Mr. Botterill’s Climbs.—The long sloping cracks, the upper parts of which were followed in the Collier’s and Keswick Brothers’ climbs, were ascended in their entirety at Whitsuntide 1903 by Messrs. F. Botterill, H. Williamson, and E. Grant.
The crack nearest Mickledore Ridge is difficult throughout, and is, moreover, somewhat earthy and friable; there is no record of a repetition of its ascent. The companion crack was the scene of a remarkable tour de force. Mr. Botterill’s account of his exploit,[2] and the warning note sounded by a party of great skill and experience which unsuccessfully essayed the second ascent, will probably acquaint climbers with sufficient details to cause them to take the climb itself ‘as read.’ It is in a class apart, and, basing our judgment on a survey made on a rope from above, we do not recommend it.
After a lapse of nearly twenty years, and repeated onslaughts by many parties, Piers’ Ghyll was ascended throughout for the second time in September 1910. Mr. H. R. Pope, admirably backed up by Mr. R. B. Sanderson, succeeded in leading a large party up the various wet and friable pitches that go to make the climb. From a vivid description, written by Mr. Sanderson in the current number of the Fell and Rock Club Journal, we gather that, in spite of the constantly falling rocks in the Ghyll, the narrow pitch below the Bridge Rock is practically unaltered, and is still the greatest difficulty. It is necessary to stand immediately below the waterfall in order to work up a shallow, almost holdless groove. This is very steep; the rocks are, of course, wet and slippery; added to these is the uncertain nature and paucity of the holds—altogether a combination of difficulty, disagreeableness, and danger that most parties will care to court but very seldom.
During the same holiday Messrs. Pope and Madan climbed from Tennis Court Ledge to the Fives Court on Pisgah Buttress by traversing from the right-hand end of the Ledge for a short distance. Thence they climbed directly up a steep rock-face for 15 feet or so to the Fives Court, a somewhat easier but much more exposed route than that up the crack utilised in the first ascent.
Other variations of a minor character have been made on many of the older climbs; indeed so thoroughly has the face been scoured, that it would be a very rash man who would nowadays come down to the Wastwater Hotel and say that he had made a new route up Scawfell.
CHAPTER III
THE BUTTERMERE CLIMBS, AND THOSE IN OUTLYING DISTRICTS
For strong and experienced parties of climbers, with a penchant for boating, fishing, and long mountain tramps on the ‘off days,’ Buttermere is well-nigh ideal. Moreover, the blasé ‘Wastdale Header’ will find amongst the fine corrie-like combes of High Crag and High Stile, and above the great hollow of Warnscale, climbs of an entirely different nature from most of the nail-scratched, polished courses of his former haunts. Many of the Buttermere climbs are still to all intents and purposes virgin ascents. The rock of which they are formed does not take nail-marks so readily, and the blatant, scratched foothold, which positively shouts at one ‘here am I!’ is as yet an alien in these parts. The texture of the gullies is very different; it is always necessary to be on the alert for unsteady chock-stones; every hold needs testing; in fine, care and experience are essential to safe ascents.
Mr. L. J. Oppenheimer, in his book ‘The Heart of Lakeland,’ has made out a strong case for the claims of Buttermere as a centre for the more historic climbs, and justly says that ‘after Wastdale Head—though no doubt a long way after—it is one of the best centres in Lakeland.’ The Buttermere Hotel is in every way a most excellent house, and to those whose leaning is towards a simple life the farmhouses in the valley are second to none. So much granted, it is perhaps as well to review the work that has been done here, chiefly, it may be stated, by Mr. Oppenheimer and his friends and brethren of the Rücksack Club.
The Gullies of Warnscale.—When standing in the huge, green hollow at the edge of Buttermere, one has on the north the great face of Fleetwith, with a long prominent gully almost in the centre—Fleetwith Gully. A point of the compass further round is a bulging outcrop of rock, a prominent feature in all the photographs of the Head of Buttermere. This is Green Crag, and up its left-hand side runs Green Crag Gully, reminiscent of the late J. W. Robinson, who, with Mr. W. A. Wilson, made its first ascent in 1899. To the right of this, and on the Crag itself, is an unmistakable black rift, which is now known as Toreador Gully. Further round still, and facing Fleetwith, is the well-known Haystacks Mountain. Well to the left of the striking cones which have given the mountain its name is a steep rock-face seamed by three vertical rifts, one of which forks into two branches about a third of the way up the Crags—the Y Gully. The middle rift is Warn Gill, an ‘exceptionally severe course,’ whilst the one to the right is Stack Ghyll, probably the best and most useful climb in the valley.