Slingsby’s Chimney Route. Ref: Scafell and Wasdale 2014 page 60.
The guidebook states ‘Only Very Difficult for a few metres at the start of pitch 2, the rest is Moderate’. I strongly contest this statement particularly as in the 2014 edition pitch 2 starts at Slingsby’s Chimney. The climber has already overcome the notoriously awkward step from the top of The Crevasse onto the slab below the chimney!
An atmosphere of seriousness pervades the lower half of this climb and doesn’t really relent until the top of Low Man is reached. The scramble up Steep Gill is damp and quite serious and with less climbers passing this way these days I had to remove loose rocks from virtually every foothold. The exit from Steep Gill is steep, damp and doesn’t feel Moderate at all. The atmosphere is lightened slightly when the slab below The Crevasse is reached and dry, and rough rock is encountered at last. But the chimney looms above, it’s fearsome prospect leaving the outcome in doubt until you are actually fully engaged with it. Even above the chimney there are the odd difficult move, then The Knife Edge Arete has little reliable protection and the crest above again has the odd awkward move and one decidedly difficult step. So to describe all this as ‘Moderate’ is absurd.
The statement ‘the rest is Moderate’ first appeared in the 1984 guidebook. The authors had probably been climbing E4s and E5s all day and scrambled up the route to finish off, thinking ‘that was only about moderate’. So I suggest this statement be removed in future Scafell guidebooks and the forthcoming Lake District Rock. It only serves to put off the competent and possibly to lure in the less confident who might be looking for a ‘soft touch’ for their first Scafell route.
Slingsby’s Chimney Route is to my mind an excellent mountaineering route at the top end of the V Diff grade. It involves encounters with damp and loose rock and escaping from the top of High Man while not difficult is a very serious business.
I would also suggest that describing it in 3 pitches instead of the more usual 4 is not helpful. The step off The Crevasse onto the slab below the Chimney is very awkward and needs a confident approach. It is protected by two large cams, but with out these there is no protection and the lonely leader at this stage has little else in terms of protection for quite a long way. With the second belayed in The Crevasse moral support is on hand and some spotting if needed. In wet conditions the move becomes a much more serious proposition. I Therefore suggest a return to describing the route in four pitches, as in previous editions. Routes like this and the positions one finds oneself in are to be savoured, not rushed over as quickly as possible.
Finally it might be prudent to suggest that parties rope up for Steep Gill as well, as this section is also very serious and can be intimidating.