000 ft. in a horizontal distance of a +quarter of a mile; but the ascent is not more than an exhilarating +scramble. There is a well-known view from the top. + + +=Rope.=--Some remarks on the use of the rope as a safeguard in climbing +will be found in the Introduction. + + +=Rossett Gill.=--A rough pass just over 2,000 ft. in height, which is +the only approach from Langdale to Scafell, Gable, and the Wastdale +fells generally. On the Langdale side you cannot go far wrong, but it is +very rugged, so rugged that Mr. Payn has caustically observed that all +expeditions in this region admit of being made by driving, by riding, or +by walking, 'except Rossett Gill, which must be done on all fours.' On +the Eskhause side the walking is perfectly easy, but mistakes are very +liable to occur. On this high ground mists are extremely frequent, and +blinding rain is abundant. The result is that people making for Langdale +are surprised at having to mount again after the long descent to Angle +Tarn, and often end by going away to the left down Langstrath, and find +themselves to their great surprise in Borrowdale. The only safeguard is, +of course, to bear clearly in mind that the ups and downs hereabout are +considerable, and to arm oneself with map and compass. + + +=Saddleback= (2,847 ft.) was at one time thought to be higher than its +neighbour Skiddaw. To Mrs. Radcliffe, on the summit of the latter in +1795, the former was 'now preeminent over Skiddaw.' 'The Beauties of +England' informs us that 'the views from the summit are exceedingly +extensive, but those immediately under the eye on the mountain itself so +tremendous and appalling that few persons have sufficient resolution to +experience the emotions which those awful scenes inspire.' We have a +very full account of an ascent made in 1793. The narrator says: 'When we +had ascended about a mile, one of the party, on looking round, was so +astonished with the different appearance of objects in the valley so far +beneath us that he declined proceeding. We had not gone much further +till the other companion (of the relator) was suddenly taken ill and +wished to loose blood and return.' + +The great feature of the mountain is its southern front, which is cut +away to form enormous cloughs, divided by narrow ridges. The latter are +the Edges of Saddleback. Narrow Edge (as _Halls Fell top_ is now +generally called) is the finest and most romantic. It runs up from +Threlkeld, where there is a convenient station. The proper name of Broad +Edge is _Gategill Fell_. Part of _Middle Tongue_ straight behind the +lead-mine is also very narrow. A writer in the _Penny Magazine_ for 1837 +speaks of 'the serrated precipices above Threlkeld,' and adds, 'One of +these is called _Razor Edge_.' That name, however, has now for many +years at least been used as the equivalent of _Sharp Edge_, which is on +the east side of the mountain and on the north side of _Scales Tarn_, +and at one time enjoyed a tremendous reputation as a perilous climb. + +The name of the mountain itself has been jeered at as a post-boy's name, +and romantically-minded people use the name Blencathara, for which many +Celtic etymons have been suggested. The most usual form seems to have +been Blenkarthur, and only the more northern of the two peaks was so +called. + +The quickest ascent of the mountain is from Threlkeld up _Narrow Edge_, +but if the return is to Keswick, it should be made along the shoulder +towards Skiddaw, and so by Brundholme Wood. + + +=Sail.=--This word, in the opinion of Dr. Murray, the learned editor of +the new 'English Dictionary,' signifies 'a soaring dome-shaped summit.' +It occurs as a hill-name in the Grassmoor group, near Buttermere in +Cumberland; but the characteristics required by the above definition +are, to say the least, not conspicuously evident either there or in the +other cases where this element is found in fell-country place-names. +(See _Black Sail_.) + + +=St. Bees.=--In Cumberland, on the west coast. Several accidents have +occurred on the cliffs here. They are of sandstone, and incline to be +rotten. The best are about _Fleswick Bay_. The height is only about 200 +ft. The Rev. James Jackson--the Patriarch (q.v.)--lived at Sandwith +close by, and was fond of climbing about on these cliffs. + + +=St. John's Vale.=--A name of modern invention, which has ousted +_Buresdale_ (q.v.). It is used in an article in the _Gentleman's +Magazine_ for 1754, and also in 'Gray's Journal,' which possibly misled +Sir Walter Scott, whose poem caused it to meet with general acceptance. + + +=St. Sunday Crag=, in Westmorland (sheet 19 of the Ordnance map), is of +far more importance than _Helvellyn_ to the views of and from Ullswater. +Moreover, it has some capital crags facing north-west, among which many +a good rock-problem may be found. They were long a favourite +scrambling-ground with Major Cundill, R.E., the inventor of the _North +Climb_ on _Scafell_, and are within easy reach of Patterdale. + + +=Scafell= (3,162 ft.) presents some fine rocks to Eskdale, but the +grandest rocks, both to look at and to climb, are towards _Mickledoor_. +As a climbing-ground it is perhaps even more popular than the _Pillar_, +especially in winter. In consequence of this the ground has been gone +over very closely by climbers of exceptional skill, and climbing of a +somewhat desperate character has occasionally been indulged in. This +applies mainly to the west side of Mickledoor. The other side is easier, +and has long been more or less well known. + +Mr. Green says of it: 'The crags on the south-west [of Mickledoor], +though seeming frightfully to oppose all passage, have been ascended as +the readiest way to the top of Scafell, and, amongst other adventurers, +by Mr. Thomas Tyson, of Wastdale Head, and Mr. Towers, of Toes [in +Eskdale]; but Messrs. Ottley and Birkett contented themselves by +proceeding for some distance in the direction of Eskdale, to a deep +fissure, through which they scrambled to the top of Scafell.' + +It might be thought that this 'fissure' was 'Mickledoor Chimney,' but +it is more likely that it was another and easier gully a good