Rock-climbing in the English Lake District / Third Edition

by Owen Glynne Jones

G. P. Abraham & Sons, Photos Keswick

“Round the Notch”—Pillar Rock. East Side

(Face page 267)

The crack climb that now starts straight up the corner is one of the neatest things on the Pillar Rock. The right wall is used for steadying purposes when, half-way up, a jammed stone makes it necessary to emerge from the crack. Some of the holds have splintered away during the last few years, but there are yet enough to satisfy one’s needs. The finish is a splendid pull up with the arms on to the leaf of rock already referred to at the top of the Left Pisgah climb.

Slab and Notch route.—The upper part of the Great Chimney offers no difficulty to the climber. Its southern boundary is a long narrow buttress called the ‘Curtain,’ stretching from the top of Walker’s Gully, to the summit of the High Man. Viewed in profile from the Pillar Fell, the Curtain shows three distinct notches two-thirds of the way up; they are about thirty feet above a slab set at an angle of thirty degrees, and attainable by rough scrambling from the foot of the East Jordan Gully. The easy route passes along this slab, directly upwards to the middle notch and thence round the Curtain to the bed of the Great Chimney. The walk along the slab is to some people a critical undertaking, for a slip would have very serious consequences. A thin crack on the line of march makes the course safer, unless ice or snow have filled it up, but it is not an unusual sight to see men tackling the walk on all-fours. The Curtain may be crossed at the lowest notch, the ‘Ledge,’ by good firm rocks, and the Great Chimney entered on the other side. Formerly it was the usual course to reach the bed of the chimney at the lower part of the steep grass by what was called the ‘Eight-foot Drop.’ But there is no need to drop at all; an easy traverse from either the Notch or the Ledge brings the climber above the steep grass, and virtually at the end of his cragwork. The chimney finishes with scree, and lands the climber within a few feet of the cairn on his left.

Variations on the East Face.—It is possible to make a way straight up the Great Chimney from its foot, joining the easy route about a hundred feet up. Haskett Smith took this course in 1884, commencing the climb on the stepped buttresses of the Curtain. Since then the rock has had time to loosen a little, and climbers very rarely enter the chimney that way.

The Pendlebury traverse is an excellent variation of the ordinary route, a popular scramble first indicated by Professor R. Pendlebury, of Cambridge. From the slab the way lies straight up to the notch in the Curtain, and then along a horizontal ledge in its south face as far as the corner where it meets the High Man. Thence up the corner is straightforward chimney-work, and on emergence at the top the cairn will be visible close at hand on the left.

The traverse looks difficult until it is closely approached, when it will be found that handholds abound on the wall, and that the ledge is perfectly firm and continuous across the whole width of the Curtain.

The chimney in the corner of the south side of the Curtain can be entered much lower down. From the slab a way lies straight up into it, but the grass holds are not particularly pleasant if wet, and the first thirty feet are severe.