Month: August 2020

Lakes Rampage 2020, Day 5: Climbing in Borrowdale

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I peeked under the pull-down blind to take in the tranquility of early morning in Honister Pass. The sky was clear and the sun had drenched half the valley side in its balmy warmth. I waited for Ryan to wake up (I’m definitely more of a morning person), then we ate and drove up the steep “head end” of the pass. The road that joins the Buttermere and Borrowdale valleys is winding, hilly and incredibly scenic.

We parked at Thorneythwaite Farm, put £3 in the honesty box and headed up to the crag. We’d hoped to climb Corvus, a famous five pitch route graded Diff (easy) either today or tomorrow, but thought we’d check out the nearer Glaciated Slab at Combe Gill to begin with. There were a handful of single-pitch climbs there, which would be good for warming up our trad climbing brains after months of covid-induced abstinence. Given Monday’s epic hike, we also wanted to test Ryan’s still-sore knees before committing to a multipitch.

The walk in to the crag took about half an hour and the last section involved an awkward scramble up a steep boulderfield. Glaciated Slab was worth it, with its agreeable, off-vertical gradient, grippy looking rock and handful of cracks. It was quiet and wild, situated high up on one side of a steep, V-shaped valley, carpeted on both sides by scrubby grass, dark green forest and a litany of loose rocks. To our right Derwentwater peeked distantly through the trough of the “V”, backed by the hazy blue mountains beyond Keswick.

Our Rockfax climbing book informed us that all but two routes were within our grade, so we hoped to get a good few climbs in. Keen to feel cold rock under our fingers, we dropped bags and harnessed up. Ry started by leading Trod Too Far (HS 4b), then I led Trod Pip (VS 4c), then we took turns crossing off whatever we fancied. It had been over a year (tragically) since I last built a three-piece top anchor, but I was pleased that it came back so naturally. I didn’t have to think about the process of placing and testing gear, clipping in, equalising the sling and bringing the rope up to put Ryan on belay.

The rock was grippy, nicely cracked in some places and a bit bare in others, and it felt so solid that we threw in a couple of solo climbs (Diff/VDiff). I felt the old, toe-tingling thrill of looking down at the distant ground and accepting that up is the only option. After a good few hours climbing, we decided that we’d exhausted that crag and scrambled/walked back down the valley, returning to the van about 5pm.

We drove north along the pretty Borrowdale road to Keswick, on the north tip of Derwentwater, grabbed some supplies from the Co-op, and wandered round the pretty, bustling town. Before we knew it, we found ourselves in Wetherspoons. We discussed our plan to go mountain biking the next day over a pint and three small plates for £10 (every time), then hopped back in the van and drove up the road towards Whinlatter Forest Park. We found a discrete car park, went for a quick walk up a hill overlooking Keswick and chilled in the van for the rest of the evening, basking in the happy-exhausted feeling that comes after a good day’s climbing.

Lakes Rampage 2020, day 4: Recovery

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We’d hoped to finish the previous day’s epic hike in the Wasdale Head Inn, a classic climber/hiker’s pub at the end of Wasdale valley’s dead end road, but our late return thwarted this plan so it was first on Tuesday’s itinerary. We woke later than usual from our camping spot on the edge of Wast Water and enjoyed a pint in the lovely old pub, which is decorated with cool old mountainey pictures and maps. A sign states emphatically that there’s no wifi and that we should talk to each other instead, which I liked – although it would have been useful to let Ryan’s dad (who’d followed yesterday’s progress live until my phone died) know that we’re alive as there’s zero phone signal in the valley.

The most frog-like photo of me ever taken but it kind of shows the Wasdale Head Inn

We were suffering from mobility issues due to seized quadriceps and in Ryan’s case, potentially damaged knee ligaments/cartilage, so didn’t expect to do anything remarkable that day. We’d studied our climbing guidebooks in the pub at Wasdale and had decided to travel to the Borrowdale Valley to mess around at Raven crag and climb Corvus, a famous multipitch route graded Diff. The drive up the northwest side of the National Park felt a bit adminney in the middle of the day, but we’d planned well as in contrast to yesterday’s generally dry, clear weather, it was now wet and claggy.

Mountains, lakes and forests reappeared as we headed east through Buttermere, an area I’d never visited before. It was serene and beautiful, even under the grey sky. We went to Buttermere village for lunch and found the Bridge Hotel, a nice whitewashed, beamed, stone-floored bar, but it was eerily quiet and the whole facemasked waiter, disposable menu thing seemed a bit awkward. Ryan spotted a couple of big cherry trees out the window and we filled our pockets with juicy red snacky-snacks, then set off east to get closer to tomorrow’s climbing spot. The cherries didn’t make it to our next camping spot at Honister Pass.

Honister Pass is a winding road through a deep slate valley – the type you get on car adverts – which rises gradually as it runs parallel to a wide, shallow river, then steeply. After a brief stop to let the engine cool down (steep slopes set the overheating alarm off) we parked in a pull-in a couple of hundred metres down the road from Honister slate mine, high up at the head of the valley and overlooking the long road which snakes between its V-shaped sides. To my frustration we found a gash in the front passenger side tyre, probably caused by a sharp bit of slate. We changed the wheel and spent the evening admiring the sweeping, rock-strewn valley, drinking gin, cooking pasta, singing badly and looking down the picturesque road at a stunning, pink-orange sunset. Today had been quiet but we were happy knowing that tomorrow, we would climb.