way +farther down. + +Mr. Herman Prior's excellent 'Pedestrian Guide' (3rd edition, p. 194) +has a very clear and accurate account of it from the pen of Mr. C.W. +Dymond, who visited it about 1869, and another in Mr. C.N. Williamson's +second article in _All the Year Round_ for November 8, 1884; and in the +local press scores of descriptions have appeared. + +[Illustration: SCAFELL CRAGS +A, Top of _Broad Stand_; B, _Pisgah_; C, _Scafell Pillar_; +D, Head of _Deep Gill_.] + +The beginning of the climb is very easily overlooked by a stranger, +being just a vertical slit about eighteen inches wide, by means of which +it is easy to walk three or four yards straight into the mountain. It +will be found by descending the Eskdale slope from Mickledoor ridge for +twenty-one yards, and disregarding a much more promising point which +presents itself midway and is noticed both by Professor Tyndall and Mr. +Dymond. The floor of the proper 'adit' rises slightly towards the inner +end, and consequently allows an easy exit to be made on the left-hand +side. From this point three large steps in the rock, each 7 ft. to 10 +ft. high have to be mounted, and many will be reminded of the ascent of +the Great Pyramid. What builders call the 'riser' of each step is +vertical, but the 'tread' of the two upper ones becomes very steep and +smooth, and when there is ice about it, this is the chief danger of the +climb. If a fall took place it would probably be to the left hand, in +which direction the rock is much planed away, and forms a steep and +continuous slope almost to the foot of the Mickledoor Chimney. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF SCAFELL +A, _Broad Stand_; B, _Mickledoor Ridge_; C, _Scafell Pillar_; +D, _Lord's Rake_; F, _Pikes Crag_; G, _Deep Gill_.] + +This slope is climbable, but far from easy. At the top of the steps the +Broad Stand proper begins, at the head of which there is one little bit +to climb, and then a walk among huge blocks of stone leads out on to the +ridge of Scafell, close to the head of Deep Gill. + +The way is not easy to miss, but in descending--especially in misty +weather--mistakes are often made, either in finding the entrance at the +top or the steps at the bottom. The latter difficulty is the more +serious, but may be obviated by keeping close to the foot of the cliff +on the left hand and making straight for Mickledoor ridge; when further +progress is barred, the exit is reached by a short descent to the right. + + +=Scafell Pikes=--the highest mountain in England (3,210 ft.). Curiously +enough the name seems to be very modern. Till quite the end of last +century it was always known as 'The Pikes,' and it was only when careful +surveys promoted it that it became necessary to add the name of its +finer-shaped and better-known neighbour, to show what 'Pikes' were being +spoken of. The present name, therefore, and the older form, 'Pikes of +Scafell,' really mean 'The Pikes near Scafell.' + +On the Eskdale side there are a few climbs, including _Doe Crag_; but +the best are on the side of _Great End_ and _Lingmell_, which are merely +buttresses of it. + +[Illustration: SCAFELL PILLAR (SEEN ACROSS DEEP GILL)] + + +=Scafell Pillar= stands between _Deep Gill_ and _Steep Gill_. It has a +short side close to the summit ridge of _Scafell_, and a long side +towards the _Rake's Progress_. The first ascent was made on the short +side by the writer on September 3, 1884, and the first from the Rake's +Progress by Mr. Robinson and the writer on the 20th of the same month. + +[Illustration: SCAFELL PILLAR AND THE UPPER PITCH OF DEEP GILL] + +They climbed by way of _Steep Gill_ on to the Low Man, and thence to the +High Man. On July 15, 1888, a way was made up the outside of the rock +from near the foot of _Steep Gill_ by Messrs. Slingsby, Hastings, E. +Hopkinson, and the writer. Miss Corder made the first lady's ascent by +the short way (August 1887), and Miss M. Watson the first by the outside +route (June 1890), both ladies having the advantage of Mr. Robinson's +escort. Marvellous feats of climbing and engineering have been performed +by the brothers Hopkinson in their endeavours to make a way direct into +_Deep Gill_, in which they have not entirely succeeded. + + +=Scree=: the _debris_ of decaying rocks, forming a talus on the lower +parts of a mountain. It is the Icelandic 'skrida.' + + +=Screes (The).=--A long range flanking Wastwater on the south-west. They +are often called the 'Wastdale' Screes, but it appears from Hutchinson +that they were in his time known as the 'Eskdale' Screes, and--like most +hills at that period--were said to be a mile high. Apparently in those +days they thought less of the climbs on it than of the sheep-runs, which +latter are in Eskdale. The rock is of very loose construction and comes +away at a touch, or without one, sometimes many tons at a time; but it +improves towards the foot of the lake, and the great bastion opposite +Wastdale Hall is full of magnificent climbing. The writer, at the +suggestion of Mr. G. Musgrave, tried the great gully both alone and in +good company, namely, that of two of the party which ultimately +succeeded. Dr. Collie contributed a vivid account of the first ascent to +the _Scottish Mountaineering Journal_, a publication which should be +better known to climbers. The party found no difficulty till they were +in the left-hand branch above the point where the gully divides, and the +first pitch gave them some trouble, as the stream, being frozen, formed +a cascade of ice, and they were forced on to the buttress which divides +the two gullies. Hastings was sent on to prospect, whilst I had to back +him up as far as possible. With considerable trouble he managed to +traverse back to the left into the main gully, using infinitesimal knobs +of rock for hand and foot hold. We then followed him, and found +ourselves in a narrow cleft cut far into the side of the hill. +Perpendicular walls rose on either side for several hundred feet; above +us stretched cascade after cascade of solid ice, always at a very steep +angle, and sometimes perpendicular. Up these we cut our way with our +axes, sometimes being helped by making the steps close to the walls on +either side, and using any small inequalities on the rock-face to steady +us in our steps. At last we came to the final pitch. Far up above at the +top, the stream coming over an overhanging ledge on the right had frozen +into masses of insecure icicles, some being 20 ft. to 30 ft. long. +Obviously we could not climb up these. However, at the left-hand corner +at the top of the pitch a rock was wedged, which overhung, leaving +underneath a cave of considerable size. We managed to get as far up as +the cave, in which we placed Robinson, where he hitched himself to a +jammed boulder at the back. I was placed in a somewhat insecure +position; my right foot occupied a capacious hole cut in the bottom of +the icicles, whilst my left was far away on the other side of the gully +on a small, but obliging, shelf in the rock-face. In this interesting +attitude, like the Colossus of Rhodes, I spanned the gulf, and was +anchored both to the boulder and to Robinson as well. Then Hastings, +with considerable agility, climbed on to my shoulders. From that exalted +position he could reach the edge of the overhanging stone underneath +which Robinson was shivering, and was thus enabled to pull himself up on +to the top. Robinson and I afterwards ascended this formidable place by +means of the moral support of the rope alone. But I know that in my +case, if that moral support had not been capable of standing the strain +produced by a dead weight of about ten stone, I should probably have +been spoiling a patch of snow several hundreds of feet lower down the +gill. Above this pitch the climbing is easier as the gully opens out.' + +[Illustration: WASTWATER AND THE SCREES +A, A long gully, not very difficult; B, The great gully, extremely +difficult; C, A minor gully, also very difficult.] + + +=Sergeant Crag.=--About half a mile up the valley of Longstrath, which +bounds Glaramara on the east as Borrowdale does on the west, there is a +line of crag on the left hand. The part nearest to Eagle Crag is called +Sergeant Crag, and is some 300 ft. higher than the other, which is Bull +Crag. + +In these rocks there is a very fine gully, discovered in 1886 by Mr. +Robinson and the writer, for whom a high wet slab of smooth slate proved +too difficult. In September last the former returned to the attack +accompanied by Mr. O.G. Jones, who, taking a different and to all +appearance more difficult way to the right, forced his way over the two +stones which form the pitch. His companion followed by working out of +the gill to the right and in again above the obstacle, and this way has +commended itself to later climbers. + +'There are six large pitches and several small ones. The total climb +must be 500 ft., and the climbing is of exceptional interest all the +way.' + + +=Shamrock=, in Cumberland, stands just east of the _Pillar Rock_, +divided from it only by _Walker's Gully_. + +Seen from _Scarf Gap_ it looks very well, and its outline can with +difficulty be distinguished from that of the main rock. It derives its +name (bestowed on it about 1882) from this deceptive character. The face +of it towards the north affords a good climb, and on the east side there +is a gully, which is choked near the top by a block, which makes one of +the stiffest pitches in all Cumberland. It was first climbed, with the +aid of deep snow, by a party led by Messrs. Hastings and E. Haskett +Smith in March 1887, and in December 1890 Mr. Hastings succeeded in +repeating his ascent without any snowdrift to help him, as did Dr. +Collier exactly two years later. + + +=Sharp Edge=, on Saddleback, runs along the north side of Scales Tarn. +Mr. Prior's 'Guide' observes: 'The ascent (or descent) by this Edge is +considered something of an exploit, but without sufficient reason. To a +giddy head, indeed, it is unquestionably several degrees worse than +Striding Edge, which it somewhat resembles; possibly, to a head so +constituted, just without the limits of safety, as Striding Edge is +decidedly well within them. The main difficulty lies in the descent of +the cliff above the "Edge," and in the two or three rocky knolls by +which this cliff connects itself with the latter, and from which there +is an unpleasant drop on each side.... Excepting _head_, however, no +other quality of a cragsman is required for Sharp Edge; the footing is +ample, and the hands would be less called into requisition than even on +Striding Edge.' + +This is a very just estimate, but it need hardly be said that not only +Sharp Edge but also those on the Threlkeld side undergo marvellous +changes in winter, and then give splendid chances of real mountaineering +practice. + + +=Shuttenoer= is mentioned by more than one of the old authorities as one +of the rocks at Lowdore between which the water falls. My belief is that +the intelligent travellers of that date, not having mastered the +'Cummerlan' mak o' toak,' mistook for the name of the rock what was +merely intended for a casual description of it, namely, 'Shuttan' +ower'--'shooting over,' 'projecting.' + + +=Sike=: a rill in marshy ground. + + +=Silver Howe= (1,345 ft.), near Grasmere, is only notable as being the +scene of the annual fell race, or 'Guides' race,' as it is sometimes +called, though there are few guides, and of them very few would have any +chance of success in this race. The course is uphill to a flag and down +again. The time is generally about ten minutes to go up and something +less than five minutes to come down. It is a pretty race to watch, but +the scientific interest for mountaineers would be increased if the +course were free from all obstacles and of accurately measured height +and length. + + +=Skew Gill.