Skiddaw, 22nd August, 2009

A few months ago, Steve H declared that he would like to get the top ten highest mountains in England bagged before 2010.

After bagging Great Gable in fine style (see previous blog entry), he promptly fell over in his own car park ( think there's a claim there Steve!) and put himself 'hors de combat' with a nasty ankle sprain.

However, he has made a full recovery and has been 'bigging it up' about getting on with the other 9 peaks on his bagger list. So, taking advantage of a good weather forecast, Steve and Davie headed to the Lakes to have a go at Skiddaw, a hard slog from the car park with 45 minutes of agony to look forward to, but a straightforward runout for Steve and his new ankle...

The weather was excellent - sunny but a cool and stiff breeze once you reached the foot of Little Man.

In spite of a good few 'viewing' breaks on the way up, we made good time, summiting in 2hrs. Steve, flushed with success, suggested tackling Little Man on the way back so we returned via this top to get back to the car park.

At the top of Skiddaw, we had lunch with a retired couple who had just completed all 214 Wainwrights, having started on January 1st. Champagne and sandwiches greeted us, but sadly had all been consumed on our arrival.

Never mind....next time.

Adventure over, we had our therapy session at the Llama Karma Cafe near Penrith. home of the worlds biggest rabbit.


Excellent day out... only 8 more to go Steve - maybe go for Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike and Catstye Cam next.

Davie

Lawrencefield, 14th August 2009

This evening saw Rich S and Tim back in the Peak District for some more climbing. With Birchen being the closest crag for both of us we have been going to it a lot recently and although it has enough routes (Rockfax, Eastern Grit has 161 routes listed!) we felt the need to try some longer routes so set off for Lawrencefield. The setting for this crag is fantastic just a 5 minute walk from the car park down into a wooded area with a small pool. Under the trees are the remains of one of the quarries past products, a surplus of millstones, some completed with others half carved from huge boulders. Being a quarry, the sides of the crag are vertical with routes exceeding 20m in some instances. To kick off we found a nice VDiff called Snail Crack, a 16m slab climb following the route of a finger crack to the top. I led the route and found it much harder than any other VDiff I had done before. Tim followed and came to the same conclusion. The descent on this route involves a scramble to the top of the crag which was hard enough to make me glad I had rock shoes on!

Next we went for something a little harder, Tyrone, an 18m VS 4c. Again, I went for the lead and started well finding good protection along the way. As I reached a small stance at 16m I was faced with a bulge as the rock lent backwards slightly. Above me was a small hold and to my right a nice ledge, easy I thought. Not quite! The hold was good but I was at full reach and my arms were tired. This one was no good and I decided to climb down to let Tim try. After seeing my struggles, Tim decided he didn’t want to finish the lead so I set off to the top of the crag to top rope him. After a couple of minutes Tim had reached the difficult bulge and lunged for the hold. Three times he attempted the moves and each time he would swing out on the rope as his grip failed. Time for another route, we’ll try this one again another day!

We moved onto an area called the roadside bay where we managed another route called Straight crack, a 10m VDiff. A much easier proposition that was dispensed with ease.
Lawrencefield is another great area with most routes HVS and above. We will probably be back when our confidence at VS has grown and we are looking for more challenging routes. For now its back to Birchen and Stanage!

Brimham Rocks, 11th August 2009

Davie, Jacko, Speirsy, Chris H, Dicko and son Nick headed up to Brimham to try the Zig Zag Bear, a route on the Dancing Bear that we somehow missed last time out.

The weather was good but very windy and the threat of rain loomed on the horizon for most of the evening.

However, I managed to crack the elusive Zig Zag (Hard Severe 4b) and added another lead to the log book. A noticeable change of difficulty over the Severe I did last time out with a couple of twitchy moments as I got myself back on route.

Set up the belay on top and brought the party up both HVDiff routes to complete a most enjoyable evening climb... well done guys!

Davie

Pillar from Wasdale 5th August 2009

Earlier in the year I had climbed Pillar from Honister Pass with my father in law via Haystacks and the Shamrock Traverse. Having told everyone how good the walk was, he had managed to convince my wife (Nic) that she could manage the scrambles around Pillar Rock and she should come along. So a plan was hatched and we set off for Pillar but this time from Wasdale.
The weather was bright and sunny but there was a strong wind at our backs as we made the ascent up to Black Sail Pass. The ascent was long but the path was easy and on reaching the top of the pass, the views to Haystacks and into the Ennerdale valley where worth the effort.

Along the top of the ridge the effect of the wind was making the going a little difficult but once we dropped onto the High Level path we were completely sheltered and the walk was very enjoyable.

We visited Robinson’s Cairn and had a sandwich or two before getting stuck into Shamrock Traverse.
The walk up until this point had been pretty flat but now the going was definitely vertical with some sections requiring ‘spotting’ for those a little nervous of heights.

This had been Nic’s most serious hill walk since climbing Snowdon before the kids were born and she struggled a little with the exposure on the section from Pillar Rock. Good job the climb is short! Once on top, everyone was elated after completing a difficult route and with the exceptional views from the summit.

We descended back to Wasdale via the scree slopes into Mosedale. For me, this was the hardest part of the route, especially on tired legs.

A great walk with fantastic weather, however, I’d recommend the route from Honsiter Pass due to the incredibly long drive around to Wasdale Head!