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Multi-activity day: Friday 26th September 2014

27/9/2014

Gorge Scrambling - Stickle Ghyll

A last minute booking from Zain and his friends saw us out at Hodge Close quarry for Abseiling this morning.

The weather was perfect, clearing skies and light winds. All completed the 40 metre abseil without hesitation.

After some lunch we headed over to Langdale for Gorge Scrambling in Stickle Ghyll.

The water level was up slightly after last nights rain, but still very low. The conditions allowed us to tackle some of the waterfalls that would otherwise prove too much.

The lads were very keen on getting wet, very wet! Loads of swimming at every opportunity, even the shallow pools. With a mix of jumps, swims, waterfall scrambles and climbs a fabulous afternoon was had under the Lakeland sunshine.

Thanks for a great day guys, hope to see you all again soon.

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Pillar Rock - Wednesday 24th September 2014

24/9/2014

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The second time in a week I find myself in Ennerdale and en-route to the amazing venue of Pillar Rock.
Duncan is working his way through the Nuttall's and Birkett's. High Man on Pillar Rock is last on the list of Birkett's, so a significant day.
Having climbed previously, but not for a while, Duncan decided to hire us to help with the technical ascent and descent of High Man.

From Gatesgarth in Buttermere, we walked via Scarth Gap into Ennerdale, across the River Liza and struck straight up the hillside beneath the mighty Pillar. Thankfully the path was fairly good and we very quickly gained height.

A quick breather and snack whilst viewing our route (Slab & Notch) and we were off. Enjoying this excellent climb covering really fantastic ground. The moves never difficult but the terrain always serious.

We climbed in the sun and sheltered from the wind, but could here the wind howling higher up. Sure enough it was blowy on top of High Man, as it was in the narrow defile of Jordan Gap, which we abseiled into.

We returned via the 'high level traverse' and stopped off for a brew at Black Sail YHA. What a fab place that is, such an idyllic location.

Thanks for a good day out Duncan.

Me leading up to the Notch

Duncan on High Man

Black Sail YHA

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High Man, Pillar Rock: Monday 22nd September 2014

23/9/2014

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Today I've been working on Pillar Rock for Highpoint Mountain Guides.

David, from Switzerland was super keen to stand on top of High Man on Pillar. Not being a climber he took the sensible decision to hire a guide for the day.

We approached from Wasdale Head, walking up Mosedale to Black Sail Pass, David then summited Looking Stead shortly before we joined the 'High Level Traverse' to the mighty Pillar Rock.

For anyone yet to see this mega-rock, what are you waiting for? This is a must see / do. The scenery is as inspiring as anything i've seen in the UK, and even David (remember he's from Switzerland) was absolutely gobsmacked by the surroundings.

The high level traverse path is easy to follow, with cairns along the way, the most prominent being Robinson's Cairn. From here the full view of Pillar opens up.

Continue over the Shamrock to reach Pisgah, enjoy some lunch, then go climb.

Slab & Notch route is a moderate rock climb of around 50 metres. Never difficult if the rock is dry, but can be tricky in the wet, beware.

From the summit, the best way down is an abseil into Jordan Gap. From here a fitting continuation would be a short grade 3 scramble out right (looking towards Pisgah) onto very exposed terrain but with good holds. This soon reaches the lesser summit of Pisgah.

We continued to the true summit of Pillar to round the day off. Views opened up nicely with all of the Lakeland mountains being visible.

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Striding Edge, Helvellyn: Thursday 28th August 2014

23/9/2014

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Today was day 3 with father & son team Scott & Scott.

A few ideas had been bounced around as to what to do, and with an eye to the weather forecast, we elected Striding Edge on Helvellyn.

From the YHA above Glenridding we blasted our way to Red Tarn, a quick breather here whilst looking at map skills and before we had chance for a sit down, it was off again full steam ahead for the ridge.

This speed was for good reason, the rain was due to arrive around 1pm and would be heavy.

Once on Striding Edge, we slowed the pace (a little), in order to enjoy the landscape, the rock, the atmosphere, and the beauty of our surroundings.

Sadly such ridges come to an end, but at least with this one the end is the fine summit of Helvellyn. There were fine views on offer, but we could also observe some nasty weather approaching, so lunch was delayed.

A hasty retreat down Swirral Edge brought us back to the shelter of Red Tarn.

The rain had started, but who cares, we'd had our fun, enjoyed dry rock and extensive summit views, now was the steady plod back to base.

3 hours round trip was pretty impressive. A short day out, but the mileage still done and a major Lakeland peak too.

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Lake District Navigation course: 18th - 19th April 2014

23/9/2014

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With the forecast looking amazing for the weekend ahead, I was in rather high spirits as I set off to meet with Simon, Jillian & Brenton for our weekend navigation course.

All were new to map & compass so we had a nice blank canvas and no bad habits.

Day 1 was spent around the Elterwater area, we ventured onto Dow Bank & Silver howe. Contours, map features, orienteering the map, scales, bearings, and timings were all covered and practised aplenty.
The sun shone loads, likely giving us all some mild sunburn! We enjoyed a long day out though, soaking up the far reaching views and enjoying being out on the fells.

Day 2 began with a refresher of the previous day, and soon after pacing was introduced and used to help us locate some quite indistinct features such as ring contours and re-entrants. Being off-path meant it was easy to find a quiet place for lunch with a view, before we continued on to the summit of Pike O' Blisco, and another food / view stop. Seeing the Langdale Pikes from here is absolutely breathtaking.

