May II, igiG 
LAND & WATER 
17 
Some Mountain Passes 
By William T. Palmer 
OMEHOW our British mountain passes have 
only an " off-day " attraction for the cHmber 
kand mountaineer. Certainly, in his route from 
Keswick, such a one is compelled to tramp 
over Sty Head, or approaching from Langdale has to en- 
dure the torments of steep and stony Rosset Ghyll as a 
prelude to his pleasure. But in this motoring generation 
one may easily find habituees of Wasdale who know 
nothing of either the \\'rynose or the Stake passes, though 
neither is far away. And the same circumstance may be 
found both in Wales and in Scotland. 
There seems to be a strong prejudice that mountain 
passes must be all alike. For my own part I am just in 
from two days in the Central Grampians where the 
famous Glen Tilt and Larig Ghru passes were taken on 
successive days, and certainly cannot agree there is any 
common ground in the scenery there. A few months ago 
I renevvecl acquaintance with the passes about Glencoe, 
including the Devil's Staircase (a soldier's nickname 
this for a very moderate ascent ! ) from Rannoch Moor 
to Kinlochleven, and some time earlier was in the dark 
depths of Glen Nevis. The Cumbrian passes are of course 
old familiar places, both as regards the motor roads, the 
bridge paths (which serve as modern tourist routes), 
and the nearly invisible " dalesman's ways." 
A. slight consideration shows that mountain passes 
may be divided, for accessibility, into the classes already 
mentioned. The motor roads represent the great trunk 
lines (though they are exceptions). The drove road and 
the many " passes of the calves " of the Highlands 
indicate the routes by which drovers assembled their 
live wares for the fairs which in the long ago were often 
held at points not even represented on modern maps by 
a place-name. Such roads, being disused, are in some 
danger of being forgotten, and the casual tourist who 
follows their green lines knows nothing of either the 
history or associations around his feet. 
Robber Routes 
Then there are the robber routes so-called — selected 
not always as secret places, but maybe because the way of 
pursuit, by breaking some bridge or damaging a ford 
could be hindered until the twenty-four hours allowed 
by the law of " hot-trod " had expired, and the robbers 
had the right of defending with violence their misgotten 
property. 
In choosing both drove and robber routes a due regard 
had to be taken for forage for the beasts : even the wildest 
Highlander who ever lifted a Lowland cow had no desire 
to present at home a bag of skin and bones, a fine animal 
emaciated by bad pasture and hard driving. How 
often, in follow ing such routes, does one find an alp of 
.sweet gra;>s starred in the weary miles of heath and bog. 
Nor did the ancient cattle-drovers particularly favour an 
ultra-narrow passage between cliff and burn. If, and 
because, the Pass of Killiecrankie could not be avoided 
then that route was taken, but the narrow path made 
driving tedious and mishaps almost certain. The thief 
with his tiny knot of ill-gotten cattle might lurk in crannies 
of the rocks, drive his beasts up burns when other progress 
was impossible, and cross the highest and narro\\est ridges, 
but not so the honest man whose planning of mountain 
roads was for the public good, and has mostly continued. 
One finds it utterly impossible tO' assemble mountain 
passes under specific banners. They are too individual. 
There is nothing in Britain like the Larig Ghru which has 
just given me a lively scrimmage against wet, snow and 
fluffy drifts, and almost caused a night's bivouac on th(; 
lower boundary of the forest of Rothiemurchus. Rising 
nearly to 2,800 feet, it is for the most part of its height 
rough and stony, but still it occupies a most emphatic 
trough through the Central Grampians, no lesr than four 
distinct peaks of over four thousand feet peeping down 
into its recesses. 