=--A curious deep channel in the Wastdale side of Great End, +giving a convenient approach to the foot of the gullies on the other +side. To go by Grainy Gill and this one, and so up Cust's Gully, has for +many years been the regulation expedition for the first day of a winter +sojourn at Wastdale Head. + + +=Skiddaw= (Cumberland, sh. 56) is 3,058 ft. high, 'with two heads like +unto _Parnassus_,' as old Camden observed, and Wordsworth and others +have repeated it after him. On this characteristic, which is not very +strongly marked, many derivations of the name have been based. In older +writings, however, the word much more commonly ends in _-ow_, a +termination which in countless instances represents the well-known word +'how.' Whatever its name may signify, Skiddaw is not a mountaineer's +mountain, and no amount of snow and ice can make it so. As a local bard +has truly sung: + + Laal brag it is for any man + To clim oop Skidder side; + Auld wives and barns on Jackasses + To tippy twop ma ride. + +It is true that there are great facilities for procuring gingerbeer on +the way, but even that luxury is scarcely an adequate compensation for +the complete absence of anything like a respectable rock on the +mountain. Keswick has Skiddaw almost entirely to itself, and on the +matter of routes it will be enough to say that by the back of Latrigg +and the gingerbeer shanties is the easiest way, and by Millbeck and +Carlside is the shortest and quickest, being made up of two miles of +good road and of two of steep fell as against five miles of easy +hillside. + +The mountain used to enjoy a great reputation, and is put first in +Camden's 'Byword': + + Skiddaw, Lauvellin and Casticand + Are the highest hills in all England, + +and the early climbers of it were deeply impressed with the importance +of their adventurous undertaking. + +Mrs. Radcliffe, in 1795, ascended 'this tremendous mountain,' and says +that when they were still more than a mile from the summit 'the air now +became very thin,' and 'the way was indeed dreadfully sublime.' On +reaching the top they 'stood on a pinnacle commanding the whole dome of +the sky,' but unluckily 'the German Ocean was so far off as to be +discernible only like a mist.' + +Even Hutchinson remarks that, on the top, 'the air was remarkably sharp +and thin compared with that of the valley, and respiration seemed to be +performed with a kind of oppression.' + +Skiddaw reserves what little natural ferocity it has for _Dead Crags_ on +the north side, but there are also a few rocky bits on the side which +faces Bassenthwaite Water. + + +=Smoking Rock= is at the head of _Great Doup_, east of the _Pillar +Stone_ and level with the ridge of the _Pillar Fell_. For fear of the +name being adduced as a proof of recent volcanic action it is well to +say that it is so called not as itself smoking, but because a well-known +climber of the old school loved to smoke an evening pipe upon it. + +It affords a pleasant climb taken on the outside straight up from the +foot. This was done by a party of four, of whom the writer was one, on +June 5, 1889. See a note in the Wastdale Head Visitors' Book at p. 250. + + +=Somersetshire= has little to attract the mountaineer, except the very +remarkable limestone scenery on the south side of the Mendips at +Cheddar, Ebber and Wookey. There are magnificent cliffs and pinnacles, +especially at the first-named place, but not many bits of satisfactory +climbing. The cliffs are rotten at one point, unclimbably vertical at +another, and perhaps at a third the climber is pestered by clouds of +angry jackdaws. Ebber Rocks are rather more broken, but on the whole the +climbing is not worth much at either place, though the scenery both +above ground and below it is such as no one ought to miss. + + +=Stand.=--See under _Broad Stand_. + + +=Steep Gill.=--On Scafell, forming the boundary of the Scafell Pillar on +the Mickledoor side. It contains a very striking vertical chimney more +than 50 ft. high, the upper part of which is rather a tight fit for any +but the slimmest figures. At the foot of this chimney on the right-hand +side there is an exit by which either the ridge of the Scafell Pillar +can be reached or the chimney circumvented. The Gill becomes very wet +and steep just below the top, and extreme care is necessary in following +it out on to the neck between Scafell Pillar and the mountain. Except in +dry weather this bit may be considered a little dangerous. It is usual +and more interesting to work out here by a grass ledge on the right on +to the Low Man. The Gill was discovered by the writer, and first climbed +by him and Mr. Robinson in September 1884. A note by the former in the +Visitors' Book at Wastdale Head describes it as 'a chimney of unusual +steepness and severity.' The name is quite recent. + + +=Steeple.=--In Cumberland, separated from _Pillar Fell_ by _Wind Gap_. +There are some grand scrambles on the Ennerdale side of it, and it is +extremely interesting to the student of mountain structure to note the +points of parallelism between this group and that of _Scafell_, _Wind +Gap_, of course, representing _Mickledoor_. + + +=Stirrup Crag=, on the north end of Yewbarrow, is probably the very +nearest climb to Wastdale Head, and may therefore be useful in cases +when a wet day clears up towards evening and exercise within easy reach +is required. The quickest way to it is to cross the beck by the bridge +behind the inn and go up the hill straight to the rectangular clump of +larches, and then on beyond it in the same direction. There is a nice +little climb on an isolated bit of rock, noted by Mr. Robinson in the +Wastdale book, at Easter in 1888. The little rock should be crossed from +north to south and the same course continued up to the open fell above, +after which a short descent towards Door Head, keeping rather to the +left hand, will bring to light several small but pretty rock-problems. + + +=Striding Edge=, a ridge on the east side of _Helvellyn_, is called in +one of the old maps _Strathon Edge_. The difficulties of it have been +absurdly exaggerated. Miss Braddon wrote amusingly about the exploits +upon it of a certain gallant colonel, identified by Colonel Barrow with +himself. In winter it is sometimes an exciting approach to _Helvellyn_, +in summer just a pleasant walk. The idea of its danger probably arose +from the celebrity given to the death of Charles Gough by the poems of +Scott and Wordsworth. + + +=Sty Head.