What in inauspicious start! First Steve wrote off the car that we were going to the Alps in and then starter motor failure at the Dover ferry terminal effectively took out the back-up vehicle. With Leysin now out of the question, Mark and I decided on a back-up strategy of hiring a car and travelling north. Dubious weather reports didn't help, but eventually we decided to head for the Lake District and take our chances there. The odd snow-flake greeted us on arrival in Langdale, but by morning 4" of fresh snow blanketed the whole valley. Cutting a virgin trail we climbed up to Stickle Tarn behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel and looked hopefully at Jack's Rake on Pavey Ark. Not expecting any real climbing today we had not brought a rope and harnesses, but if conditions were right then a solo ascent was still on. With the start not looking too bad we cramponed up and began stripping off the loose snow to look for holds. Soon we were high on the face and enjoying the exposure that this summer scramble provides. There was not a lot of ice in evidence, but good axe placements could be excavated with a little digging and the climb was exhilarating to say the least. The crux move at around mid height was particularly exciting - requiring a committing bridge on a torqued axe head in an exposed position. More entertaining Grade I/II climbing eventually brought us to the summit of Pavey Ark, some 450m above the start of the rake proper. With this bonus under our belts we traversed over towards Harrison Stickle and descended to the valley via Thunacar Knott.
With temperatures plummeting to –11o C we planned to climb the classic 200m Grade III South-East Gully on Great End the following day. Following what was now a well-worn track we trudged up Grains Ghyll along with many others and arrived at the foot of the climb a little after mid day. Fortunately only one other party was on the route, and they were some way above, so we quickly geared up and set off. The first pitch was fairly straightforward – traditional frozen turf stuff with warthog runners, but it was not long before we met patches of ice and more typical climbing conditions for this crag. Mark had the honour of placing the first ice screws of the season and soon we were turning the chock stone at around 60m. With time pressing on there was some doubt about whether we would complete the route before nightfall (4.00 p.m. at this time of year!), but continuing up was the only logical option. After taking the right fork Mark met the interesting crux ice pitch, which in the prevailing conditions necessitated making a sharp left hand turn on steep ice. Once over this there was little further difficulty until we met the steep iced-up chimney. With Mark again in the lead we had some excitement here as skidding crampons shock loaded his axes leading to a flurry of oaths and an inelegant slide back to the belay. Undeterred he succeeded on the second attempt and we eventually made the gully top a few minutes before dusk. Moving rapidly now we made it to the plateau just before nightfall, but it was still well after 7.00 p.m. before we got back to the car.
With continuing low temperatures we decided to climb Great Gully (105m, Grade III) on Pavey Ark the next day, but the race to be first on the route and a slight miscalculation meant that we actually climbed another classic, Little Gully Left Branch (110m, Grade III), instead. With Mark starting the gully I was left the crux pitch, which fortunately was just about in condition. The ice proper began just after the start of the branch, but bomber rock placements made the airy traverse across less than ideal ice rather less committing than it would otherwise have been. A convenient spike runner and a couple of solid ice screw placements protected the first steep ice pitch and a rock placement nicely protected the upper section before another bomber belay stance signalled the end of the climb. Fortunately the two lads who arrived just as we were about to start the climb slowed down a lot once they roped up so we were left to shower them with loose ice, rather than the other way around. Moreover, we were the first to climb this classic gully following the recent snow fall. Indeed, despite the number of people in the Lakes few were actually climbing and we managed three days in excellent winter conditions. Not too bad considering that this was our consolation trip after missing the Alps!
Derek 1st January 2001