i5 
LAND & WATER 
J anuary loT^lli 
Shadows and the Rocks 
By WilHam T. Palmer 
SOME sjlorioiis courses among the rocks have been 
tli>eo\ered by some trick of evening; sliadow. The 
( rocii on Sgiimain in tiie Coolen was not known to 
tJie craft until a sharji-eved professor nosed a tiny d(»t 
of sunshine against tiie sliadowed slal^s. The crag itself is 
curious, and curiously situated. It is perched on a shoulder 
i>i rock, a solitary boulder, and only approachable across a 
stretch of slabs more or less teciuiically ditlicult. 
In Cumberland tiie famous Tapes Needle was disclosed in 
]>ractically identical manner, though the chmb had to wait 
longer for its conciueroi-. Nowadays, tramping down the 
stony track below Sprinkling Tarn, every eye turns mechani- 
callv towards the Tapes hedge as it appears gradually over 
the" lessening buttress of (7reat End. Old landmarks are 
settled anew, the grey sconces at the foot of climbers' gullies, 
the ptrched blocks abo\-e, the sharp ribs and edges, and then 
in the maze of fretted stone, the sharp tip of the Needle 
Ix'conies a certainty, and eye and mind travel no further 
until a bend of the jjath throws that wilderness of rock into 
new confusion, and view of the Needle is lost. From Wasdaie 
Head, in tlie deep trough west of the mountains, the Needle 
ilames like a candle on those rare evenings when the rocks 
are wet and the sun shines clear from the horizon. A keen 
eye can usually identify the lower of broken rocks in the even- 
ing light. It is a patch of lighter hue amidst the tangled 
shadows of gullies and arches, ' ^if ■ 
In the Alps, many famous routes were located by sunset 
shadow — a crescent of snow blue in 'a region of pitiless silver 
has drawn the eye of the mountaineer. .Possibly beneatli 
such a point existed the shallow groove, the deep cleft, through 
which lay the route to the summit. In the far-off Rockies 
of Canada, a steep, even dangerous first approach to the top 
of Mount Robson was discovered by its. shadow, and in the 
Himalayan sunset many a telescope has been levelled from 
Darjeeling and other stations among " The Hills " at that 
wrinkle which slants up the highest snows of Mount Everest , 
which avoids that series of deadlv pinnacles, and seems to 
give a fair path to the summit. Years ago, how one dreaded 
to hear that some band of German cpiasi-professors should 
intrigue a permission, forbidden to Briton by the Govern- 
ment of India, and be the first to set foot on that virgin peak. 
The Abode of Snow, which stands for so much in some of the 
theologies of our liastern peoples. 
Shadow routes do not alwa\s lead to success. The wav 
is apt to start fair and either "to lead away from the desired 
objective, or to end tamely against some holdless face of 
rock. Tlie deep cleft of O.ssian's Cave above Glencoc is a 
case in point. The shadow is good and strong, but even the 
scramble into the " Ca\e " (which is merely a rock-archway 
crowning a gully set at a high angle) is no joke. E.xperts 
only can pass directly beyond liy a couple of narrow cracks 
in the overhanging wall. A fabulous length of Alpine rope 
is run out before the leader reaches the first safe and com- 
modious ledge, from which he can assist and supervise his 
second's ascent. On Lliwcdd in wild Snowdonia, a line of 
lire marks at many a sunset a splendid arete, but the course 
is just a medley of buttresses and slabs foreshortened, super- 
imposed, tricked out by the flood of light, and is not coherent 
at all. One remembers, from experience, a guUv which the 
sunset " set on end," and the hopeless, miserable scramble 
which was necessary before one was persuaded of the illusion. 
The upright pillars of mountains were, by cold daylight, 
scarce visible at all ; rotten rocks, earthv ledges, inossy! 
lichened slabs, abomination of vegetation, of dripping sjirings 
wer-t' encountered where one luwi seen clear ,i-ock and sound 
going indeed. 
No one believes in either the moon's high lights or her 
shadows, else one would be- groping on the hill-side opposite 
my tent to-day. Up there last night I saw a niightv abvss 
and some splendid towers of rock, but the hillside luis faflen 
back to Its jiroper mildness, and a few nodules of broken 
stone among which the sheep are ])lacidlv grazing is all that 
remains of that series of gicat rock problems. I am not 
fond of moonlight rambles among the hills and the rocks. 
Get down to the valley road in decent time, and do not wander 
trom tiie direct route even in that morose, alluring place 
llarta Corrie of Skye. The difiiculties, even seen from a 
distance, are distorted, rendered fantastic, by moonlight- - 
one needs no further pattern for a rock-climber's nightmare 
than, say, the west front of the Pillar Rock in Cumberland 
as seen from the black throat of the Gnat Doup beneath. 