=--This name applies to the top only of the pass from +Borrowdale to Wastdale, though often incorrectly used to designate the +whole way from Seathwaite to Wastdale Head. The natives always speak of +the whole pass as _The Sty_ or _The Stee_. Hutchinson says, and the +statement has been repeated by Lord Macaulay, that this was at one time +the only road between Keswick and the West Coast. It has lately been +proposed to construct a driving road across it, but the project is not +likely to be carried out for some time. The way is not easy to find on a +really dark night. Some years ago two tourists who had been benighted on +the pass wrote a most amusing account of their experiences in the +_Graphic_, and it is only a year or two since two well-known Cumberland +climbers were caught in the same ignominious fashion. + + +=Swarthbeck=, in Westmorland, and on the east shore of Ullswater and the +west slope of _Arthur's Pike_, would appear to be identical with the +'chasm' noticed by Mr. Radcliffe in 1795. 'Among the boldest fells that +breast the lake on the left shore are _Holling Fell_ and _Swarth Fell_, +now no longer boasting any part of the forest of Martindale, but showing +huge walls of naked rock and scars which many torrents have inflicted. +One channel only in this dry season retained its shining stream. The +chasm was dreadful, parting the mountain from the summit to the base.' +It occurred to Messrs. T. and E. Westmorland, of Penrith, to explore it, +and they found it to be a capital little climb. They published a bright +and vigorous account of their climb in a Penrith paper, in consequence +of which a good sprinkling of climbers have been induced to visit it. +The writer has cause to remember the steepness of this gill, for on one +occasion, just as the last few feet of the climb were being done, the +alpenstocks, which had been a great impediment all the way up, slipped +and fell, and were afterwards found on the scree at the very bottom. The +steamers stop at Howtown, about a mile further up the lake, and the inn +at that place is much the most convenient place to start from. + + +=Tarn Crag= (Cumberland, sh. 57) is a precipitous bit of not very sound +rock, perhaps 200 to 300 ft. in height, rising on the south-west side of +Bowscale Tarn. There is a better-known crag of this name just by Scales +Tarn on Saddleback, and, in fact, they are exceedingly numerous, which +is natural enough, seeing that it is essential to every genuine tarn +that it should be more or less under a precipice of some sort. + + +=Toe-scrape.=--May be defined as 'foot-hold at or below its minimum.' + + +=Tors=, on _Dartmoor_ (q.v.).--The word is also found in Derbyshire, +though not there applied to quite the same kind of rock. The Ordnance +also give it in some instances in the North of England; but there it is +by no means clear that they have taken pains to distinguish it from the +sound of the word 'haw' when there is a final _t_ in the preceding word. +What, for instance, they call Hen Tor may be in reality Hent Haw. In +Scotland _tor_ is, of course, a common component in place names. + +A few of the more interesting _tors_ are-- + + _Belliver Tor._--Turn squarely to the right two miles from Two + Bridges on the Moreton Hampstead Road. + + _Blackingstone Rock._--A true tor, though not on Dartmoor. It is a + fine piece of rock two miles east of Moreton Hampstead. It is of + loaf-like form, and gave a difficult climb until a staircase of + solid and obtrusive construction was put there. + + _Brent Tor._--A curious cone of volcanic rock a long mile + south-west of Brentor Station, and fully four miles north of + Tavistock. + + _Fur Tor._--About six miles in a northerly direction from Merivale + Bridge, Two Bridges, or Princetown. + + _Hey Tor._--Four miles west of Bovey Tracy; was quite a nice climb, + but has been spoilt by artificial aids. + +[Illustration: A TYPICAL TOR (HEY TOR, DARTMOOR)] + + + _Links (Great) Tor._--About two miles east of Bridestow station. + + _Longaford Tor._--Strike off to the left about halfway between Two + Bridges and Post Bridge. + + _Mis Tor (Great and Little)._--Two miles north from Merivale + Bridge. They are fine objects, especially the larger. + + _Row Tor._--On the West Dart some four miles north of Two Bridges. + It has a very striking block of granite on it. + + _Sheep's Tor._--About two miles east of Dousland Station. It is + finely shaped. + + _Shellstone Tor._--Near Throwleigh, about halfway between Chagford + and Oakhampton. + + _Staple Tor._--Under a mile north-west from Merivale Bridge, and + four miles east of Tavistock. + + _Vixen Tor._--One mile from Merivale Bridge, or four miles north + from Dousland Station. It is near the Walkham River, and is almost + the only tor which has a distinct reputation as a climb. It is got + at by means of the cleft shown in the illustration. Here it is + usual to 'back up.' The struggles of generations of climbers are + said to have communicated a high polish to the surface of the + cleft. + + _Watern Tor._--Five or six miles west of Chagford, on the left bank + of the North Teign. It has three towers of friable granite much + weathered. + + _Yar Tor._--Halfway between Two Bridges and Buckland-in-the-Moor; + it has a curiously fortified appearance. + + +=Vixen Tor.=--One of the finest of the Devonshire _Tors_ (q.v.). + +[Illustration: VIXEN TOR (DARTMOOR)] + + +=Walker's Gully= is the precipice in which ends the East Scree, between +the _Pillar Rock_ and the _Shamrock_. It is named after an unfortunate +youth of seventeen who was killed by falling over it on Good Friday, +1883. He had reached the rock with four companions, and found there two +climbers from Bolton, who had been trying for nearly three hours to find +a way up, and were apparently then standing in or near Jordan Gap. +Seeing Walker, they shouted to him for advice as to the ascent. He +thereupon endeavoured to join them by sliding down on the snow; but he +had miscalculated the pace, and when he reached the rock at which he had +aimed, it was only to find that his impetus was too powerful to be +arrested. He shot off to one side, rolled over once or twice, and then +darted away down the steep East Scree, passing the Bolton men, who could +not see him owing to that position, and disappeared over the precipice. + + +=Wallow Crag=, a long mile south of Keswick, is abrupt but not high, and +somewhat incumbered by trees. It contains _Lady's Rake_, and _Falcon +Crag_ is really a continuation of it. Both are too near Keswick to +please climbers, who do not enjoy having their every movement watched by +waggon-loads of excursionists. + + +=Wanthwaite Crags= (Cumberland, sh. 64) rise on the east side of the +stream which flows, or used to flow, from Thirlmere. There is good +climbing in them, and they are easily reached from Keswick (1 hour), or +Grasmere, taking the Keswick coach as far as the foot of Thirlmere; and +Threlkeld station is nearer still (half an hour). The rocky part has a +height of 600 to 700 ft. Bram Crag, just a little south, is really part +of it. + + +=Wastdale.