Weekend guiding in Langdale

We enjoyed some great weather last weekend, so we headed into Great Langdale. For one of the guys it was his first climbing experience so we headed up the Classic Middlefell Buttress on Raven Crag behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll. Middlefell buttress is a fantastic introduction to rock climbing taking a great line up the left most part of the Crag on fantastic volcanic rock. The Rhyolite rock here gives great friction & good solid protection for the first time leader. The buttress also gives moderate climbing linking short pitches together interspersed with good ledges & belay & the views of the valley below are stunning, the higher up you climb the more the valley below opens up until you can see Lake Windermere in the distance.

We topped out on Middlefell & then climbed the broken ground above to where we struck the main mountain footpath  which leads up to Harrison Stickle. We continued up the footpath a short way to where we broke left, traversing the hillside around to Gimmer Crag a little higher up.

Gimmer Crag is one of my favourite crags in Langdale sitting high up on the hillside towering above the valley below & facing south it gets plenty of sun & drys quickly. There's loads of classic great routes here at all grades from Gimmer Chimney, Bracket & Slab climb, A route, B route, C route & D route all moderate in grade,  Springbank, Eastern Hammer, Equus, Kipling Groove, Intern & Gimmer String all mega classic 3 star routes and the list just goes on - an awesome crag.

Gimmer Chimney on the SW Face of Gimmer Crag

NW Face of Gimmer Crag with a great view of Langdale below

The obvious central corner is The Crack

Just right of The Crack is a climber on the second pitch of Kipling Groove

Right again is a climber topping out on the classic Eastern Hammer 

We returned to Raven Crag on the Sunday & climbed enjoyed a couple of other classic multi-pitch routes at the crag.

Luke & Tim on the 3rd belay as we climbed our way up Original Route, Raven  Crag, Langdale

Tim on the 4thm pitch of Original Route, Raven Crag

The Classic Centipede on Raven Crag, Langdale

Luke on the classic Revelation, Raven Crag, Langdale

We had a fun weekend with some great climbing and a fantastic introduction to some of the routes & crags in the Langdale Valley.

Safe Climbing

Ade