"You're not stuck in traffic; you are traffic!" - Borrowdale and Langdale
Iconic stuff - Phil on the Troutdale Pinnacle For the first time on our Classic Rock adventure, we headed to the Lake District. Feeling fit and with a great forecast, we had an ambitious agenda; 3 routes on Gimmer Crag in the morning and a hike over to Bowfell Buttress for a lengthy Langdale day, as long as the knee held out. Our decision to take on the Classic Rock list was never in question until half way up C Route on Gimmer, where the first holdup, in a weekend of queueing and sharing belays with other teams, gave us over an hour in the sun to chat, nap and philosophise over the “why” of the challenge. We were now the incarnation of Ken Wilson’s fear; that in trying to encourage people to climb in new areas by compiling a list of standout routes, people would narrowly attempt the list only, without further exploration. Why were we queueing for C route instead of trying North West Arete? Because NW Arete wasn’t in the book, and we held onto the hope of finishing C Route quick enough