UKC

Is this a sensible or viable option?

While we are at it, which 2 route combo would you recommend (with VS a max grade)...

In reply to sea_lene:

Yes, but stick close to the beck and then go straight up to the crag rather than traversing the scree.

In reply to sea_lene:

As a bumbly I would recommend Suaviter and Oxford and Cambridge Direct.

When I was last there (a few years ago) we just went up from the car park below Fleetwith Pike via a path at the head of the lake and contouring High Crag into Birkness Combe, then a rough diagonal traverse up the boulders and scree to the crag.

Wonderful place to climb

In reply to sea_lene:

Spider Wall (VS), Slabs West (HS) then Oxford and Cambridge Direct gets you 3 routes which are more or less continuous. Suaviter (S) is great, but if you do a route on Harrow Buttress first (e.g. Spider Wall) you then need to descend a bit then go up the scree round the corner if my memory serves me.

In reply to sea_lene:

Done it once for Grey crag. Slog, slog, but the quality of the rock makes it worth it. Go early and do as many routes as you can.

In reply to sea_lene:

Depends if you're talking about Buttermere as the village or the lake. From the village it's a fair slog (took us 2.5+ hours last week to get to Eagle Crag in the same area) but from Gatesgarth at the bottom of Fleetwith I don't think it's so bad. If you are approaching from the village, stick to the lakeside path, meet up with the approach from Gatesgarth, then cut straight up to Birkness Combe, rather than trying to find some diagonal traversing line across the bracken and the scree like we did!!

In reply to sea_lene:

I think the approach we've tended to use is to go up the *very* first bit of Scarth Gap, cut out right on the first low left hand bend to take the path that traverses under Low Crag, and then head up the beck. There's a stile to cross the intake wall, then keep going up the stream as far as possible before heading straight up the scree.

In reply to Carolyn: Agree that's the best route up (we traversed the screes which was endless)- red hot day in July

Fortiter then University Challenge VS 4b and 4c
http://andysomething.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/grey-dazzle.html

In reply to sea_lene:

Look for a 3 route combo up 3 buttresses, little bits of scrambling down but nothing long between routes, something like
Harrow Buttress D
Mitre Buttress Direct MS
Oxford and Cambridge Direct MS

Or heading the other way in the middle
Harrow Buttress D
scramble up a bit
Suaviter S
Dexter Wall VS

In reply to LakesWinter:

Avoid harrow buttress. Its the only polished route I climbed on grey crag. Every other route was better.

In reply to dunnyg:

That's true, I've not done Spider Wall though,. even though it looks very good so I didn't want to suggest it for that reason

In reply to sea_lene:

Thanks for replies. Change of plan meant I went to High Crag today (philistine). Amazing. Walking from buttermere village was really straightforward.

Grey crag looked stunning, so must go back soon if possible!

In reply to sea_lene:

High Crag is mint, good choice!