_THE ENNERDALE CENTRAL GULLY AND TWO LITTLE CHIMNEYS_
There is no royal road to learning, and the converse proposition is
equally true. There is no learning along a royal road. Some years
ago I went up the Central Gully of the Gable behind an experienced
climber, when conditions were at their best. It was a royal road to me,
and I came away with but a vague notion of its difficulties, without
having learnt anything. It is the leader that can give the truest
description of an easy climb. Where the one man can do all the work,
his followers go up without a thought beyond their rope’s length. When
difficulties are shared discussion is necessary, and the memory is
assisted by subsequent references to faulty moves or to troubles that
all were instrumental in overcoming. It is astonishing how few men can
recall the details of a rock climb to the extent of recapitulating
the successive pitches in, say, two hours of gully work. And yet the
faculty is well worth cultivating, inasmuch as it accentuates the
pleasures of retrospection and may be called into active service by the
inquiries of others wishing to follow. Indeed the best introduction to
guideless climbing is to ascend rock peaks that we have afore-time
accomplished with guides in front of us, where we shall find our
memories taxed now and again in the effort to recall the route taken
previously. To lie in bed and remember every foothold on the Matterhorn
may require more ascents than one; but however wicked it is for a
Zermatt guide to indulge in such a pastime, the average amateur may
well envy him his accomplishment.
[Illustration:
PLATE IV.
THE ENNERDALE FACE OF GREAT GABLE, Showing about 400 feet of Cliff.
A Wind Gap.
B Stony Gully.
C The Oblique Chimney.
D The Bottle-shaped Pinnacle Ridge.
E The Sheep Walk.
F The Ennerdale Central Gully.
G Scree Gully.
H The Doctor’s Chimney.
K An Easy Scree Gully.
L Gable Crag Traverse.
X Engineer’s Chimney.
_d_ The Bottle-shaped Pinnacle.
_f_ Chimney Finish of F.
_g_ Smuggler’s Retreat.]
Quite recently I had the opportunity of joining a party up the Central
Gully. We had come over to Gable Crag after an hour or two on the
Eagle’s Nest _arête_ and the neighbouring rocks. Our plan was to get
up the chief pitches in the gully, and then, instead of bearing up to
the right at the foot of the final wall, to take to the narrow vertical
chimney that passes up its centre and leads to the highest point of the
crags--to treat it as an old friend with a new face.
But before taking to the gully there was another little chimney to
visit, that had been recently ‘invented’ by Dr. Simpson and Mr.
Patchell, on their way to the Great Central. It is a singular thing
that this remarkably interesting way up Gable Crag should have so
long remained undiscovered. The reference in the Wastdale book is as
follows: ‘A walk of a hundred feet along a grass ledge from the point
where the wire fence from Beckhead touches the rocks of the Gable,
followed by a hundred feet of scrambling up a wild and much broken
gully, leads to a small cairn which marks the foot of a chimney on
the left. This runs up in a direction parallel to the face of the
cliff, and so is not clearly seen except at close quarters. It is very
straight and narrow, especially in the middle pitch, and makes an
interesting climb of about eighty feet.’
We worked round the scree and broken rock from the top of the Napes to
Gable Crag. Then by keeping fairly low down we arrived at the end of
the wire fence from Beckhead, and were in a position to profit by the
description already supplied. The fence ends abruptly on the face of a
crag that is somewhat separated from the main mass of Gable. Between
the two a scree gully runs downwards in the direction of Brandreth, and
the Doctor’s Chimney is found to spring from a point a hundred feet
up from the foot of this gully. The crag interferes with the view of
the chimney from the neighbourhood of Beckhead, though from the nearer
slopes of Kirkfell the little climb is almost as well marked as the
Oblique Chimney.
The hand-and-foot work begins on the right side of the recess, and
the climber makes directly up to a little pinnacle about thirty feet
above him. There is no need to back up the chimney at first. The
pinnacle offers comfortable standing-room for one only, but the leader
can manipulate the rope for the second until the latter is within
a foot or two of the platform. Then by passing a few coils of rope
round the top of the pinnacle he can make the second safe while he
effects the rather awkward passage back into the crack. Both hands
seize an excellent hold on the opposite wall, perfectly safe but a
trifle remote for a man with a short reach, and then the foothold is
quitted and the body dragged into a good jamming position. The crack
is very narrow, and extensive slipping is almost an impossibility.
It now becomes necessary to wriggle up inch by inch with slight hold
for the extremities and too much for intermediate excrescences. A
few feet higher and the chimney is at its narrowest. Here follows an
uncomfortable rearrangement of the system. The handholds have hitherto
been best on the left wall, and the climber has accordingly faced
that way. But now the holds dwindle down to nothing on that side and
others appear on the right. We may either climb out of the crack and
on to the buttress, or preferably effect a half-turn of the body and
so get to face the right wall. This is most safely accomplished by
working outwards a bit before twisting. A small stone is half jammed
in the crack and may be used for a foothold, though too insecure
for any hauling purposes. The struggling now becomes a little less
irregular. The ledges are excellent for the hands, and in a few feet
we reach the level of the floor of a little cave roofed in by a
couple of overhanging blocks. This place again is only large enough
for one cave-dweller to inhabit, and the leader has his choice of
procedure--either to run out another twelve feet before the second man
comes up, or to wait till his follower reaches the narrowest part of
the crack. To avoid the trouble of re-arranging the rope, the latter
plan is better, though it involves a little risk of peppering the crack
man with small stones that are only too willing to lower their present
level at the roof of the cave.
