Pennine Lines w/c 5 August 2024

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6 Aug

|| Breezy, cooler || Very civilised ||

|| Focus On... ||

Scrambling

I’m a fairly staunch defender of climbing in the Pennines as much as anyone, and I feel that our best matches up pretty well with the best anywhere; in quality and sometimes quantity too. The bouldering, the trad, and even the sport routes (if we largely gloss over Peak limestone). You can forgive an inland area for not having sea cliffs perhaps, I can live without that, but the one gap in the Pennines’ CV that I feel the most sorely is that of big scrambles.

Mountain scrambling is one of the few facets of climbing which is still fairly untainted by tech, gear, and the superfluous paraphernalia. There’s a real freedom to be had; a raw and total experience, even on something as well travelled and busy as the Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon horseshoe, or some hidden exposed ridge tucked away in quiet corner of the Lakes. It requires some focus, some effort, and it’s always repaid with a day out to linger in the memories.

Whilst the Pennines do not have miles of knife-edge ridgeline scrambles hovering enticingly above the low cloud, tempting even the most hardened couch potatoes from cities in the North to spend their Sundays crawling along the ridge on hands and knees, paralysed by exposure, whilst any number of geriatric fell runners trot on past, we do have a few lesser-known scrambles to savour. And they won’t cost you £40 to park either.

Enter the majestic spectacle of Wilderness Gully East in the Chew Valley. One hundred and fifty meters of prime gritstone gully, north-facing and often wet. Not to be undertaken lightly I should add - there have been accidents here - but in dry condition this is a fairly enjoyable outing and one devoid of Crib Goch-style queues and bottlenecks. It’s currently graded Moderate in the BMC guide, implying a grade-3 scramble, which seems extraordinarily generous to be honest if it’s dry.

While it doesn’t look as photogenic as a mountain ridge or score many instagram points, on a hot summer's day there are worse ways to spend your morning. I always find scrambles seem like and ‘easy’ way to gain elevation compared to just slogging up a long hillside walk, so actually the gully provides a fun way to gain some height and get to the rim of the valley. It’s then easy to link with a walk around past Chew Reservoir at the head of the valley to enjoy a few of the excellent easy routes on Rob’s Rocks opposite. Top quality Chew grit in a fine position away from the crowds. Conveniences of the urban world are never far away though, and the ice cream van at the car park will no doubt be very welcome at the end of the day - what’s not to like?

Wilderness Gully East || Climber: Ben Hill

One unexpected bonus of doing something like Wilderness Gully East on a warm summer’s day is the opportunity to walk past a few crags, dreamily eyeball a few of those big bold moorland lines you’ve always put off, and imagine if this autumn will be the one where you dig deep and give them a go. This is the time of year to be setting imagination alight for the autumn grit season- assuming we get one this year! Fingers crossed.

|| Crag Clean Up ||

Another reminder about the Crag Clean Up day that Outside are once again running this summer on Saturday 17th August. If you're not away on holiday and you're within striking distance of Hathersage then this is one to get involved with and make a difference.