Snatched and almost forgotten - Gillercombe Buttress S 4a

Gillercombe Buttress from Honister walk-in
I’ve only just realised I’d not written up Gillercombe Buttress. It was tagged on to the end of the Scotland trip as we just wanted to squeeze every last bit of climbing out and as such is just sort of tagged onto the memories of that week. This is unfair, Gillercombe Buttress is a wonderful route in a stunning bit of the Lakes and although we just snapped up the one route on the way home, the crag would make a great full day out. 

Happy face in happy place

Gillercombe Buttress or Raven Crag on Grey Knott as it is shown on the map, was easily accessible from our car park home for the night and chosen for being in the lee of strong gales higher up. We paid a fiver to the slate mine for the pleasure of staying over and using the parking the next day, but also had to witness lots of late night maintenance getting the coffee bar up and running for the next busy day at Honister pass. Even after a relaxed brew while all around was abuzz with people kitting up for via ferratas and mine trips, we were first on the crag within 30 minutes of leaving our stealth camper.

A steady walk into the back of Borrowdale, looking up towards Great End and Scafell, a slow and methodical racking up and we were still the only climbers in view, although the path up from Seathwaite was now becoming congested with walkers.

Honister breakfast brew with a view
(and a nod to potential sponsors?!)

At 6 pitches in the book, it could have been quite an undertaking, but with a week of slick climbing behind us and confidence in moving together, the route felt almost compact, in terms of time spent. Yet in it’s stature, climbing it felt alpine, looking out over the whole valley and beyond, with almost 200m of continuous rock movement of varying techniques, the main difficulties higher up with a bit of jamming and bold slab work to finish it off. The few photos tell the story of the satisfaction of one more route bagged because, well, the lakes is on the way home from Scotland, right?


Location: GQ3X+22 Keswick, UK

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