We then switched back to using contour interpretation as our navigational aid, this had us tracking down stream junctions and small tarns, over large distances. Being able to do this makes navigating more sociable and easier overall.
We had by now circumnavigated Cold Pike and time was pressing on, so it was time to navigate back to the road.

To most enjoyable days spent in very good company.

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Multi-pitch climbing in Langdale: 11th & 12th March 2014

14/9/2014

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This week it has been mostly very sunny indeed. And not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, we've been out making the most of it.

I think it's reasonable to say that the Lake District has some of the finest climbing in the country, and Langdale is definitely a jewel of Lakeland climbing, offering so much variety and mostly on South or South-west facing crags.

Over the last couple of days we've been to Upper Scout crag, White Ghyll crag, and Gimmer crag.

All excellent venues in their own right, each with a variety of grades to choose from.

Upper Scout is very easy to access, being only about 15 minutes from the road, the routes are friendly and offer plentiful protection for the lead climber. We climbed two routes here.

White Ghyll is just around the corner from Upper Scout, but could not be more different. A steep and imposing place with an atmosphere that can sometimes be quite gripping. This is a crag to visit when you want full value from your climbing day as it's likely at some point during the day it will feel intimidating. The routes are mostly fabulous and on excellent rock, again the protection is usually very good where it's needed most.

Gimmer crag is on a whole new level. Best crag in Langdale / best crag in the Lakes / best crag in the UK? It's certainly high on the list. Reasons for this are its amazing position high above the valley (this helps keep it quiet) providing beautiful views of the valley and to the Coniston fells. A good spread of grades means there's something for everyone here. The rock is extremely high quality, the routes are almost all brilliant, and there's in-situ abseil stations making multiple routes far more feasible. I think the best approach to this crag is to firstly climb Middlefell Buttress on Raven crag, this takes the toil out of gaining height and is a good route in its own right. From the top of here it's only about 20 minutes to the crag.
We climbed a 'classic rock' route today called 'Bracket & Slab'. We split this into about 5 pitches, each gave unique challenges and provided excellent climbing, all the belay ledges were large and comfortable too making for a very pleasant excursion.

If you haven't yet tried any of these crags, I can highly recommend them, and if you'd like a guide for your climb, do give us a call.

Let's all hope for a long hot summer.

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Snowdonia rock & sun: 6th - 9th September 2014

6/9/2014

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It was time for a few days away with Kate & Don.

After an overnight stop in Manchester we arrived in Nant Peris, full of ideas and energy.

We began at a small crag called 'Craig Caseg Fraith Isaf (Lower Speckled Mare Crag) in the Ogwen valley. All single pitch routes and mostly rather steep.
I can't understand why we hadn't already been here. It's minutes from the road, has a lovely outlook, and the rock quality is excellent. The local farmer did mention Plas y Brenin are here almost daily - maybe that's why!

We climbed 5 routes here from Severe - HVS 5b. I took 2 small falls which i'm quite proud of as falling isn't my thing! The gear was excellent and the rock steep, so a fall here would be as good as it gets. Still got up the route too.

After tea & cakes back at Tyn Lon, we headed back out up the Llanberis Pass to climb Nea on Clogwyn y Grochan.
Nea is a 'Classic Rock' route and one we'd previously tried to do (but the queue was too long!) so I was really keen.
The spell of dry weather also meant the initial section wasn't too wet. Still wet enough to have me loose confidence in my feet. The 1st pitch was a challenge, the 2nd pitch a breeze. The remaining sections I don't know because time was running away with us so we abseiled off as we prefer to finish our climbing in the daylight!

On Monday we drove to Tremadoc and walked up to Pant Ifan. This was my first time on Pant Ifan. Won't be ruching back there either.
After a lot of looking around we found the letters PMP scratched into the rock. The route we were wanting to climb was Poor Man's Peuterey (or PMP) so we deduced the climb would start here. How wrong we were!!!!
Without any mention of this in the new guidebook, this is in fact the start of a completely different route, quite unbelievable for this to be omitted from the otherwise excellent guidebook to the crag.

So after much faff, a retreat was made from this climb, and more searching until we found the start of PMP proper.
At the top of pitch 2 I was still unsure we were on the correct route due to the vagueness of descriptions. But no matter, the climbing had been fun and challenging so far. Pitch 3 was an absolute cracker, every move a delight, the exposure magnificent and the rock immaculate, oh why do these pitches have to end.

On Monday we stayed in the Llanberis Pass and climbed Flying Buttress on Dinas Cromlech.
It had been years since either of us had climbed this route and we had both forgotten what a treat it is. Great positions and a crux right at the top, perfect. Care needed for the steep descent gully though.

It's been lovely to get away for a break, it makes us realise how amazing the Lake District really is. Glad to be home.

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Multi-activity day: Friday 26th September 2014

Gorge Scrambling - Stickle Ghyll

Pillar Rock - Wednesday 24th September 2014

Me leading up to the Notch

Duncan on High Man

Black Sail YHA

High Man, Pillar Rock: Monday 22nd September 2014

Striding Edge, Helvellyn: Thursday 28th August 2014

Lake District Navigation course: 18th - 19th April 2014

Multi-pitch climbing in Langdale: 11th & 12th March 2014

Snowdonia rock & sun: 6th - 9th September 2014

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