The unexpected arrival of a good weekend's weather forecast meant some last-minute changes of plans, so Carmen and I drove over to the Lakes on Saturday morning with the aim of getting to Great Gable the next day. Having pitched the tent we popped up to Honister for some afternoon climbing on Buckstone How, expecting to have to queue for a bit as the crag is a quick-drying suntrap with a 10 minute approach and several starred routes mainly from HS to HVS. But the place was deserted so we had our pick, and opted for Honister Wall (HS 4b **).
A minor classic on natural slate, with excellent climbing on each of the pitches (6 in the guidebook, we combined some and did it in 4). In the early days there was lots of loose rock around, but this has all gone in the intervening decades and so long as you stay on route it's as solid as any other mountain crag. We followed this with Groove One (VDiff) as it got a star in the old guide. We later found that this star has disappeared in the latest update, and with good reason! The second pitch is a fine groove, but to get there you have to wander up nasty unprotected vegetated ledges. Not recommended.
The next day we started early to avoid the expected crowds, and got to Tophet Wall (HS 4b ***) just before 10, to find we were the first team there. I led a long first pitch (guidebook pitches 1+2), and Carmen followed suit with a long 2nd pitch (guidebook pitches 3+4). Another pair arrived as we were part way up, but otherwise nobody else did the route all day. Weird. A truly great route, rightly considered one of the best in the country.
Next we wandered over to the Napes to see if anyone was climbing the Needle. They weren't, so we did. It's either got harder since I last did it about 12 years ago, or I've got worse, probably both! But we managed it, Carmen led Wasdale Crack to the shoulder, then I did the last short pitch to the summit. HS 4b *** but much of its quality comes from the history and the situation rather than the climbing per se. Again, we were followed by the pair from Tophet Wall, but nobody else on the route for the rest of the day. A handful of other teams doing other routes – Needle Ridge, Eagles Nest Direct, The Cayman – but overall very quiet for such a classic area on one of the only sunny weekends of the summer so far.
Still plenty of time left, we decided to finish with Needle Ridge (VDiff ***). We did this in 3 pitches, I began with the variation arete start to avoid the polish on the normal, excellent grippy rock but not much protection. Carmen took the long interesting central section, then I finished up the final groove, taking another variation on the right up excellent twin jamming cracks. A scramble along the rest of the ridge finished off yet another excellent route, much better than I was expecting after paying too much attention to exaggerated reports of polish. We'd carried our kit up the route so finished by walking over the summit of Great Gable, then via Green Gable back to Seathwaite.
A brilliant impromptu weekend!
More photos here.