The last move is moderately easy. By pulling up on to the horizontal
ledge on the left buttress the loose stones are almost avoided, and
then some easy steps land the leader in safety a few yards from the
upper edge of the crags. When all are up, a traverse of about fifty
yards to the right discloses a rough but quick route down to the scree
gully and the wire fence, or the same traverse continued along the
contour-line leads to the Westmorland crags and the beginning of the
ordinary scree descent towards Gavel Neese.
The Doctor’s Chimney deserves to be popular. It is a perfectly safe
climb, and offers excellent practice for the arms. On the whole it is
probably a little easier than the Oblique Chimney, especially when
descended, for it is so narrow that there is little need to seek
footholds until the level of the pinnacle is reached. It has the
advantage over its more famous rival of being easily hit off in misty
weather; for a scree gully is then less mistakable than a rocky sheep
walk, and a wire fence than a ‘bottle-shaped’ pinnacle.
Such, then, was our digression before making for the foot of the
Central Gully. Another party of friends had comfortably ensconced
themselves in various corners on the small crag opposite the chimney,
and were interested observers of our performance. They smoked
cigarettes and offered advice freely; their day’s work was done, and
to watch others still hard at it was perfect luxury. When we emerged
panting from the top they threw away their cigarette ends and strolled
down to Wastdale for tea. It required much moral strength to refrain
from joining them, but there was the Great Central still on hand, and
that other little chimney to prospect. If it were as difficult as
report said, then we were bound to stay and climb it. So we worked
round to the end of the wire fence and looked for our gully. Its name
perhaps suggests a great gap in the mountain side, visible for miles
round, and as unavoidable by the wanderer on this side of Gable as the
Edgware Road is said to be by the Frenchman in London. But if this
be so the name is misleading. Many people fail to find the gully in
bad weather. Its entrance from below is narrow and its exit above is
ill defined. A short distance to the east of the Doctor’s Chimney the
scree-walk up the crag, that leads past the relics of the smuggler’s
inclosure, insures a safe passage to the top of the cliff. This scree
gully faces Kirkfell, and but for the usually poor light on this north
face of the mountain it might be easily recognized from that side.
Scarcely a hundred yards away from the end of the fence the narrow
opening of the Central Gully may be found; from Beckhead it appears
in profile, and is not-always manifest. Walking eastwards along the
scree beneath the crags, it is the first really obvious passage into
the heart of the mountain after leaving the Doctor’s Chimney; the easy
scree walk is not much impressed in the face, and in a mist it has
often been entirely overlooked. Even in cloudy weather the first pitch
of our gully can be discerned a few feet above us, and identified by
the buttress that partially divides it, the chock-stone in its right
branch, and the fine-looking ‘jammed-stone pinnacle’ that shows up a
little higher on the left.
The first clear account of the gully appeared in the Wastdale book: ‘In
the great gully are found two pitches near the bottom. The top part may
be varied by crossing a grass slope and joining the easy scree route,
or the climb may be continued by going straight forward. This looks
very hard, but on close inspection the difficulty entirely disappears;
for the climber is able to pass behind a square tower of rock, and in
this way to enter on the final bit of grass and rock that brings him
out at the top.’
We were a party of three, and managed comfortably with eighty feet of
rope. The first pitch was easy, what with dry rocks and warm weather.
Our guide started up the buttress that divides the gully, and at a
convenient opportunity stepped back on to the loose stones in the bed.
A few feet brought us to the second pitch, a trifle harder than the
first. Again the leader worked up a buttress on the left of the gully,
but this time well in the hollow. Near the top of the obstruction the
left leg had to take the place of the right, a good handhold above
serving to insure the safe transfer, and then a ledge could be reached
by the right foot. The body was next swung over to that side, and so to
the crest of the pitch.
Here the gully looked very attractive. On the left rose the
jammed-stone pinnacle, an easy chimney leading up to the cleft that
separates it from the mountain. Two big boulders bridge the cleft near
the crest of the little passage, the higher one offering a safe way
to the summit of the pinnacle. It is from here that the progress or
‘rake’ can be made out across to the foot of the Oblique Chimney and on
towards Stony Gully at the east end of Gable Crag.
