Climbing in The British Isles Volume I Part 5

Above it the forks coalesce, and as it nears the top the climb can be varied a good deal.

_Brigg's_ (or _Holmes'_) _Pitch_, of which a photograph will be found in the Climbers' Book at Wastdale Head, is still nearer to Esk Hause, which it faces. Mr. Holmes and the Messrs. Brigg, who climbed it on Easter Monday 1893, describe the difficulty as consisting in a cave formed quite at the foot of the cliff by a jammed stone, the top of which is reached by way of the rocks on the north side of it.

=Great Gable= (2,949 ft.) may be ascended with equal ease from Wastdale or the head of Borrowdale, and is within easy reach of b.u.t.termere. The simplest way up is by Sty Head, from which half an hour's rough walking lands one on to the top. The only alternative for Wastdale is 'Moses Sledgate,' alias _Gavel Neese_, a ridge of rather steep gra.s.s, which offers a very direct way. There is a bit of scrambling on White Napes, a rocky ma.s.s which tops the Neese. Beyond this _Westmorland's Cairn_ is left on the right hand and the summit cairn comes into sight. People coming from b.u.t.termere usually go round the head of Ennerdale over Green Gable, and this is the way generally taken by Borrowdale visitors for the return journey. The climbing on this mountain is quite first-cla.s.s. The _Napes_, _Napes Needle_, and _Kern Knotts_ are separately described, but in addition to these there are grand crags overlooking Ennerdale. These are referred to in Col. Barrow's book in the pa.s.sage where he defies the Alpine Club to ascend the most difficult side of certain Lake mountains.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF GREAT GABLE A, _Westmorland's Cairn_; B, _White Napes_; C, E, _Little and Great h.e.l.l Gate_; D, _Great Napes_; F, _Napes Needle_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREAT GABLE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST A, _Kirkfell_; B, _Beckhead_; C, _White Napes_; D, _Great Napes_; E, _Westmorland's Cairn_; F, Summit; G, _Tom Blue_; H, _Kern Knotts_.

The path to _Sty Head_ is seen mounting from left to right.]

No one seems even to have looked at these crags till in 1882 Mr. Pope met his death on this side of the mountain. In that year the writer found that it was an easy matter to coast along the face of the cliff at about two-thirds of the height of it, and a year or two later that for all the ferocious appearance of these rocks there is a natural pa.s.sage by which a mountain sheep of ordinary powers might ascend them. Close to this are the remains of a sort of hut of loose stones, evidently the refuge of some desperate fugitive of half a century or more ago. Local tradition speaks of a notorious distiller of illicit whisky, who was known to have a 'hide' somewhere in this wild neighbourhood. The top of the easy pa.s.sage bears by prismatic compa.s.s 23 from the highest cairn, and is marked by a large stone.

To the east of this spot there is fine climbing, the rocks being on a grand scale and difficult on that account. At intervals large ma.s.ses are detached by such agencies as frost, and heavy falls result. One of these carried with it a slab pinnacle which, though only about 15 ft. high, was remarkably difficult. The writer, and Messrs. Hastings and Robinson gave themselves the trouble of climbing it, and consequently heard of its untimely departure with deep regret.

In April 1890 Mr. J.W. Robinson greatly a.s.sisted subsequent climbers by inserting a sketch in the Wastdale Head book, and this sketch has been the usual basis of later work.

Gable has the threefold excellence of being splendid to look at, splendid to look from, and splendid to climb; and one can easily understand the enthusiasm of Mr. F.H. Bowring, who has ascended it over one hundred times.

=Green Crag.=--A good piece of rock, though not as sound as it might be, at the head of _Warnscale_, the recess between _Fleetwith_ and _Scarf Gap_. It is reached from b.u.t.termere by way of Gatesgarth, and then by the quarry track which goes up on the south side of Fleetwith to _Dubs_.

There is a fine gully in the crag which is unmistakable. A note of the ascent of it was made by Messrs. J.W. Robinson and W.A. Wilson in August 1889.

=Griff=--a valley-name in east Yorks.h.i.+re, probably connected with 'greave,' which is common in Derbys.h.i.+re. Phillips says that the Yorks.h.i.+re word means 'a narrow, rugged valley.'

