Finally after two averagely dull, damp days, the sun came out! So we set off from the campsite, heading SE (anti clockwise) round Lake Butteremere, before turning almost due east at the southern end of the lake for the long slog up into Burkness Comb. Our intended destination was the grade 3, Chockstone Ridge, which we thought was the huge buttress in the centre of the above picture!
Fortuneatly it wasn't where we were headed. Chockstone Ridge is to the right of the Comb, and after almost a two hour slog the far left of the correct buttress still looked a bit dodgy! We did this as a roped scramble, which although not always neccesaary, there were several times when a slip would've spoilt the day! Also we didn't take many photos en route, I tooke photos later as we descended from the top of High Stile and High Crag.
The ridge is in three sections, the first being Harrow Buttress, graded as a "Diff" climb but turned out to be okay.
The second section (third also in the above photo) was strangely a little trickier. In fact I dropped the guide book at one point so poor Lorna had to downclimb to get it, only to drop it herself a little later on!
There is short section of "V Diff" up a corner near the top that I wished I had done. Instead I opted for the quote, "escape inot the grassy gully on the left to a chockstone, which is turned by a ledge on the right". I didn't know grass could grow on something so steep, so I was glad to get back onto rock where I could at least use some gear! Once up on the large grassy terrace, we packed the rope away for the final section which is well protected.
The above photo shows the whole 150m route to the top of Grey Crag and High Stile.
Lorna descending High Crag, with Haystacks in the centre.
As we walked back SE along the tops to High Crag, we got a great view of Great Gable to end the day.
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