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LAND & WATER 
August ; , 191 7 
On British Peaks 
By William T. Palmer 
NOT so long ago one "rarely read about any 
Eurojx^an peak which was less than ten thousand 
feet in height. The Chamonix Aiguilles, the 
stormy Shrcjckhorn, the ridges of the Matter- 
horn among the Alps, the heights of Arctic Norway, 
the dolomite crags of the Austrian Tyrol, and the snovv- 
piasscs of the Caucasus were the literary fashion. There 
was a "taste for sensation too, as well as for magnitude. 
The past generation found no unclimbed mountain within 
the four seas of Britain ; few rock-routes remain unconquered 
for the next comers. Still, our home peaks possess charac- 
ter, magnificence of shape if not of mere bulk, and adventures, 
such as the breaking of a snow-cornice, the avalanching of 
a gully or a shower of rock fragments have only to be sought 
to be found. 
Many of the highest British peaks go smoothly up, and 
finish in neatly rounded, uninteresting " paps." Others 
are great rolling waves tipped with foam of crags and flecked 
with scree. Others again are merely tilted edges of upland. 
Some peaks are fierce of appearance, jerking up in savage 
horns and spikes, or presenting forbidding ramparts, or rising 
in graceful spires. ■ One gets surprises at times. The greatest 
thrill one has yet experienced on an open British peak was 
the surmounting of Glyder Fach, in North Wales. One had 
strolled from Gorphwysfa (on the pass of Llanberis) up into 
soft rolling masses of summer cloud. Glyder Fawr was duly 
located, after which, across alternate stretches of gravel, rock 
and grass, one took a compass course for the twin peak. A 
hump of brbken crag was met and scaled, then to the left 
one saw the spike of stones which apparently marked the 
summit. For a minute the mists folded closely about one,hiding 
everything in a grey smother. Then there was a brightening 
and the curtain whirled aside. The climber stood on the 
lip of a mighty crevasse, up the black walls of which the mist 
was rolling and spraying. That further point discovered 
itself as a shattered " Tower of Pisa " leaning over a gulf. 
In sunshine the scene would have been interesting ; against 
that grey, swirling background it was deeply impressive. 
Easy Climbs 
On the majority of British peaks easy routes simply shout 
at the rambler. One has to improvise considerably to get a 
climb as lively as say Striding Edge on Helvellyn. Snowdon 
and Skiddaw, Cross Fell and Ben Nevis are pretty much alike 
in weakness of ascent. Red Screes and the Peak^ Plinlimmon 
and Ingleborough, Cader Idris and Ben MacDhui, Ben Lomond 
and Tmto Top can be ascended with little difficulty, even on 
donkey back. Kinder Scout and others of the South Pennine 
are difficult to locate— their tops are mere tufts of turf tilted 
a few inches above a mile of level moorland—and difficult 
of access. The way is cut across by scores of deep rain channels 
worn into the soft peat. One mile per hour is swift progress, 
for each trench may be a dozen feet in depth, thirty feet wide, 
with steep and slippery slopes, and one scrambles up to the 
heather just m time to step back into the next hollow. 
Moreover, these channels criss-cross in the maddest fashion, 
and hold scores of mud pools to entrap the unwary. 
The peaks of Tryfaen give possibly the best scrambles 
south of the Border. One prefers the traverse from north to 
south where the route dodges in and out of steep crags and 
outcrops, where variations of more or less severity are always 
tcmptmg, but even the easiest route- that from the we'st 
—gets up a stiff, broken face. The actual peak is the higher 
of two rock- teeth which stand, a few feet apart, above the 
bouldery cone. The view east toward Capel Curig has as fore- 
ground a few gaunt pinnacles and perched boulders, then a 
tremendous pit in which one sees the peregrine and raven 
floating apparently in suspense. In one of the ancient 
guide-books it is stated that an elated companion leapt 
several times from one rock-column of Tryfaen to the other 
The exercise is possible— at three thousand feet one expects 
exhilaration, but personally one would not risk a bad fall 
m such a pursuit. To surmount the last ten feet of Tryfaen 
one must use the hands— it is the only peak south of the 
Border 'where such a method is absolutely necessary. 
Crib Goch suffers from being an outlying' ridge of the Snow- 
don peak— but really it should be counted as separate and 
satisfying. Many years ago a visitoi; likened its crest to a 
mile-long tight rope done in rock, along which the daring 
might crawl, glancing right and left to see, far beneath the 
bleached skeletons of those predecessors who had failed in the 
journey. Crib Goch is not really dangerous as this The 
white patches are merely outcrops of felspar, and accidents 
along the summit are few and far between. In a gale or 
under thin snow . its narrow, rocky ridge might possibly be 
dangerous, but even at such times one may walk serenely 
beneath the crest; using the topmost ledges for handhold, 
and avoiding the " Crazy " and all other pinnacles. 
