Climbing in The British Isles Volume I Part 11

=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 circ.u.mvented. 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 gra.s.s 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 c.u.mberland, 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.s wrote a most amusing account of their experiences in the _Graphic_, and it is only a year or two since two well-known c.u.mberland climbers were caught in the same ignominious fas.h.i.+on.

=Swarthbeck=, in Westmorland, and on the east sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+ning 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= (c.u.mberland, 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-sc.r.a.pe.=--May be defined as 'foot-hold at or below its minimum.'

=Tors=, on _Dartmoor_ (q.v.).--The word is also found in Derbys.h.i.+re, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

_Sh.e.l.lstone 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 ill.u.s.tration. 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 Devons.h.i.+re _Tors_ (q.v.).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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, pa.s.sing 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 inc.u.mbered 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= (c.u.mberland, 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 c.u.mberland, at the head of Wast.w.a.ter. 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 c.u.mberland.

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 pa.s.sed over in _England_ or in _Wales_. The west side, which borders on _c.u.mberland_, is indeed bounded by a chain of almost unpa.s.sable 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 unpa.s.sable Hills whose tops covered with snow seemed to tell us all the pleasant part of England was at an end.'