Just above us a third pitch barred the way. The gully was much
wider here, and greater diversity of method was now possible. The
guide counselled the direct attack of the short crack in front. The
philosopher prudently suggested that time was an object and the crack
a hard nut; we ought to take the easy corner on the left. The friend
that completed our trio gave the casting vote in favour of overtime
and ten hours’ work per day during holidays. The crack was certainly
awkward. It was at first easiest to face towards the right and work up
nine or ten feet. Then when the foothold was of the fanciest of orders
it became desirable to effect a half-turn of the body so that the other
side of the crack might be faced. Once the turn was accomplished, a
fine hand-hold made the rest easy; we could pull up the corner and walk
out at the top, some twenty-five feet above the foot of the pitch. Our
friend was thinking evidently of his casting vote when he followed the
guide; for at the turning-point a slip cast him on to the rope and
gave him an extra turn that he scarcely appreciated. But the leader
was safely ensconced above, and the poor fellow hastened up to assure
himself that the rope really had been held tightly. The philosopher
eschewed the cause of this momentary retrogression, and came quietly up
the grass and rock corner well to the left of the gully.
We were now almost out on the face of the mountain. Very little
remained of the gully as such. The ordinary walk away towards the right
was perfectly plain. Mr. Robinson’s route upwards, described in the
extract just quoted, was a little to the left, but not at all easy to
locate, for the square tower of rock blocked the direct view of the
climb. Straight up above us we saw a wall of about a hundred feet of
apparently sheer rock, down the centre of which passed the crack or
chimney that we were to take for our finish.
Loose earthy steps led to the foot of the wall, and for a moment we
thought with some apprehension that the first part was going to be
seriously troublesome. At a height of twenty-five feet or so some
narrow splintered boulders completely filled up the crack and overhung
considerably. Just below them the climbing was obviously awkward,
by reason of the footholds that were not there, if the ancient
Hibernianism may be tolerated, and the necessary leverage on the
boulders when we were using them for all they were worth would imperil
their stability and our own. But after mounting the first twelve feet
with, perhaps, more case than we had anticipated, a narrow ledge showed
up on the right wall for about ten feet, and we noticed with relief
that at its further extremity another traverse led back to the crack
in a slanting direction to a point just above the critical spot. This
diversion we promptly accepted, and found it altogether satisfactory.
The lower ledge was just wide enough for the feet, and handholds just
good enough for the balance of the body during the transfer. At the
further end it was easy scrambling to the upper ledge, which showed
itself as a broad and safe path to a little niche where the crack was
somewhat enlarged. The floor of the niche was formed of loose stones
supported on the larger jammed blocks that had affrighted us below,
and was sufficiently commodious for all the party to place themselves
securely thereon. Probably the next part of the climb was the hardest.
That, at any rate, was the opinion of those who had recommended the
route to us, and after their kindly advice we were gratefully prepared
to accept anything from them in the way of opinion. The chimney was
vertical and its two walls almost holdless.
Direct progress seemed barred by three thick plates of rock wedged into
the crack and projecting outwards some three or four feet. Over these
we had to make our way, and if their edges proved to be unsatisfactory
for the fingers to grip or the arms to clasp, then we should have to
return with the ignominy of defeat. On the one hand appearances were
against us; the pitch looked impossible. But on the other we knew it
had been climbed once or twice before, and assuredly under no better
conditions than were vouchsafed to ourselves. Far away down at the
foot of the gully we noticed a couple of men who had been walking
Wastdale-wards after a hard day, but were gazing up at us in some
curiosity to know how we were going to tackle our problem. It would
never do to go back now.
And thus, after sacrificing such time and small reflections to the
reputed difficulty of the place as its admirers would have claimed
of us, we turned our gaze upwards and climbed the pitch. It went off
pleasantly enough. An easy clamber led to a second platform immediately
below the jammed plates. A foot or two higher, and a ledge on the left
could be used for the one hand, the edge of the lowest overhanging
block with the other, while the left leg was swung up on to a shelf.
The attitude was awkward just for the moment, but with both arms
clasping the plate of rock, which was perfectly trustworthy, there
could be no thought of falling for the leader, who had only to thrust
himself forward into an upper recess and wriggle into safety.
Here he discovered another level platform, neatly turfed and obviously
constructed as a climber’s resting place. It would have been easy to
stay there and negotiate the rope for the other men below, but the next
pitch was only ten feet higher up, and led to a still better corner.
Therefore he went on by straightforward hand-and-foot work, and climbed
the pitch by its left-hand branch. The chimney is here about eight feet
wide, divided into two by a long and narrow boulder.
The right-hand branch is just possible, but the sense of insecurity at
one spot almost demands help from below. On the left a deep recess is
floored with splintered blocks that threaten to break away but cannot
easily manage it. The boulder offered enough assistance in the way of
holds, especially a sharp edge at the top, and when overcome showed
itself to be the last genuine obstacle in our course. We were soon
all gathered together at the little notch that marks the top of the
chimney, and after adding a stone to the cairn that stands there, we
marched up some thirty feet of solid buttress and broke at a plunge
through the thick cornice of old snow that yet remained as a token of
the hard winter that had come and gone.
The easy finish to the right of the last vertical wall passes up scree
from the top of the third pitch, and takes us on to a ridge of rock
above the Smuggler’s Retreat. Here it joins the Scree Gully, and we
have a small piece of hand-and-foot work before it narrows, then curves
away to the left, and finally ends on a ledge of broken rock close to
the highest point.