Turning to ^(Eumbrian peaks one has much to say 
about vartetyv / 1 There are some glorious mountain 
forms. Theivi finest ascent of all is Great Gable, 
between \Vasda4e and Ennsrdale. The retreat from 
this peak imay' be quite awkward in misty weather. 
Though no cliffs intrude on the direct path, there are plenty 
within easy reach, and most of the tiny cross-ridges slope 
down to a false buttress and a sheer descent. Bowfell, 
above Langdale, is another fine peak. Its magnetic iron- 
stone ledges make the compass unreliable, a factor which is 
not always appreciated until the party is benighted as well 
as befogged;' '.'Scafell Pipe, the highest point of England, is 
not distinguislwdi among others except for its roughness and 
for a possibly sporting route up beside Piers Ghyll. 
Its north face has given Scafell a reputation as wide ajs, 
the world ofi'mofimtaineering. A series of huge rqck-towers;; 
split off byalrrioSt inaccessible chimneys, has provided en- 
thusiasts with a ne\y craft. But oh! that the long 
hummocky grass-slope from Burnmoor and Eskdale did not 
exist. To climb even the simplest route on the north 
face — Broad Stand — is a task to the novice. 
The ascent threads up thirty feet of naked rock, then swings 
out to the left where for a few feet one scrambles astride the 
rib which walls in the Mickledore chimney. The gloomy 
depths of this, and the vista of Esk foaming two thousand 
feet below, scares off many an adventurer. Without a rope 
the climb is really none too safe for any but the experienced. 
One has reason to believe that any ancient dalesman who 
assailed this cliff worked out to the right instead of the left of 
the famous ridge, takirtg something near the line re-discovered 
in the North or Penrith Climb. From the great rift of Mickle- 
dore there is another fine route to the peak of Scafell. This 
is the steep and laborious Lords Rake, a screes shoot which 
niay be varied by an ascent up the broken West Wall— a 
piece of rock-scrambling which is safe and introduces one tc 
scenery of the wildest possible type. 
The Scottish peaks are equally interesting to the rambler, 
though most present the usually easy slopesv There are, 
however, some not so accommodating. There is Sgurr nan 
Gillean in the Black Coolin of Skye, up which the "tourist 
route," IS even mildly exciting. Now-a-days, the way is well- 
marked by boot scratches, and on a clear day the rambler 
needs no other guide. Such a one must avoid all pinnacles 
and carefully descend one or two gaps where the penalty of a 
miss-step means cfertain death. Sgurr nan Gillean is a jewel 
to the mild type of mountain-lover— the man whose tastes 
carry him no further into the inner presence than can be 
managed without ingenious balancing and strong "head" 
work. One may see much, even of the wild CooHn, without 
actually getting to grips with sheer walls . 
On the niainland of Scotland, one finds less sensational , 
but still satiisfactory, peaks. There is Suilven, a great sugar- 
l°t^j ?^^i^'*-^^'^ North, which from a distance looks impregnable. 
In'd(*t-d-, th^ rock-front only surrendered within the past seven 
ye^ars to *i*|3ert assault, but there is a slash right down the 
chFf, a deeji furrow floored mainly with grass which robs the 
ordmary iscent of terror. As already indicated, Ben Nevis 
has an easy side though the north face with its patches of 
eternal snow and its great rock- towers is still partially 
untested. 
Xhere is one peak above Glencoe which should be remembered. 
^.'^^^^ "*'" Bian may be traversed without finding any great 
dithculty but its out-lier, Stob Coire an Lochan, gives a real 
chmb. It IS steep, it is narrow, it is rough, and the route 
i''"(-L "^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ °^ ™'^'^' ^"^ awkward stone-shoots. 
A sligfit, touch of snow makes Hhe climbing extremely severe, 
as one had proved, though the hard-packed masses after a 
hard winter rather assist than hinder the attacker. 
Right through the mountains of Britain on6 finds the beau- 
tiful as expressed in contour, the grand as shown in mighty 
clifis, the sensational as typified in tovvers and pinnacles 
Coiilpared with the Alps, tlie heights are small, but the 
pleasure is none the less. One also is less in the hands of the 
prolQssional progriinme-m'^iter and guide ; there is more 
independence of route and course, and the beauties are both 
supreme and continuous. There is no wearying drag up 
leagues of moraine, no hburs on moderate snow slopes where 
beiuty does- not exist. One gets to grips with the peak at 
once, and afterwards, turning one's back, there is no terrible 
slog back to civilisation. 
