Camp ‘n’ Climb
With a couple of days off work and good weather forecast myself and climbing partner Courtney set off to the Lakes for a bit of wild camping and climbing. The plan was to spend one night in the tent, climb the next day and then get a hostel in Keswick that night. As we were arriving fairly late on the Wednesday night we didn’t want a big walk in with the fear of missing sun set and setting up in the dark. Sprinkling Tarn, which is on the way up Scafell Pike, looked promising. It's a nice secluded spot with a tarn for a swim and only a couple of hours walk in and not too far from where we wanted to climb the next day. However, the logistics of camping then getting back to the car to grab the climbing gear and then walk to the crag meant we'd probably end up walking nearly 8 hours over the two days, which was a bit much . We could have tried climbing while carrying the camping gear the next day but there's a 90% chance I'd have lost balance with an overfilled rucksack and fallen to my death. Who'd write the blogs then eh?
In the end we decided to head for Fleetwith Pike, a smallish peak at 648m we’d been up before which is near Honsiter Slate mine, most of the elevation is gained by driving so its a nice quick walk in to the top. Honister pass is a fantastic place to visit in its own right, it provides fantastic view down into Buttermere and Borrowdale, plus the mine has an activity centre where you can go on tours or have a go on the via ferrata. Leaving the car in the Honister mine car park with a note saying we’ll pay for parking in morning we headed up the hill. Around an hour later we were at the top and to our surprise not alone. About 3 other groups of people had the same idea and already pitched up. Initially we were a bit miffed that we’d been beaten to the best spots we hunted around for somewhere flat, a bit of patience payed off when we stumbled upon a sheltered spot a little further back from the crowds with amazing views. After setting up we enjoyed some food and drink while the sun dipped down behind the far off hills of Galloway.
The next morning we were up before our tent turned into a sauna, having a quick breakfast before mooching back to the car. Our climbing guidebook told of great routes up the SE side of Great Gable, to get there we could either park at Seathwaite (the popular starting point for many climbing Scafell Pike and record holder for the wettest place in England), this would be the shortest and steepest way in but likely fairly busy too. It was looking to be one of the hottest days of the year so we opted to leave the car where it was and have a slightly longer but gradual walk in from Honister. Not wanting to weigh ourselves down too much we both downed as much as we could from a camping bladder before setting off feeling pretty sick with stomachs like water beds.
The gorgeous view of Buttermere and Haystacks helped pass the time on the 3 hour walk in and before we knew it we were circling the base of Great Gable to where the climb would start at the Great Pinnacles. This area on Great Gable is home to some of the finest scrambling and climbing in the Lakes including the famous Napes Needle. This is a 20m high column of rock which is famous not only for its unique shape and demanding climbing but is considered the birthplace of British rock climbing as a sport when it was first ascended solo by Walter Parry Haskett Smith in 1886.
Napes Needle - Image from TJmillen at UKClimbing.com
I admit I felt like a small child seeing a rollercoaster for the first time when I walked around the corner and saw the towering pillar of the Needle, and to make it even more spectacular there were two guys just about to summit on it. I don’t know what was more impressive, watching them reach the top or seeing them down climb it afterwards. Hats off to those guys, thats far beyond our ability. However, our route looked challenging enough and was more of an onwards scramble that would take us to the top of Great Gable. The first part of the climb was to ‘Thread the Needle’ , this involves a fairly short but tricky accent up and narrow gully and down over a steep ridge where Napes Needle connects to the next crag. We kitted up with the climbing gear but as it wasn’t too exposed we pushed on and soloed this first step. It was slightly demanding on the way down due to the steepness and polished rock, but acted as a great warm up for the rest of the route which was called Eagle’s Ridge. Following the guidebooks instructions we started up a fairly large gully, initially the climbing was okay and we made our way up pitching most of the sections. Eventually the nice clean rock ran out and we found ourselves shimmying along grassy ledges and searching for a handhold that wasn’t covered in moss. Just as things were starting to get really daft ( by this I mean putting your full weight on a smooth moss covered rock and hoping you don’t slip) we heard a voice from above. A neighbouring climber spotted we looked to be on the wrong line and pointed out it would only get worse the further up we went. Usually I’m too stubborn to turn around but I could see his point here, luckily the decent back to near the Needle wasn’t technical enough to require an abseil so we hadn’t used up too much daylight on our little detour. For our second attempt the guide book spoke of another route called ‘Sphinx Ridge’ . An appropriately named route as the start is guarded by a huge Sphynx like monolith gazing out towards Wasdale Head.
The Sphinx looking out over Wasdale- Image from The Lake District Walker.com
The guide stated a grade 2/3 scramble for this route (grade 3 usually falls into the remit of a medium grade rock climb and as a result a rope and harness would be advisable), However, It stated that the grade 3 nature is down to the exposure rather than the technical skill required. It was basically saying, the risk of falling off is relatively low, but if you do fall over your going to have a bad time. We spotted another party heading up the same way without ropes so we followed suit but with the climbing rack handy and the rope in chest coils, just incase things got sketchy. What followed was around an hour of some of the best scrambling I’ve done. We moved quickly but cautiously up onto the ridge itself and practised dealing with some real exposure (there was no doubt, a slip on the ridge and you were brown bread), the crest was far too narrow to stick to so it was a case of hopping from one side to the other to find the best holds. The time flew by and before we knew it we had reached the end of the route feeling like we’d had a good work out in the gym. All that was left was a 20 minute plod upto the summit of Great Gable to get a few pictures and then descending all the way to the car park at Honister via Windy Gap and Green Gable, and finishing up with a pint back in Keswick.
Pint of Wainwright…What else?!