PLATE IX.
PILLAR ROCK, NORTH SIDE (p. 271).
The High Man is about 550 feet above the Nose.
G. P. Abraham & Sons, Photos Keswick
a Shamrock Gully.
b Great Pitch in a.
c Great Bridge.
d Shamrock Chimney.
e Walker’s Gully.
f Savage Gully.
g The Nose.
h Easy route, North Climb.
k Cave Pitch.
l Stomach-traverse.
m Split-block.
n The Strid.
p The Hand-traverse.
q The Buttress-route.
r The Ordinary route.
s The Low Man.
t The High Man.
u The Great Chimney.
v Pisgah.
From below, the precipice is seen to be divided into two parts by a long, black chimney. This is Walker’s Gully, named after the young man who fell there in 1883. Its head is the point of convergence of sundry lines of scree from the upper fell. It suggests a funnel cut down along its centre-line, and scree frequently slides down the sides of the funnel and into the gully. This no doubt is the chief reason why Walker’s Gully has never been climbed until recently, when snow and frost diminished the risk from this cause. It would prove difficult under any conditions, and the risk of a battery of stones from above is too heavy a handicap for the cautious climber.
The Pillar Rock itself is on the right of the gully, in our view from below. The crag on the left is considerably lower, and in fact scarcely rises high enough over the head of the gully to be visible from above. But from the east it presents an imposing appearance. Its outline partly suppresses that of the higher crag beyond, partly combines with it, audit is often mistaken for the actual Pillar Rock. Hence the name Sham-rock by which it has been known since 1882. It is a mere walk to reach the summit from the Pillar Fell. The climbing on the Shamrock is not quite so good as that on the neighbouring crag, but it cannot well be neglected. On the eastern side is the well-known Shamrock Gully, a magnificent looking cleft in the rocks, finishing with a huge V-shaped notch at the summit. A natural arch spans the gully half-way up, and an obstacle some few feet higher makes a pitch of unusual severity—‘one of the stiffest pitches in all Cumberland.’ It was first climbed by Mr. Geoffrey Hastings’ party in March, 1887, when a bank of snow below the pitch gave a little help. In December, 1890, the climb was repeated by a party with the same leader, without the aid of snow, and since that date various ascents have been made with and without snow. Among others a new route over the obstacle was effected in December, 1896, by the writer and three friends. It is probable that the pitch turns back fifty per cent. of the people who essay to climb it.
On the same eastern face, a few yards further away to the north, is the Shamrock Chimney, a thin crack running somewhat irregularly upwards to the summit ridge. The credit of the first ascent belongs to Mr. John Robinson, whose keen eye and sound judgment made the ascent an accomplished fact, on September 23, 1894, within a few days of his discovery of the chimney. Shortly afterwards Robinson showed me the route, and I was convinced at once that in difficulty and extreme interest it was far superior to the Shamrock Gully, and equal to the best climbing on the Pillar Rock. The third ascent was made by Dr. Lawrence in April, 1895. Not many parties have been up it as yet, and I am hoping that the full account of its details here supplied will tempt others to attack it.
I have said that the Pillar Rock lies to the right of Walker’s Gully when viewed from below. It is bounded on the other or western side by a broad hollow in the fell, down which a slender stream flows without any abrupt change of level till the foot of the precipice is reached. There the ‘Great’ waterfall disturbs the even tenor of its way, and is said to offer a formidable obstruction to our approach of the west face from below.