Compared with the passes of Cumbria, the Larig is 
like an uncouth, loose-limbed hobbledehoy. Its great 
length is cast over miles of moor, ;;tones and bog, with a 
glorious unconcern a': to appearances. Sty Head, on the 
other hand, is a jewel among mountain passes (it is not, 
and should not be, perfectly symmetrical). It ladders 
up the screes from Wasdale Head, twists neatly round 
the corner of Great Gable, and skis down the cliff into 
fertile Borrowdale. In half a dozen miles it has passed 
through the whole scenic gamut, has attained its little 
sensations, its wonderful quick changes, and is a thing 
for the memory to cherish. But the long struggle of the. 
Larig gives one hours of comparative tedium, inevitable 
no doubt where Nature is shaped on the doubly-large 
scale of the Grampians. 
Motor Roads 
One can scarcely accept a motor-road over the ridges 
as a mountain pass without protest, though such as Kirk- 
stone and Glencoe, Llanberis and Drumochter have fine 
claims. Nor does the road winding into the Trossachs 
or that between Ben Cruachan above and Loch Awe 
beside really deserve the name of mountain pass unless we 
also include the way through the gorge of Cheddar in 
Somerset or some of the Derbyshire main roads. Some 
of General Wade's roads achieve the height of respectable 
passes, but that was unavoidable, and the beauties of the 
Devil's Staircase or of Corriyarick (between Dalhinnie 
and Fort Augustus) are of a poor order. 
But after all there is no comparison between the 
natural and the artificial in mountain passes. In the 
former the approach is usually by some ridge or inclined 
strata which favours an easy if lengthy ascent. General 
Wade followed the example of all mihtary engineers by 
marking the point at which it was necessary to cross the 
ridge, and came up to it by ar.eries of mere or less steep 
zig-zags — a horrible mutilation of the face of the moun- 
tain. Even in the old Roman routes the same dis- 
crepancy was visible, though in less degree, probably 
owing to the fact that two-wheeled chariots and light 
baggage carts were the only conveyances to be provided 
for. The Maiden Way which passes the Pennine near the 
top of Cross Fell on its way to Alston is a fair example 
of the Roman mountain road. The approach from 
Ambleside to High Street would, of course, have been 
steeper, but unfortunately the line of this road, pre- 
sumably near Blue Ghyll, cannot be definitely traced ia 
these days. 
Concerning the mountain passes which were never 
intended for ordinary cattle traffic there is little to say. 
Dalesmen, smugglers, sportsmen, climbers have been 
concerned in making these short cuts from point to point. 
The Larig Eilde from Glen Ittive to Glen Coe, Moses's 
Gate between the two Gables in Cumberland, the various 
miner's paths in Snowdonia are all examples of this type. 
These passes often touch scenes of great beauty, but for 
the most part their object remains strictly utilitarian. 
There is a girdle round Snowdon from Llanberis over the 
neck between Crib Goch, down into Cwm Dyli and over 
to the pass between Lliwedd and the main mountain which 
certainly introduces one to some glorious rock scenery. 
Other routes are mere grinds up scree and boulder "and 
slippery grass without the slightest offset in the way of 
interest. No one, for instance, gets much pleasure out 
of Sticks Pass (to the north of Helvellyn) or from the 
miner's track which crosses the marshy moor from 
Pcnygwryd past the Glyders for Ogwen and Bethesda. 
The cove between the Glyders and Tryfaen absolutely 
hides the beauty of those mountains, and another de- 
pression on the Ogwen side prevents anything good beiu" 
visible there. But the track saves the quarryman at" 
least an hour compared with the circuit by main road to 
Capel Curig and up the disappointing Nant Ffrancon. 
There are mountain routes and paths among the 
Pennines, but few that arc interesting as passes. The walk 
from the Tees to the Eden by way of High Cup Nick, is 
about the best that comes to mind, for the lonely valley 
of Birkdale lies deep in the moor and the descent beyond 
the pass, through the great whinstone outcrop, is .steep 
and interesting. The other routes are mere lines rising 
to and over great moorish hummock, and certainly wit- 
ness little of Nature's grandeur. 
