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  CLIMBING IN THE BRITISH ISLES

  _ENGLAND_




  CLIMBING
  IN THE BRITISH ISLES

  _3 vols. 16mo. Sold separately._

  I. ENGLAND.
  II. WALES.     _In preparation._
  III. SCOTLAND. _In preparation._

  LONDON AND NEW YORK:
  LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.




  CLIMBING
  IN
  THE BRITISH ISLES

  _I.--ENGLAND_

  BY
  W.P. HASKETT SMITH, M.A.
  MEMBER OF THE ALPINE CLUB

  WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
  BY
  ELLIS CARR
  MEMBER OF THE ALPINE CLUB

  AND FIVE PLANS

  LONDON
  LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
  AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET
  1894

  _All rights reserved_




CONTENTS


Introduction

The headings, for convenience of reference, are arranged in
one continuous alphabetical series, comprising the following
classes of subject:

  I. COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS WHICH ARE OF INTEREST TO THE
    MOUNTAINEER
      (_e.g._ Cumberland, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Ennerdale)

  II. PLACES WHICH ARE CONVENIENT AS CLIMBING CENTRES
      (_e.g._ Keswick, Patterdale, Wastdale Head)

  III. MOUNTAINS AND ROCKS WHICH AFFORD CLIMBS
      (_e.g._ Dow Crag, Pillar, Scafell)

  IV. CLIMBS OF REPUTATION, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR FINDING AND
    ACCOMPLISHING THEM
      (_e.g._ Deep Gill, Mickledoor, Napes Needle)

  V. TECHNICAL TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS
      (_e.g._ back-and-knee, chimney, toe-scrape)

  VI. LOCAL NAMES FOUND AMONG THE HILLS, WITH OCCASIONAL
    NOTES ON THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING
      (_e.g._ bink, clough, gill, hause, hope)




INTRODUCTION


For some years past there has been a remarkably rapid increase in the
number of men who climb for climbing's sake within the bounds of the
British Isles.

When any young and active Englishman sees a rock and is told that the
ascent of it is regarded as a kind of feat, there is no doubt what he
will want to do. He will obey what has been the instinct of the race at
any time this forty years. But lately there has been a change. What was
formerly done casually and instinctively has for the last dozen years or
so been done systematically and of set purpose, for it is now recognised
that hill-climbing in these islands may form part of a real
mountaineering education. Many might-be mountaineers have missed their
vocation because they were in the position of the prudent individual who
would not go into the water until after he should have learned to swim:
they did not become Alpine because they were afraid that they should
make fools of themselves if they went on the Alps. Yet, had they only
known it, they might have found without crossing the sea many a place
which might have been to their undeveloped instincts what the little
pond at the end of the garden has been to many a would-be skater--a
quiet spot where early flounderings would be safe from the contemptuous
glances of unsympathetic experts.

Icemanship can only be acquired through a long apprenticeship, by
tramping many a weary mile helplessly tied to the tail of a guide. But
one principal charm of hill-climbing lies in the fact that it may be
picked up by self-directed practice and does not demand the same
preliminary subjection. The course of Alpine instruction can only be
considered complete when Mr. Girdlestone's ideal of 'The High Alps
without Guides' is realised (an ideal, be it clearly understood, which
for fully ninety-nine out of every hundred climbers it would be
downright madness to attempt to carry into practice); whereas, while
rock-climbing may be enjoyed by amateurs without incurring the reproach
of recklessness, they at the same time experience the exquisite pleasure
of forming their own plans of attack, of varying the execution of them
according to their own judgment, and finally of meeting obstacles, as
they arise, with their own skill and with their own strength, and
overcoming them without the assistance of a hired professional.

Nowhere can the mere manual dexterity of climbing be better acquired
than among the fells of Cumberland; excellent practising-ground presents
itself on nearly every hill. Compared with real mountains the crags of
Cumberland are but toys, but small as they are, they have made many and
many a fine climber; and the man who has gone through a course of
training among them, who has learnt to know the exact length of his own
stride and reach, and to wriggle up a 'chimney' in approved style with
shoulder, hip and knee, may boldly fly at higher game, and when he
proceeds to tackle the giants of the Alps or Caucasus has no cause to be
afraid of the result.

As if with the express object of increasing their educational value to
the mountaineer, the hilly parts of Great Britain are peculiarly subject
to atmospheric changes. No one who has not experienced their effects
would believe the extent to which mist, snow, and even rain can change
the appearance of landmarks among the mountains; and, where landmarks
are less abundant or less striking, even the buffeting of violent wind
may cause an inexperienced man to change his direction unconsciously.
Valuable experience in things of this kind may be gained even in summer,
but in winter the conditions become more Alpine, and splendid practice
may be had in the use of the axe and rope.

Not that the latter should be neglected on difficult rocks at any time
of the year. Even in places where it gives the leader no security and to
some extent actually impedes him, the moral effect of it is good. It
wonderfully increases those feelings of united and ordered effort, of
mutual dependence and mutual confidence, and finally of cheery
subordination of self, which are not the least of the virtues or the
joys of mountaineering. How these opportunities may be used the novice
will readily learn from Mr. Charles Pilkington's admirable chapters in
the Badminton 'Mountaineering,' and from Dr. Claude Wilson's excellent
little handbook on the same subject. It is the aim of the present work
to enable him to find suitable places where the principles so admirably
laid down by those authorities may be tested and applied, and to
understand the descriptions--often involving difficult technical and
local terms--which have been published of them. When anyone with
climbing instincts finds himself in a strange place his first desire is
to discover a climb, his second to learn what its associations are; what
is it called, and why? has anyone climbed it, and what did he think of
it? To such questions as these this book endeavours to provide an
answer. It offers, in short, to the would-be climber a link, with the
guidebook on the one hand and the local specialist on the other.

It must always be remembered that a very fine rock may be a very poor
climb. It may be impossible or it may be too easy, or, again, the
material maybe dangerously rotten; and thus, though there are many
places where men can and do