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Mountaineering day in the Lake District

22/9/2015

After a night of torrential rain, a visit to Pavey Ark was always going to be an adventure! It didn't disappoint.

Myself & Adrian walked up by Stickle Ghyll as it thundered down the hillside, misty at first, soon the cloud began to break giving some outstanding views of Lingmoor and over to the Coniston fells.

The rain abated, the views opened up, all was well. The rock was still very wet, but our route is definitely best savoured on a damp day, and wow was it damp!!!

The first pitch, all 50 metres of it felt very greasy so we took extra care. The traverse pitch had a waterfall falling onto it, so it was hoods up and prepare for a drenching, oh yeh. This is the 'money' pitch and absolutely amazing, especially so with so much water on it, epic conditions.

Soon we were onto Jack's Rake, so a quick ascent up to the top, break for lunch and a swift descent back to the New Dungeon Ghyll.

A really top day out, thanks Adrian.

Mark

Guided-climbing-Crescent-climb-Pavey-Ark-Lake-District

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Weekend Gorge Scrambling & Abseiling fun

20/9/2015

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More great weather for this weekend and we were out making the most of it.

Saturday was Gorge Scrambling in Langdale with Bob and 11 friends. Due to some last minute parking issues, we started at The Old Dungeon Ghyll. This adds a few minutes extra walk onto the start of the activity, so, eager to liven this up, we decided to divert into the Dungeon Ghyll on our way to Stickle Ghyll. Although short, this was a fun diversion and well worth seeking out as a good introduction before the bigger waterfalls of Stickle Ghyll.

The flow levels in Stickle Ghyll were still high, making climbing the waterfalls and cascades loads of fun.

Many thanks Bob and all, great to meet you.

Sunday brought with it a more overcast start, although still dry.
I met with Jenny & Jenny in Ambleside and we headed over to Hodge Close quarry for Abseiling fun. Both were new to Abseiling, but it took no time at all for them to be gliding down the steep quarry walls like seasoned pros.
We did 2 separate abseils on either side of the quarry. Afterwards we also took a walk into the adjacent Parrock quarry to fully appreciate the scale of where we were, awesome place is this.

The day continued to brighten, with glimmers of sun from time to time.
Thanks Jenny & Jenny, really nice to meet you.

Here's a few photos of the weekend:
Mark

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Lakeland Hard Rock - Kipling Groove

17/9/2015

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With the sun shining and much dry rock in the Lakes, it was time to get up high on the mountain crags again.
Gimmer came top of the list, it often does.

We started off with NW Arete, a fine and long VS route giving 3 star climbing the whole way. A great way to reach Ash Tree Ledge. Sam led this pitch in fine style despite it still being out of the sun and very cold. Then it was straight on to the main event of the day, Kipling Groove. A 'Hard Rock' route of immense character and a strong natural line the whole way.
The first pitch is nice and easy, this gains a good ledge for a belay in preparation for the 'undercling' traverse!! Looking at this I was definitely having doubts, the exposure was pretty full-on, the foot holds looked small, and the handholds as yet unknown. Once established and using the undercling, this is a very straightforward pitch of climbing, just lean back and walk delicately across under the roofs, and remember to look down and enjoy the exposure, it's brilliant.

The top pitch was for Sam to lead, and this was to be the crux. After cruising the initial section, he started to experience difficulties just out of sight. I could sense Sam was getting tired and am fully aware this is not a good feeling to be having midway through a crux section. Eventually Sam's arms gave in, he slipped and took a fall! Thankfully his gear was excellent and he soon came to a halt a few metres lower down, no injuries and ready for another go. The arms had other ideas though, so after a few minutes he made a belay just below the crux and passed the leader batten to me, no pressure then!
I immediately saw why Sam was having such trouble on this section, it was very hard indeed and strenuous, so hanging around wasn't an option. After placing plenty more protection I went for it and with an almighty effort (and a little help from the gear) got through the crux, brilliant. It wasn't over yet though, a delicate foot traverse lay ahead, followed by a steep crack to finish, and with tired arms this felt really tough.

We reached the top, elated and exhausted, Sam even went for a lie down in the sun.

What can I say, this is a magnificent route, i'd love to climb it again.

Thanks Sam.

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Lakeland rock climbing extravaganza!

9/9/2015

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week have been full-on rock climbing days with a real mix of routes.

Stats = 566 metres of climbing and 26 pitches!

Monday & Wednesday I was out with Alexsi from Finland and this was whilst working for our friends at Highpoint Mountain Guides.
A full day at Raven crag in Langdale saw us bag: Centipede (Severe); Revelation (Hard Severe); Evening Wall (Severe); and Bilberry Buttress (Very Severe). The sun blazed down all day and Langdale was certainly looking it's very best. Despite the fine weather, the crag was pretty quiet all day.

