UKC

Hi all,

I am planning on climbing the Cullin Ridge in late May, along with my brother. In a couple of weeks he's coming-up to the Lakes and I'd like to have a run through of our ropework and how long it takes us to cover ground (so we can decide whether to do the Cullin in one or two days).

The technical difficulty of the Cullin Ridge is only around VDiff, but I've read it goes like an alpine climb. Can anyone suggest a long mountain route in the Lakes that would make for good practice?

Cheers.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:
A bit different to doing the ridge but you could start in Langdale and Raven crag and do Middlefell Buttress D, followed by Curtain Wall S, to gain the path running to Gimmer and then do something like Ash Tree Slabs VD, followed by one of the alphabet routes at around S.
A great day out in the hills on mountain routes, there is also the opportunity to throw in a couple of abseils i.e from the top of Gimmer and off Ash Tree Ledge.
Thats over 200m of climbing and some ground covered by walking.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

Solo Middlefell Buttress, and then perhaps continue on to Gimmer and climb Gimmer Chimney
Bowfell Buttress
Slab and Notch route to top of Pillar, descend Old West route, climb New West, descend slab and notch.
Needle Ridge on Gable, perhaps including Napes Needle (including the hairy abseil descent)

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4095

http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=8176

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

Pikes Crag has some pretty long Diff's on it, did a few a long time ago, cant remember the name though, possible Grooved Arete.....

http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=716

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

In a couple of weeks it could still be full-on winter conditions...

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

Dow crag: Giant's crawl; C Ordinary; Arete, chimney & crack combo covers loads of rocky terrain, mostly at Diff level with a few moves of Severe.

Langdale: Upper scout route 1 or 2; White ghyll Slab routes (either); Tarn crag has a few diffs; and Crescent climb on Pavey finishing up Jacks Rake.

Raven crag in Borrowdale is worth a look too. Corvus being the obvious starting point on there

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

How about Grooved Arete (HVD) `Broad Stand, Scafell and down Lord's Rake?

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

I've not done the ridge, but I always got the impression that success there was less about efficient multipitching and more about being being able to move unroped quickly and safely in big boots on as much of it as possible - most people I know who've done it only actually roped up two or three times, I think.

So you should maybe be looking at combining hard scrambles and easy solos (usual disclaimers apply) rather than trad linkups. The routes on the main face of Pike of Stickle might be a good start.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

If you're looking for long routes, Borrowdale could be good.

To name a few; Troutdale Pinnacle, Corvus, Gillercombe Buttress.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

Langdale, scramble up Ravens, another up first stickle stickle, drop down to the tarn, little route up Tarn Crag. Go up jakes rake, then across / round and up a scramble on Pike of Stickle.... then off over Ore Gap, up a very average scramble up Ill Crag.. keep pushing on Gable way and round, or shorter back around to Crinkle Crags.

The lakes isn't half as good preparation as North Wales... what you need is mileage up and down rock. A day on Tryfan and the Glyders ticking off every scramble, either upwards or downwards would be perfect. The lakes will give you some good leg miles, but less rock time.

In reply to Ramblin dave:


I'm a part-time resident of Skye and, while this thread is full of helpful advice and recommendations for grand days out, this is the reply that hits the nail on the head. Going south to north and taking the hardest options, there are only a few pitches

TD Gap (avoidable by detour to Alasdair chimney)
King's Chimney (avoidable via Hart's ledge)
Inn Pinn (two pitches or solo and an abseil, don't miss this one out)
Traverse of Sgurr a Mhadaidh (optional pitches according to confidence level)
Naismith's Route on the Tooth (two pitches of which one is a scramble, avoidable on the south side)

None of these feels like a multipitch challenge, just short assaults on awkward obstructions punctuating a long, glorious and tiring scramble. Most climbers take the easy avoiding options in the interest of rapid prgress and there is no shame in that. You're climbing HVS so the technical aspect will be a piece of cake. Have fun practising your ropework but work on your fitness and water supplies as a greater priority. It's a lot more enjoyable done over two or even three days.

In reply to BnB:

Agreed. The challenge of the Cuillin is not the ropework on harder sections, so much as just being able to do a LOT of exposed scrambling unroped.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

What you need for Cuillin training is a really big, tiring day out - at least 12h on the go. Multiple routes on Dow could do the job.

Best training day we had was as many ridges on Ben Nevis as we could manage in one day (summer conditions!) - up Observatory Ridge, down the CMD Arete, up the North East Buttress, down Ledge Route, up Tower Ridge. We did the Cuillin Ridge in an unorthodox day and a half, and it was much more strenuous!

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

Thanks all, loads to go at here, much appreciated!

Ended-up doing Blencathra via Hall's Ridge on Friday (wanted to decent Sharp Edge, but there was a fair bit of wet snow about and we had fell running shoes on). Took 2 hours.

Sat we went down Langdale and did Middlefell Butress (Diff) on Raven Crag. Pitched up this wearing scrambling boots, was easy enough once I was used to the boots. Then we walked over to Gimmer Crag and did Ash Tree Slabs (VDiff), I lead the first pitch in approach shoes, this was a mistake as they were terrible at edging and this was a slab.... Had to switch to climbing shoes on tiny ledge. It took us most of the day to do them two climbs and get down.

Sun we did Pinnacle Ridge (III) on St Sunday Crag. There was some snow, but the ridge is such clean rock it was still a straightforward scramble in boots. Progress was massively quicker than Sat, as we just pitched one section and tried out moving together on a rope when traversing the pinnacles.

I'd say Sunday was the most helpful in terms of gauging our speed and trying out some rope techniques.

In reply to Mike Hewitt:

sounds like you've realised that pitched climbing isn't the best preparation? Over the 3 days you've probably covered the equiv. of half the ridge at best. So I would really scale things up, rapidly. A large proportion of the ridge can be done with 99% safety unroped, provided you are good on your feet. Tired wobbly legs will cause you to feel less confident on your feet and the rope will be out and used far too much slowing you down massively.

For me would spend Friday afternoon/evening, just cragging somewhere with 30min or so walk in. Not late though, save your juice for tomorrow. Sat, up early, out the door by 6... and only walk and scramble. Buy the lakes scrambles book/s and see how many you can link up in a day.. you should be on the go for a good 10 or 12hrs looking for 30km and 3000m ascent... with as much of it on scrambling or steep ground as possible. Light and fast, experiment with what you carry, eat and drink. Even clothing and footwear.

Sunday, walk in somewhere and easy climb or scramble again.. but pick your locations carefully, if you pick somewhere busy and you spend half the day waiting for folk on stances, you won't get much mileage or practice in. If you've truly caned it on the Saturday, then your legs won't want a big day today anyway!!

Obviously, you can apply this to North Wales which is even better suited to high scrambling mileage.