=--There are two valleys of this name, one near Shap in +Westmorland, and the other and more famous in Cumberland, at the head of +Wastwater. It is the Chamouni of England, and would be the Zermatt also, +only it lacks the charm of a railway. Fine climbs abound among the +various fells which hem it closely in. (See under the heads of +_Scafell_, _Lingmell_, _Great Gable_, _Pillar_, _Yewbarrow_, _Steeple_, +_Red Pike_, and _Great End_.) A well-filled 'Climbing book' is kept at +the inn, where also are some fine rock-views and a very complete set of +large-scale maps. Men with luggage must drive up from Drigg Station; +those who have none can walk over _Burnmoor_ from Boot Station in one +hour and a half or less. + + +=Westmorland=, as a climber's county, is second only to Cumberland. +Langdale is perhaps the pick of it, but about Patterdale, Mardale, and +Kentdale abundant work may be found, and there are few parts of the +whole county which have not small local climbs of good quality set in +the midst of charming scenery. Defoe's account of it is extremely +amusing: + +'I now entered _Westmorland_, a county eminent only for being the +wildest, most barren, and frightful of any that I have passed over in +_England_ or in _Wales_. The west side, which borders on _Cumberland_, +is indeed bounded by a chain of almost unpassable Mountains, which in +the language of the country are called _Fells_.... It must be owned, +however, that here are some very pleasant manufacturing towns.' + +The notion of lake scenery being rendered tolerable by manufacturing +towns is one which may be recommended to the Defence Society; but Mr. +Defoe has not done yet: + +'When we entered at the South Part of this County, I began indeed to +think of the mountains of Snowden in North Wales, seeing nothing round +me in many places but unpassable Hills whose tops covered with snow +seemed to tell us all the pleasant part of England was at an end.' + + +=Westmorland's Cairn= is a conspicuous object at the edge nearest to +Wastwater of the summit plateau of _Great Gable_. There is a wide-spread +impression that this cairn, which is built in a style which would do +credit to a professional 'waller,' was intended to celebrate a climb; +but Messrs. T. and E. Westmorland, of Penrith, who built it in July +1876, wished to mark a point from which they 'fearlessly assert that the +detail view far surpasses any view from _Scafell Pikes_, _Helvellyn_, or +_Skiddaw_, or even of the whole Lake District.' At the same time the +short cliff on the edge of which the cairn stands is full of neat +'problems,' and it is customary to pay it a visit on the way to Gable +Top after a climb on the _Napes_. + + +=Wetherlam=, in Lancashire, is about 2,500 ft., and has some crags on +the north side among which here and there good climbing may be found. +They can be reached in about an hour and a half from either Coniston or +the inn at Skelwith Bridge. In an article signed 'H.A.G.' (i.e. +Gwynne), which appeared in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ in April 1892, the +following description of a part of it is given: 'On the west face there +is a bold cliff that stands between two steep gullies. The cliff itself +can be climbed, and in winter either of the gullies would afford a good +hour's hard step-cutting. Just now, after the late snowstorm, the +mountaineer would have the excitement of cutting through a snow-cornice +when he arrives at the top. The precipice itself is fairly easy. I +happened to find it in very bad condition. All the rocks were sheeted +with ice and extremely dangerous. In one part there was a narrow, steep +gully ending in a fall. It was full of snow and looked solid. I had +scarcely put my foot on it when the snow slipped away with a hiss and +left me grabbing at a knob of iced rock that luckily was small enough +for my grasp. This climb, however, in ordinary weather is by no means +difficult.' + + +=Whernside=, in Yorkshire, was considered even as late as 1770 to be the +highest mountain in England, 4,050 ft. above the sea. + + +=White Gill=, in Langdale, Westmorland, nearly at the back of the inn at +_Millbeck_, derives its chief interest from the loss of the two Greens +there, so graphically described by De Quincey. + +This and the other gills between it and _Stickle Tarn_ afford good +climbing up the walls by which they are enclosed. + + +=Winter Climbs.