On Tuesday I was out with long time rock climber and Alpinist Jane. She had Bowfell Buttress in her sights and had certainly picked a perfect day for it. More blazing sunshine, just what's needed for a high mountain crag. The walk in felt pretty tough due to the heat, but once on the route all was absolutely perfect, even a light breeze from time to time to help keep us cool.
Bowfell Buttress is a 5 pitch Hard Severe and a 'Classic Rock' route with all that that entails. Was lovely and refreshing to cool down in 'The Great Spout' afterwards.

Wednesday I was back out with Alexsi, this time we headed to Wallowbarrow crag in the Duddon valley. Today the weather was overcast and cooler, pretty much perfect for climbing.
We enjoyed 4 multi-pitch routes and only shared the whole crag with one other climbing team.
Our routes today were: Digitation (Very Severe); Thomas (Severe); Malediction Direct (Very Severe); and Bryanston (Mild Very Severe). All really good routes providing good climbing and positions throughout. The Duddon valley rarely fails to impress and today it was on its best behaviour and looking gorgeous.

Thanks to Jane, Alexsi and Joe for these great days out.

Mark

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Corporate group abseil at Hodge Close

7/9/2015

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Today has been a perfect late summer's day with sunshine and clear blue skies and I spent the morning abseiling with a corporate group from Manchester. Our venue was Hodge Close quarry and the views over to the Langdale Pikes were glorious. We also had the place to ourselves!

Joe was working with me so we were able to set up the short steep abseil and also the longer one on the opposite side of the quarry to give a bit of variety. After a short practice, everyone completed the first one and all but one went on to do the second!

Well done everyone and thanks for your company. Also thanks to Joe to for working with me and for some of the photos!

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A multi-activity end to the school holidays

1/9/2015

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A brilliant end to the school summer holidays, with some welcome sunshine and warmer conditions here in the Lake District.
We welcomed back the Hewitts and friends for a spot of Canyoning in Church Beck. Water levels were high making this a really fun descent through the gorge. After drying off, we spent the evening rock climbing at Tilberthwaite quarry.

And the following day, we had planned a climbing day but the rain slowed that down and instead we spent some time rigging abseils and of course doing some abseiling too.
The afternoon brought drier conditions so we headed into Langdale and Scout crags (almost always dry rock here). A top effort by both Edd & Lauren, between them leading the brutal 'Cubs crack' (Hard Severe). A few more routes were climbed on top ropes before tired muscles brought the day to a close.

Sam was also out today, running a rock climbing course for us over in Eskdale. They had some very damp conditions to deal with, but still lots of useful learning and of course plenty of time on rock.

Sunday the 22nd brought another full day of rock climbing. This time with Tricia and her 2 lads. I forget how many climbs we did that day, but it was a lot. We met up later with some of their friends who had been multi-pitch climbing at Upper Scout crags. They then made a rare ascent of the split crack in the large boulder below Scout crags.

Tuesday 25th I was out with the Lack family. We have enjoyed many days out together, mostly rock scrambling, but sometimes gorge scrambling and climbing too. Today our objective was the classic Langdale scramble of Jack's Rake on Pavey Ark. This is graded as a relatively straightforward scramble, but should not be under-estimated, for there is much exposure and some challenging moves. Without doubt this is one of the very best days out to be had in the Lake District, and one I always look forward to.
We thankfully enjoyed splendid weather for the whole day, so enjoyed far reaching views as well as dry rock!

On Thursday 27th Kate was out leading a guided walk for a party from Bahrain. Elterwater and Colwith Force provided just the perfect scenery all were looking for and a grand day enjoyed by all.

The following day (Friday) we had a team day out on Dow crag. A friend had managed to leave some climbing gear behind on one of the long multi-pitch routes so we decided to go see if we could retrieve it for him. Unfortunately for us a heavy downpour soaked the crag just as we arrived so the initial climbing definitely felt tenuous. Dow crag is well known for its 'slippery-when-wet' rock and this stuff felt like ice! The wind did a grand job of drying the upper pitches, so it wasn't long before we were able to enjoy dry and grippy rock, and all in an amazing setting looking over to Coniston Old Man.
The gear we had come in search of had already been removed, however, we still had a blast, always enjoy a visit to Dow.

I was back in Stickle ghyll the following morning with a family group of 11. Plenty of water and warm conditions all helped us have a fab time in here yet again.

Sunday 30th saw us out with Andzelika & Eugene who we've been out with quite a few times now. They like the Lakes so much they moved up here recently. This time their friend Nicky came along too. As the weather forecast was very good I took a chance on the Pike O' Blisco crags.
Starting on Long Scar, we climbed 4 routes from about 'Diff' to 'Hard Severe' we then moved up to Black Crag and climbed 4 more routes, this time up to E2!

Below are a few photos from the days.

Thanks everyone, so nice to see you all and we hope it's not long until you're back in the Lakes again.

Mark

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Mountaineering day in the Lake District

Weekend Gorge Scrambling & Abseiling fun

Lakeland Hard Rock - Kipling Groove

Lakeland rock climbing extravaganza!

Corporate group abseil at Hodge Close

A multi-activity end to the school holidays

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