Rock-climbing in the English Lake District . andforms a thin curtain of spray stretching from side toside of the cave entrance. The two walls of thegully are black and glistening, the floor of the caveis slippery, and slopes steeply down to the foot of theghyll. The only safe way up or down the pitch isby a series of ledges in a square recess on the left,well marked in the opposite illustration. We were ignorant of the character of the climb-ing here, but there was no resisting the conclusionforced upon us by a peep over the edge of the pitch,that the recess on our right offered us the onlycha
Rock-climbing in the English Lake District . andforms a thin curtain of spray stretching from side toside of the cave entrance. The two walls of thegully are black and glistening, the floor of the caveis slippery, and slopes steeply down to the foot of theghyll. The only safe way up or down the pitch isby a series of ledges in a square recess on the left,well marked in the opposite illustration. We were ignorant of the character of the climb-ing here, but there was no resisting the conclusionforced upon us by a peep over the edge of the pitch,that the recess on our right offered us the onlychance of descent. The ledges were tufted withthick grass that now and again threatened to giveway. But on the whole we felt very safe, and whenthe actual corner of the recess was reached, thedifficulties vanished and we had a simple traverseback towards the waterfall. The descent of six oreight feet to the foot of the fall was partially underthe spray, but haste on such slippery ground was outof the question, and we moved one at a time with a. ASCENT OF THE B CHIMNEY 7 solemn indifFerence to the damping influences aroundus, that might have argued a whole days previousexposure and the absence of a vestige of dryclothing. We had a steep slide down the snowbanked up at the foot of the gully, and then pickeda way across to the b chimney, the centre of theseries and the most attractive. A and c may be reasonably called easy. Theyare not too hard for muscular novices, and are com-paratively safe. But the central chimney is decidedlystiff, and should not be indiscriminately recommendedwith the others. It is very narrow all the way tothe jammed stone at the top ; it is about as difficultto get out, when half-way up, as it is to continue thedirect ascent, and suitable belaying for the leader orhis followers cannot be found at the hardest ofthe climb. I tried the chimney once when there wasa considerable quantity of water coming down, andwas compelled to give it up : it is probable
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