With a typically suspect weather forecast for Friday and Saturday (dry everywhere else but rain over Cumbria) seven BMSCMC members headed north and west to explore the fine climbing of the Lakes. We chose quick-drying crags near the road, so met on Friday lunchtime at Scout Crag at the entrance to Langdale. This is a surprisingly good venue with 2* and 3* multipitch routes on its upper tier. However, the most impressive ascent of the day was from the Smith brothers on Cub’s Crack (HS, 4b 2*), a single-pitch steep jamming crack on the lower tier.
From our base in Coniston, one of our main targets had been to climb at Dow Crag, but it’s an ice rink in the wet … and it was raining first thing on Saturday. We decided to head up to Keswick and be ready (coffee shops, gear shops) for the rain to stop. By late morning, we were on our way to Shepherd’s Crag beside Derwentwater. All six climbers got onto Little Chamonix (Classic Rock, VD 3* 4-pitch), one of the best and most sought-after routes in the country. We didn’t stop climbing until about 8pm. Other notable ascents were Dan and Amy on Chamonix (HS 4b 2*) and another very watchable climb by the Smiths on Ardus (VS 4b 3*). That top pitch looked tough and scary! We stopped off at Keswick for fish and chips in the market place, all feeling good after a fine day’s climbing.
With a long journey back, Jake and the south-west contingent needed to head back home on Sunday. With fine weather forecast at last, that left Dan and Andrew (with Nigel on drone) to fulfil one of the original objectives, a big climb on Dow Crag. Epic! Even from the high car park on Walna Scar, it’s well over an hour’s walk-in. Dan wanted a big multi-pitch route finishing on the summit, so Giant’s Crawl it was. At around 130m of climbing in 7 pitches, this 3-star route is ranked as one of the three best Diff routes in the country. It wanders through extreme terrain with mind-blowing exposure. What a way to end a memorable weekend.
Unfortunately the weekend will also be remembered for Nigel’s drone spinning out of control high on Dow Crag after a motor failed. Let’s hope it gets retrieved for what Nigel describes as some amazing shots of the climbing.