=Gurnard's Head=, in Cornwall, not far from St. Ives, is a fine promontory on which there is good climbing. It is here that the greenstone ends and the granite begins, prevailing from this point practically right on to the Land's End.

=Hanging Knot.=--See also _Esk Pike_. The steep breast above Angle Tarn contains no continuous climb, but there are several good bits in the rocks and gullies which connect the terraces.

=Hard Knot.=--'Eske,' says Camden, 'springeth up at the foote of _Hardknot_, an high steepe mountaine, in the top whereof were discovered of late huge stones and foundations of a castle not without great wonder, considering it is so steepe and upright that one can hardly ascend up to it.'

This refers of course to the Roman camp, which is nowhere near the top.

The 'mountaine' scarcely deserves the name; it is not high, and though rugged offers no climbing. Writers much later than Camden refer to it as if it were one of the highest hills in England. Even Gray, in his _Journal_, says 'Wrynose and Hardknot, two great mountains, rise above the rest.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: HANGING KNOT FROM ANGLE TARN]

The usually accurate West introduces in the funniest way both 'the broken ridge of Wrynose' and 'the overhanging cliff of Hardknot' into his description of the view from Belle Isle on Windermere, and says that they, with others,'form as magnificent an amphitheatre, and as grand an a.s.semblage of mountains, as ever the genius of Poussin,' &c.; and then adds a note to say that they 'are named as being in the environs, and are in reality not seen from the island.'

=Harrison Stickle=, 'the next neighbour of _Pavey Ark_, is another happy hunting-ground for beginners. There are at least four good routes up.

There is one to the north-east which is fairly difficult. Due south there are two or three rather steep gills, that may be climbed with a certain amount of ease. But in no case should the climber, even on the easiest of these routes, omit to use the rope and take every precaution against preventable accidents.' Thus speaks Mr. Gwynne in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, and to his remarks little need be added, except that it must be borne in mind nothing on this group is quite in the same cla.s.s as _Pavey Ark_. The obvious starting-point for either is Dungeon Gill at the very foot, where there are two inns, but Grasmere is within easy reach, being only about an hour further off.

=Hause= (_ha.s.s_, _horse_, _-ourse_, _-ose_): used in the North for a pa.s.s. The word means 'neck' or 'throat,' the latter being the sense most felt in local names, where it refers more to lateral contraction than to vertical depression, being thus parallel to _gorge_ rather than to _col_.

=Haystacks=, just east of Scarf Gap, has one craggy bit on it where, as appears from the curious map published in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1751, eagles then built. The name is often quoted as an instance of the Norse word which occurs in _Stack Polly_, and frequently on the Scotch coast, but West says it was called _Hayrick_ (_sic_) on account of its shape.

=h.e.l.l Gate.=--A channel on _Great Gable_, just by the east end of the _Napes_. It is the outlet for immense quant.i.ties of scree. The older name, _Deep Gill_, has during the last twenty years being quite supplanted. The present name, if less pretty, is more precise, and saves confusion with the better known _Deep Gill_ on _Scafell_.

=h.e.l.l Gill.=--There are many gills and becks bearing this name. Speaking of one in Yorks.h.i.+re, Leland says it is 'a Bek called h.e.l.l Gill because it runnithe in such a deadely place. This Gill commithe to Ure.' The idea is amplified by Camden: 'Where Richmonds.h.i.+re bordereth upon Lancas.h.i.+re amongst the mountaines it is in most places so vast, solitary, unpleasant and unsightly, so mute and still also that the borderers dwelling thereby have called certaine riverets creeping this waie "h.e.l.lbecks." But especially that about the head of the river Ure, which having a bridge over it of one entier stone falleth downe such a depth, that it striketh in a certaine horror to as many as looke downe.'

The best known h.e.l.l Gill, which at one time had considerable reputation as a climb, is quite near the foot of _Bowfell_ on the Langdale side.

