http://www.climber.co.uk may–jun 2020 23
Between the mid-1800s and 1962 Dow
Crag was the only major mountain crag
in the Lake District accessible by train.
For example, in 1938 the first train
arrived in Torver at 6.56 and the last
train out was at 21.25, giving climbers
a clear twelve hours to climb after
accounting for walking in and out.
And that walk to the crag is hardly
arduous; an hour and a half of gentle
inclines, apart from the odd steepening.Nowadays it can be made even easier if
a car is used and parked at the Coniston
end of the Walna Scar Road.
Another factor in the development of
the crag was the proximity of the industrial
town of Barrow-in-Furness. Many of
Dow’s regular visitors used trains and
buses and weren’t afraid of a long walk;
in the absence of public transport on a
Sunday teatime, they would walk three
hours to Foxfield to catch a train home.It wasn’t just locals who weren’t afraid
of a walk; O.G. Jones arrived by train on 23
April 1897, made the first ascent of Central
Chimney and then walked to Wasdale.
Almost by the time the 1920s were
reached, most of the major routes
being put up on Dow were by locals- Bower, Basterfield, Gross, Roper and
so on. Routes such as Black Wall (HVS)
and Great Central Route (HVS, but
arguably E1) were as hard as anything
being done anywhere in the country.
And these climbers demonstrated their
competence on established routes in
remarkable ways; for example, George
Basterfield climbed Intermediate Gully - a 170-foot MVS – in seven and a half
minutes.
Eliminates ‘C’, ‘B’ and ‘A’ followed
(in that order). It was a while before the
next major route came along. Jim Birkett
produced Leopard’s Crawl (HVS) in 1947
and another wait until Side Walk (E2)
was climbed by Les Brown in 1960.
Put them on your ticklist.
And so we get to 1962 – Andy Warhol
exhibited his Campbell’s Soup Cans
painting, Marilyn Monroe was found
dead at her home, the Cuban Missile
Crisis gave some anxious moments
and David Miller climbed Nimrod.
Now I think Nimrod is in the top three
E1s in the Lakes. I’ve done it a few times,
the last time with an old friend, John
Bucke, who was having a short break
in Cumbria. Our chance to get a climb
in had reduced to the day he was driving
back home. Whatever route we chose,
John needed to be back at my house
by 3 p.m. to pick up his wife and set
off home. I suggested Nimrod and so,
thirty years after first climbing together,
we set off for Dow.
We were early enough to get parked
easily at the end of the Walna Scar Road,
and ticked off the familiar features as we
strolled along: Bursting Stone Quarry
road, Boo Tarn (a misnomer), the rock
gateways, the steep pull into The Cove,
the quartz cairn, and then the final pull
to get to Goat’s Water and a chance to
catch our breath. 6
Hard Rock Extract
Nimrod By john Lawrence Holden
The crux traverse on
pitch 3 of Nimrod is, oddly,
simultaneously delicate and
strenuous. The climber is
Tony Daly. Photo: Ian ParnellHARD ROCK EXTRACT