=--Only a few years ago a man who announced that he was +going to the Lakes in the depth of winter would have been thought mad. +Exclamations of this kind are even now not unfrequently called forth at +that season of the year; yet they seem to have little or no effect in +diminishing the number of those who year by year find themselves somehow +attracted to the little inns which lie at the foot of Snowdon or of +Scafell Pikes. + +On Swiss mountains winter excursions have been made even by ladies, and +perhaps the British public was first rendered familiar with the idea by +Mrs. Burnaby's book on the subject. But, in truth, the invention is no +new one, and those bold innovators who first dared to break through the +pale of custom and to visit North Wales or the Lakes in mid-winter were +richly repaid for their audacity; for there is hardly any time of year +at which a trip to Lakeland is more thoroughly enjoyable. + +In the first place, there is no crowd. You can be sure that you will get +a bed, and that the people of the house will not be, as they too often +are in the summer time, too much overworked to have time to make you +comfortable, or too full of custom to care much whether you are +comfortable or not. Out of doors there is the same delightful +difference. You stride cheerily along, freed for a time from the din of +toiling cities, and are not harassed at every turn by howling herds of +unappreciative 'trippers.' The few who do meet on the mountains are all +bent on the same errand and 'mean business'; half-hearted folk who have +not quite made up their minds whether they care for the mountains or +not, people who come to the Lakes for fashion's sake, or just to be +able to say that they have been there, are snugly at home coddling +themselves before the fire. You will have no companions but life-long +lovers of the mountains, and robust young fellows whose highest ambition +is to gain admission to the Alpine Club, or, having gained it, to learn +to wield with some appearance of dexterity the ponderous ice-axes which +are indispensable to the dignity of their position. Then what views are +to be had through the clear, frosty air! How different are the firm +outlines of those distant peaks from the hazy indistinctness which +usually falls to the lot of the summer tourist! What sensation is more +delightful than that of tramping along while the crisp snow crunches +under foot, and gazing upward at the lean black crags standing boldly +out from the long smooth slopes of dazzling white! There is no great +variety of colour; for the rocks, though a few are reddish, are for the +most part of grey in varying shades; yet there is no monotony. + +It is true that January days have one fault; they are too short. Or +shall we not rather say that they seem so because--like youth, like life +itself--they are delightful? They would not be too short if they were +passed (let us say) in breaking stones by the roadside. After all, the +hills hereabouts are not so big but that in eight or nine hours of brisk +exertion a very satisfactory day's work can be accomplished. In short, +youth and strength (and no one can be said to have left these behind who +can still derive enjoyment from a winter's day on the Fells) can hardly +find a more delightful way of spending a week of fine frosty weather. + + +=Wrynose.=--The pass between Dunnerdale and Little Langdale, and the +meeting-point of the three counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, and +Lancashire. + +It would seem that we are poorer than our ancestors by one mountain, for +all the old authorities speak of this as a stupendous peak. _Defoe's +Tour_ (1753) says: 'Wrynose, one of its highest Hills, is remarkable for +its three Shire Stones, a Foot Distance each.' The name properly +understood would have put them right. The natives pronounce it 'raynus,' +and I have not the least doubt that it represents 'Raven's Hause.' +Indeed, in early charters the form 'Wreneshals' is actually found, and +the intermediate form 'Wrenose' is found in a sixteenth-century map. + + +=Yewbarrow= (2,058 ft.; Cumberland sh. 74) is a narrow ridge a couple of +miles long, which, seen end-on from the shore of Wastwater, has all the +appearance of a sharp peak. There is climbing at the north end about +_Door Head_ and _Stirrup Crag_, while towards the south end there are +two very interesting square-cut 'doors' in the summit ridge, apparently +due to 'intrusive dykes,' and beyond them the little climb called Bell +Rib End. + + +=Yorkshire= (see _Attermire_, _Calf_, _Craven_, _Gordale_, +_Ingleborough_, _Malham_, _Micklefell_, _Penyghent_, _Pot-holes_, +_Whernside_)--a county whose uplands fall naturally into three great +divisions, only one of which, however, demands the attention of the +mountaineer. The chalk _Wolds_ in the East Riding, and the moorland +group formed by the _Hambleton_ and _Cleveland Hills_, may be dismissed +here with a mere mention. The third division, which constitutes a +portion of the _Pennine Chain_, and, entering the county from +Westmorland and Durham on the north, stretches in an unbroken line down +its western border to Derbyshire on the south, approaches more nearly to +the mountain standard. Even in this division, however, only that portion +which lies to the north of Skipton attains to any considerable +importance. It is in this latter district--in _Craven_, that is, and in +the valleys of the Yore, the Swale, and the Tees--that we must look for +the finest hill scenery in Yorkshire. Most of these mountains consist of +limestone, capped in many cases by millstone grit, and of such summits +some twenty-five or thirty rise to a height of 2,000 ft. Very few of +them, however, exhibit individuality of outline, and, with the exception +of the low lines of limestone precipice which occasionally girdle them, +and of the wasting mill-stone bluffs which, as in the case of _Pen-hill_ +or _Ingleborough_, sometimes guard their highest slopes, they are +altogether innocent of crag. If any climbing is to be found at all, it +will probably be among the numerous 'pot-holes,' or on the limestone +'scars,' such as _Attermire_ or _Gordale_, which mark the line of the +Craven Fault. The _Howgill Fells_, north of Sedburgh, form an exception +to the above remarks. (See _Calf_.) + +Although the climber may find little opportunity to exercise his art +among the Yorkshire mountains, yet the ordinary hill-lover will discover +ample recompense for the time spent in an exploration of these hills and +dales. The ascent of _Micklefell_, of _Great Whernside_, of _Penyghent_, +or of _Ingleborough_, whilst not lacking altogether the excitement of +mountain climbing, will introduce him to many scenes of novel character +and of astonishing beauty. It is only fair to mention that the Yorkshire +waterfalls are second to few in the kingdom. + +It is necessary to add a word or two with regard to the coast. The +rapidly wasting cliffs to the south of Flamborough are too insignificant +for further notice. Flamborough