Though on a small scale, it is highly picturesque. The south fork is hardly pa.s.sable in ordinary weather owing to a small waterfall, below which is a deep pool flanked by perpendicular walls of rock, and except in very dry seasons it is necessary to crawl up the red rotten slabs, steep, slimy, and wet, which form the north fork. The gill should be visited more often than it is, as it is directly on one of the best ways up the mountain from Dungeon Gill and Langdale generally.

=Helm Crag.=--Colonel Barrow, speaking of this hill, observes that climbing among these rocks requires care. There are places quite as dangerous and as difficult as on any rock-work on the Alps. He was deterred from climbing the rock which is supposed to resemble a mortar, by a slab of rock slanting sideways, but in his opinion there was no great difficulty, except that arising from the absence of hold for hand and foot--an exception of some importance.

=Helvellyn.=--A mountain which belongs equally to Grasmere and to Patterdale, though the latter has by far the finest side of it.

_Striding Edge_ on this side was at one time considered to present terrors such as the hardy mountaineer was not likely to encounter elsewhere. This side is cut up into deep coves, which are exceedingly steep and afford many opportunities for scrambling, and near the path in Grisedale there is one of the numerous _Eagle Crags_.

On the west side there is no climbing on the mountain itself, but on the range of _Dodds_, which runs away to the north, there is capital work to be found; see _Bram Crag_ and _Wanthwaite Crags_. It was in connection with Helvellyn that Colonel Barrow issued his famous challenge to the Alpine Club. After stating that he had ascended the mountain by every possible way of getting up it, and that it is the easiest of mountains to ascend from any direction that is possible, he continues: 'No one, I think, will venture the impossible, which may be found on all the highest mountains in the Lake District. They have their precipitous sides for adventurous climbers, who, I promise, will never get up them even if they have a mind to try--viz., these, _Great Gable_, _Great End_, _Helvellyn_, _Fairfield_, &c. Most of the difficult things in the Alps have been accomplished. Here is a new field for any of the adventurous climbers of our club: let them try these precipitous sides!'

Helvellyn was long regarded as the loftiest of the Lake mountains, the height a.s.signed to it by West being 3,324 ft., and even its tame gra.s.sy slopes towards _Wythburn_ were thought very terrible indeed. In the 'Beauties of England' Thirlmere is described as 'a scene of desolation which is much heightened by the appearance of the immense craggy ma.s.ses, that seem to hang on the sides of Helvellyn, from whose slopes they have apparently been severed, but arrested in their tremendous progress down the mountain by the impulse of gravitation. Huge and innumerable fragments of rocks hang pendant from its sides, and appear ready to fall and overwhelm the curious traveller who dares to ascend its wild and fantastic heights.'

=Heron Crag=, Eskdale.--A rock in _Eskdale_ (q.v.) which was long reputed inaccessible. It was supposed to be 120 yards high, and to have a front like polished marble. It will be found north of the Esk river, not far from _Throstlegarth_ (c.u.mberland, sheet 79).

=High Level.=--This name was bestowed about the year 1880 on a particular route, by means of which the north-east foot of the _Pillar Rock_ may be reached from _Black Sail_ along the face of the mountain, thus avoiding the descent into Ennerdale and the subsequent laborious ascent to the rock. The saving in time is very considerable, but the way is so easily missed in thick weather that a stranger who attempted it would probably gain nothing but an exciting walk.

After reaching the slight hollow between _Lookingstead_ and _Pillar Fell_, _Green Cove_ is seen below. Here a descent may be made at once, but it is better to proceed westward till about two dozen uprights of the iron railing are pa.s.sed, and then to descend, keeping as much to the left as the cliffs will allow. The whole art of choosing a line along this face is to cross each successive cove as high up as may be done without getting impeded by rocky ground. The ridges which separate the coves mostly form small headlands, and just above each headland a strip of smooth gra.s.s crosses the ridge. Economy in time is usually of more importance at the end than at the beginning of a day, and it is well to know that, whereas from the foot of the rock to _Black Sail_ by way of the valley would take up the greater part of an hour, Mr. Hastings and the writer once timed themselves on the _High Level_, and found that they reached _Lookingstead_ in 18 minutes and the ford in Mosedale in seven minutes more.