It vould need a question of life or death to niako one 
\cutuie on the sheer crags, even bv known > ourscs there, bv 
lU'jonhjjht. but one admits a bciaiuble or two ia stfirlJgUt, cvui 
in complete darkness. .Mr. Rooke Corbeit, of the RiK'k>ack 
(and many another) club claims tliat it is easier togct. im ai^l 
down a cliff at night by conventional climbing methods on 
cour.ses of moderate difliculty than it is under the sar4i<' 
conditions to outflank the crag. While not so enthusiastic, 
V)iie would admit that it is easier to descend, with an average 
partv of novices, such a short piect- as the Broad Stand or the 
North Climb down to Mickledore ridge than to pass ,tlie 
. caern ofScafelland to find and negotiate the steep scree-walk 
of Lord's Rake on the western edge of the chff. But, any- 
way, the problem must be led by a seasoned climber. ' The 
novice and the tourist is better advised to shirk all chffs at 
night, although it may involve turning up at the Woolpack 
in Eskdale instead of at the Royal Oak at Rosthwaite in 
Horrowdale. At such times geographical considerations may 
well play second fiddle to safety. But few old climbers will 
admit that descending a chff at night is worth the trouble and 
danger involved. Probably they arc right. There is a limit 
to shado\v-\vays. 
Storm Shadows 
The sliadow of storm plays its pranks among the rocks, 
but hardly to the lielp or safety of climbers. But one has 
found, in the fierce glare before a thunderstorm, the key to a 
new and satisfactory course. It was on a ridge of the Coolin , 
and the light playing round from the north-east touched into 
notice a crevice In" which a difliciilt cave-pitch was sur- 
mounted neatly and safely. I'p wc went lapidlv, pulled out 
of the gully, and on to the great slab which makes the upper 
peak. Then we found that the advantage of our course was 
to us of dubious value. Had not this variation tempted us, 
the cave would have been our shelter, or the base for a safe, 
if damp retreat. The clouds hurled themselves against the 
upper rocks and in a few minutes the air round us was full of 
spra\'. For an hour we balanced on insignificant ledges, in 
the centre of something not unlike a cloud burst, for sheets of 
water slid down the slabs, and at times one felt that but little 
more fluid would wash us down to the foot of the rocks. 
A drenching is a small matter to the climber, but to be made 
a watercourse while negotiating a steep open slab was a new, 
chiUing and uncomfortable experience. It made little differ- 
ence to us that the floods were out ui the glen. 
When the clouds are sweeping over the hills, one finds that 
they make .shadow at certain points. There is that feather 
of mist which so often marks Twll Dn (th<- Devil's Kitchen) 
above Llyn Idwal in North Wales. That is a sinister rift : 
a strong stream daslies itself into vapour chi the rocks beneatli 
and the two bodies combine to a definite smudge. But 
one would not climb to such a plact; anticipating the sport of 
the rocks. There are sheer walls, there is a gloomy,' romantic 
gulf, but what holds there are are rotten, unsafe" affairs and 
the direct ascent of the Devil s Kitchen wall is a tribute to 
good nerxes, good climbing technique, and a wonderful ej c 
for the best of bad rock. 
The vagaries of i^ist are too well known to mountain 
ramblers to need any 'description. One has heard of a j^arty 
i)i rock-climbers shortening a holiday on the cra^s of BuchailVe 
l'"tivc Mhor, in order to spend three da\s on some alluring 
crags near Ardlui, whici they had located, through the mist- 
wreaths, as the train was whirling them up Glen F'alloch. 
Even moonlight cannot compare with mist for distortion. 
I am writing tlitse lines in sight of a fifteen-foot wall of rock 
which, on my firsi \isit, turiiked me aside. How it towered, 
grey, gaunt, |;rim, with plumes and crossbelts of white puffs ! 
Nowhere did there seem to be a \ ulnerable point. Nowadays 
one laughs at such an apparition. One has paned again and 
again the maxim tliat no rock course can be termed impossibk 
until one's hands have gripped its holds. Was it not Mum- 
mery who said, or quoted, that no one knew a rock until he 
had rubbed his face against it. And rubbing one's face 
against the rock is the only way one knows of proving the 
advantage of a shadow-course, or of finding that such a course 
is a mere break of sun or cloud. 
The IMpiiger Neueste Nac/iricMm glori-fies the German x ictory 
over Russiii in this strain ; 
There is a pus.sibilitv of hastilities being resumed if the 
KuMian demands jirc too extensive. But this is not likely to 
happen. _for when a national army such as that of Kussia has 
aclmitted its defeat and its inability to continue fighting it will 
liardly resume the fight in order to gain a bettej mihtarv reputa- 
tion m the eyes of the, -norld. Mofvoi-er. there is no question, 
vt n ever again b^int; ui a poniihn to rccwcr the tcrrlfviy it hat 
/ost. The Italics are ours. 