Head, where the chalk attains to a +height of 436 ft., is noticed elsewhere. (See _Chalk_.) The line of +coast from Flamborough to Saltburn, passing Filey, Scarborough, and +Whitby, presents an almost unbroken stretch of cliff, which, however, +will find greater favour with the landscape-lover than the climber. +These cliffs, which consist chiefly of the oolite and lias series, are +throughout crumbling and insecure, and are very frequently composed of +little more than clay and shale. _Rockcliff_, or _Boulby Cliff_, +however, near Staithes, merits a certain amount of attention. In +addition to not a little boldness of outline, it enjoys--or, at any +rate, enjoyed--the reputation of being the highest cliff (660 ft.) on +the English coast. + + +PRINTED BY +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE +LONDON + + + + +THE BADMINTON LIBRARY. +Edited by the DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. and A.E.T. WATSON. + + +ATHLETICS AND FOOTBALL. By MONTAGUE SHEARMAN. With an Introduction by +SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q.C. M.P. With 51 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ +6_d._ + +BIG GAME SHOOTING. By CLIVE PHILLIPPS-WOLLEY. With Contributions by Sir +SAMUEL W. BAKER, W.C. OSWELL, F.J. JACKSON, WARBURTON PIKE, F.C. +SELOUS, LIEUT.-COL. R. HEBER PERCY, ARNOLD PIKE, Major ALGERNON C. HEBER +PERCY, W.A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN, &c. + +Vol. I. Africa and America. With 20 Plates and 57 Illustrations in the +Text. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +Vol. II. Europe, Asia, and the Arctic Regions. With 17 Plates and 56 +Illustrations in the Text. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +BOATING. By W.B. WOODGATE. With an Introduction by the Rev. EDMOND +WARRE, D.D. and a Chapter on 'Rowing at Eton' by R. HARVEY MASON. With +49 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +COURSING AND FALCONRY. By HARDING COX and the Hon. GERALD LASCELLES. +With 76 Illustrations. Cr. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +CRICKET. By A.G. STEEL and the Hon. R.H. LYTTELTON. With Contributions +by ANDREW LANG, R.A.H. MITCHELL, W.G. GRACE, and F. GALE. With 64 +Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +CYCLING. By VISCOUNT BURY, K.C.M.G. (the Earl of Albemarle), and G. LACY +HILLIER. With 89 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +DRIVING. By His Grace the DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. With 65 Illustrations. +Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +FENCING, BOXING, and WRESTLING. By WALTER H. POLLOCK, F.O. GROVE, C. +PREVOST, E.B. MITCHELL, and WALTER ARMSTRONG. With 42 Illustrations. +Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +FISHING. By H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL. With Contributions by the MARQUIS +OF EXETER, HENRY R. FRANCIS, Major JOHN P. TRAHERNE, FREDERIC M. +HALFORD, G. CHRISTOPHER DAVIES, R.B. MARSTON, &c. + +Vol. I. Salmon and Trout. With 158 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ +6_d._ + +Vol. II. Pike and other Coarse Fish. With 133 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. +10_s._ 6_d._ + +GOLF. By HORACE G. HUTCHINSON, the Right Hon. A.J. BALFOUR, M.P. Sir +WALTER G. SIMPSON, Bart. LORD WELLWOOD, H.S.C. EVERARD, ANDREW LANG, +and other Writers. With 89 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +HUNTING. By the DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. and MOWBRAY MORRIS. With +Contributions by the EARL OF SUFFOLK AND BERKSHIRE, Rev. E.W.L. +DAVIES, DIGBY COLLINS, Sir MARTEINE LLOYD, GEORGE H. LONGMAN, J.C. +GIBBONS, and ALFRED E.T. WATSON. With 60 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. +10_s._ 6_d._ + +MOUNTAINEERING. By C.T. DENT, with Contributions by W.M. CONWAY, D.W. +FRESHFIELD, C.E. MATHEWS, C. PILKINGTON, Sir F. POLLOCK, H.G. WILLINK, +and an Introduction by Mr. JUSTICE WILLS. With 108 Illustrations. Crown +8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +RACING AND STEEPLE-CHASING. _Racing_: By the EARL OF SUFFOLK AND +BERKSHIRE and W.G. CRAVEN. With a Contribution by the Hon. F. LAWLEY. +_Steeple-chasing_: By ARTHUR COVENTRY and ALFRED E.T. WATSON. With 58 +Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +RIDING AND POLO. By Captain ROBERT WEIR, Riding Master, R.H.G. and J. +MORAY BROWN. With Contributions by the DUKE OF BEAUFORT, the EARL OF +SUFFOLK AND BERKSHIRE, the EARL OF ONSLOW, E.L. ANDERSON, and ALFRED E. +T. WATSON. With 59 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +SHOOTING. By LORD WALSINGHAM and Sir RALPH PAYNE-GALLWEY, Bart. With +Contributions by LORD LOVAT, LORD CHARLES LENNOX KERR, the Hon. G. +LASCELLES, and A.J. STUART-WORTLEY. + +Vol. I. Field and Covert. With 105 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._6_d._ + +Vol. II. Moor and Marsh. With 65 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +SKATING, CURLING, TOBOGGANING, and other ICE SPORTS. By J.M. HEATHCOTE, +C.G. TEBBUTT, T. MAXWELL WITHAM, the Rev. JOHN KERR, ORMOND HAKE, and +HENRY A. BUCK. With 284 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +SWIMMING. By ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR and WILLIAM HENRY, Hon. Secs. of the +Life-Saving Society. With 119 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +TENNIS, LAWN TENNIS, RACKETS, and FIVES. By J.M. and C.G. HEATHCOTE, +E.O. PLEYDELL-BOUVERIE, and A.C. AINGER. With Contributions by the +Hon. A. LYTTELTON, W.C. MARSHALL, Miss L. DODD, H.W.W. WILBERFORCE, +H.F. LAWFORD, &c. With 79 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ + +YACHTING. By Sir EDWARD SULLIVAN, LORD BRASSEY, R.T. PRITCHETT, the +EARL OF ONSLOW, LEWIS HERRESHOFF, &c. With 309 Illustrations. 2 vols. +Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._ each. + + +London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. + +... +Transcriber's note: Inconsistent hyphenation is as in the original. +... + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Climbing in The British Isles. Vol. 1 +- England, by W. P. 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