=High Stile=, in c.u.mberland, between Ennerdale and b.u.t.termere, has a height of 2,643 ft., and on its north-west side a few good crags. It is best reached by following up the course of _Sour Milk Gill_ from the foot of b.u.t.termere to _Bleaberry Tarn_, which can be reached from any of the inns in an hour's walking. In a note made in the Wastdale Head book in August 1887, Mr. Robinson called attention to these rocks, and he it is who has done most of the exploration here.

The princ.i.p.al climbing is in and about a gully in the centre. A course may be taken up very steep gra.s.sy binks with the gully on the right hand. The gully itself was climbed direct in September 1893 by Messrs.

Jones, Robinson and Wilson, and they found the second pitch very difficult. The same party also ascended 'a short, black-looking chimney away round on the left of the great crag, and nearer the top of the mountain.' The very hard upper pitch was pa.s.sed on the right hand, and the final pull was by the arms alone. Both climbs are in full view from Rigg's b.u.t.termere Hotel.

The mountain is called _High Steel_ in some early maps, and in that of the Ordnance it comes on sheet 69.

=High Street=, with the Roman road running all along its ridge, lies between Patterdale and Mardale Green, in Westmorland. It has a fine precipitous side towards the latter place at Blea Water (see _Dixon's Three Jumps_), and at the south end of it, about Gavel Crag and Bleathwaite Crag, there are some good rocky faces, which can be readily found by following up the course of the beck from Kentmere.

=Hobcarton Crags= have a considerable repute, which they have only retained by reason of their not being very easily got at. The simplest way of reaching them from Keswick is to take the train to Braithwaite, then go up the straight Coledale until Force Crag is pa.s.sed, then trace the stream which comes down the hill on the right. Hobcarton is just over the ridge, and the crags are on the left-hand side of the valley. A descent may be made of a ridge which forms the right bank of a gill, which runs from near the col where you are now standing; the gill itself is too rotten.

The _Crags_ are very steep and very rotten; but there is one curiosity about them, in the shape of a continuous sloping ledge, growing very narrow indeed towards the top. It rises gradually in the direction of _Hopegillhead_. The crags are picturesque, but can be traversed in any direction without difficulty, and present no definite climb. Another way of reaching them from Keswick is by crossing Whinlatter Pa.s.s, and on the far side turning up the first valley to the left hand.

=Honister=, one of the grandest crags in c.u.mberland, is reached from either b.u.t.termere or Borrowdale. It is one of the chief attractions of the 'b.u.t.termere Round' made by the breaks from Keswick. If quarrymen could only have been persuaded to let it alone, it would have been a delightful climbing ground; as things are, we can only look and long.

Apart from the great crag there is a fine view of the lakes below from the summit (called _Fleetwith Pike_). Owing to its position near the black-lead mines, this was one of the earliest Lake mountains of which we have a recorded ascent. It was made before the middle of last century, and, so far as can be made out, these early mountaineers ascended from Seathwaite and pa.s.sed to the northward of _Grey Knotts_, and so to the top of Fleetwith. 'The precipices were surprisingly variegated with apices, prominencies, spouting jets of water, cataracts and rivers that were precipitated from the cliffs with an alarming noise' [Sourmilkgill]. On reaching the apparent top, they were astonished to perceive a large plain to the west, and from thence another craggy ascent, which they reckoned at 500 yards. 'The whole mountain is called _Unnisterre_ or, as I suppose, Finisterre, for such it appears to be.' In about another hour two of the party gained this summit--'the scene was terrifying--the horrid projection of vast promontories, the vicinity of the clouds, the thunder of the explosions in the slate quarries, the dreadful solitude, the distance of the plain below, and the mountains heaped on mountains that were lying around us desolate and waste, like the ruins of a world which we only had survived excited such ideas of horror as are not to be expressed. We turned from this fearful prospect, afraid even of ourselves, and bidding an everlasting farewell to so perilous an elevation. We descended to our companions, repa.s.sed the mines, got to Seathwayte, were cheerfully regaled by an honest farmer in his _puris naturalibus_, and returned to Keswic about nine at night.'