West Coast weekend: St. Bees and Scafell.

Last Saturday I was keen to head up to Scafell to get out on the mixed. Unfortunately, as I was unable to make an early start, I headed up and around the coast rather late in the day and decided to check out St. Bees- South, which Greg has recently documented and developed. What a superb crag! The place is a little sun trap and it was warm enough to soak up the rays and climb in a t-shirt.

View from The Amphitheatre, Moss Ghyll.jpg

The view from the Amphitheatre, Moss Ghyll (Photo by Andy Sinclair)

Sunday was one of those crisp, clear days that you dream of in winter. A perfect day to head up to Scafell. I stayed the previous night at a mates house in Egremont and, unlike our friends who had driven up from Lancaster, we had a nice lie-in and started the trek up to the crag at a rather leisurely 8am. Walking up to the crag and onto Rake's Progress it became apparent that there weren't any parties on Moss Gyhll. This meant a chance to relax, have the route to ourselves and tick a Lakes winter classic! The snow was firm, the turf bomber and there was ice on the Collie Step. All in all the route was in great nick and it was a joy to climb!

The Collie Exit, Moss Ghyll.jpg

The Collie Exit, Moss Ghyll (Photo by Andy Sinclair)

Later on, driving home under the gaze of a strange, orange full moon, it was nice to reflect on how contrasting the two days were. Two venues offering completely different genres of climbing, with one thing above all being apparent: there is an abundance of quality climbing in the Lakes.

Steve Ashworth's blog has a good set of pictures from Saturday on Scafell.


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