Climbing in The British Isles Volume I Part 10

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 b.u.t.tresses of it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Wast.w.a.ter 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 b.u.t.tress 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 k.n.o.bs 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 ma.s.ses 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 att.i.tude, like the Colossus of Rhodes, I spanned the gulf, and was anch.o.r.ed 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 s.h.i.+vering, 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.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: WASt.w.a.tER 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 c.u.mberland, 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 c.u.mberland. 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 const.i.tuted, 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 'c.u.mmerlan' 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= (c.u.mberland, sh. 56) is 3,058 ft. high, 'with two heads like unto _Parna.s.sus_,' 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 Jacka.s.ses 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 Ba.s.senthwaite 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.

=Somersets.h.i.+re= 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.