Number in series 70; Year of publication 1986 - Fell and Rock ...

16 A SHORT HISTORY OF LAKELAND CLIMBING - PART ISavage Gully in despair of ever climbing the Nose? It is strange nowadays tothink of the hero of the Napes Needle being defeated by the severity of theNose. The cause could not have been isolation or altitude—one would havethought the exposure was about equal in both cases. Possibly what is now aclean landing on sound bare rock may have been an earth-covered ledge heapedwith scree from Stony Gully above. Howbeit, the problem was solved in thefollowing year by the Hand Traverse, a much more strenuous and exposedroute than the Nose itself. After this the Nose seems to have lost its terrors for itwas climbed in the following year.Haskett-Smith collected another scalp in the shape of a short climb on toScafell Pinnacle from Jordan Gap (another place which was probably earthcovered),and this naturally led to the frontal attacks on the Pinnacle by SteepGhyll in the same year, and the Slin'gsby's Chimney route in 1888.The leading figures during this time were Haskett-Smith, Robinson,Hastings, Slingsby, Collie, and Collier, and gullies and chimneys were fallingright and left to their assaults. Noteworthy feats were the overthrow of theGreat Gully of the Screes under the leadership of G. Hastings, and the conquestof Moss Ghyll in the same year (1892) by a party led by J.N. Collie. Moss Ghyllproved a most popular addition and along with the North Climb on Pillar hasremained a classic to this day.It was a little outside this period, however, when O.G. Jones sealed the GullyPeriod by his magnificent achievement, on a cold January day in 1899, overWalker's Gully, a truly noble cleft, as Laycock remarks, and in most respectsour finest gully climb this side of the Scottish border. Though Savage Gully wasdone in 1901 it belongs, by its very character, to a later phase, combining as itdoes all the qualities of the Gully-Chimney cum Slab and Wall Period.It would seem that up to now the climber demanded from his climb some sortof enclosing protection for his body, and as the wide gullies were graduallyvanquished, it was naturally to the remaining—and narrower—fissures that helooked for further routes. These, though often only wide enough for theinsertion of an arm and leg, still gave some degree of the sense of security, andso it came about that a host of chimneys of varying widths were added to thegrowing list of climbs. Amongst these might be mentioned Gwynne's Chimney,Oblique Chimney, Kern Knotts Chimney, Shamrock Chimneys, andHopkinson's Crack. Thus the climber was gradually squeezed out on to thefaces of the cliffs in order to increase, and give variety to, his climbing.He was however, still reluctant to take undue risks and in consequence heturned to the edges or ribs of the crags, for these by the very nature of theirstructure would give frequent halting places, as well as afford more opportunityfor anchorage than the more exposed walls and slabs. It should be recalled that aforestate of this was experienced in the middle 'eighties, for the Needle Ridgewas ascended by then. Still, it was not until the late 'nineties that seriousattention was paid to them, and bearing this in mind it still seems an186