UKC

Scafell is England's finest cliff and sits at ease alongside the UK's other great mountain bastions such as Creag an Dubh Loch in the Cairngorms and Clogwyn Du'r Arddu in Snowdonia. Scafell has all that is expected of a true mountain crag and its breath-taking mountainscapes, top class routes of all grades and a rich history combine into a sublime climbing experience that is second to none.

In this destination article, UKC Assistant Editor Mark Glasiter shows us the best mountain rock in England.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2853

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article, thanks

In reply to JonC:

yes, and inspiring photos. good stuff.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Wonderful - evocative and brilliantly capturing the history of the place. Great to see those historical milestones standing alongside modern test-pieces in the same article.

Just read this after waking for another working day in Hong Kong - what a great way to wake up and forget about the tedium. Thanks very much!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Good article, but I thought you did Central Buttress ("one of the most famous rock climbs in the country" according to the FRCC) a bit of an injustice.

I can't claim to have climbed it before the supposed "demise of a large flake" (I suspect the author hasn't climbed the route...), but it was still without a doubt one of the most exciting and spectacular routes I have climbed.

In reply to jonny taylor: Hi Jonny. Just to let you know I climbed the route in the 80s prior to the demise of the flake and after it went. The route is still very good but not the classic it once was in my opinion.

Cheers

Mark Glaister

In reply to UKC Articles:

Superb article. Beautifully illustrated.

Mick

In reply to UKC Articles: Very enjoyable article and some great photos. As an aside if you climb in the lower grades you can have a fantastic day out by climbing a route on Pikes Crag - Grooved Arrete (VD), Juniper Buttress (MS) or Wall and Crack Climb (VD), then descending to Mickledore and going beneath Central Buttress to the foot of Pisgah Buttress where the fine climb Pisgah Buttress Direct lets you experience climbing on Scafell at a relatively mild grade (MS).

In reply to Mark Glaister - Assistant Editor:
Fair enough Mark - and I wish I'd seen it in its original condition though. The flake is still there, just a chockstone missing I gather?

In reply to jonny taylor:

Hi Tom

What went was a very large wedged flake in the crack. It was a great tradegy as someone was killed when it fell out.

Mark

In reply to Greenbanks:

I'm pretty sure one of the team climbing it was killed, when the chock came out it took his leg off or something. As you say, bit of a tragedy really.

In reply to Mark Glaister - Assistant Editor:
Ah, I understand! Thanks for straightening me out. I had always assumed it was a chockstone similar to the ones still in there that had gone in the accident that changed the route.

In reply to jonny taylor:

From memory it was a large (maybe a metre long) jammed flake that stuck out of the crack about 20-30 cm.

Chris

In reply to Mark Glaister - Assistant Editor:

Still looks like a great bit of climbing (up the crack) without the flake though - I'm told it goes at E3 5c?

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I believe that's the grade, though it didn't look that bad when I accidentally set off up it. I wonder if there is quite a bit more hard climbing "round the corner" (or getting round it) where the angle of the flake eases. If you trust the big chockstone with the sling around it I think the "overhanging" bit of the flake looked reasonably well protected?

In reply to jonny taylor:

At the very abrupt top of the flake you make a very easy and pleasant hand traverse at about Severe along the top edge of it, to the stance. The huge chockstone provided a totally bombproof thread when I did it some time in the late 70s, i.e. there was no hint then of any looseness. The first move or two above the chockstone was very strenuous and awkward (probably meriting 5b), but once you'd got started the top was reached in one or two easier moves.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

My memory is that it stuck out rather more than that - probably about 15 inches.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Thanks. It sounds like it was a good thing I realised my mistake when I did, before going any higher then! You still get to enjoy at least part of the spectacular hand traverse - the face route, involving some delicate climbing that I found extremely enjoyable, takes you up to a point about halfway along the horizontal part of the hand traverse.