Gents Mag 1900 part 1 p.435
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introduction, lists | ||
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list, 1st qtr 20th century | ||
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Gentleman's Magazine 1900 part 1 p.435
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ghylls climbing |
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Ghylls
GHYLLS. NEARLY the most miserable class in society contains those who have just fallen below distinction, while their efforts have raised them high above mediocrity. These persons are unjustly described by the brilliant as "the rank and file." In crag-climbing there are a few who seem to successfully emulate a fly or spider in negotiating slippery rock walls, who can scramble unmoved along the sheerest precipices, or climb untiringly at the steepest ascents; then come "the rank and file," whose deficiency of nerve or strength does not permit such risky work. Where do we find this class during the holiday season? Squatting under some towering crag maybe, which it is their ambition to ascend, in the vain hope that familiarity with its outline will breed contempt for its dangers; or spread-eagled in some dangerous situation, as the man who, many years ago, attempted to climb Piers Ghyll, a narrow deep chasm in the side wall of Scawfell Pike (Cumberland). He scrambled on a ledge nearly level with the waterfall which closes the direct ascent of this most majestic ghyll, then lost confidence and dared neither advance nor retreat. Twenty-four hours exposure made him desperate enough to leap into the pool thirty feet beneath, in which manner he escaped. "A good cragsman is a good mountaineer" is a proved axiom, and it has been the habit to advise all failures in the higher branches of crag work to try this art; but when the fells are so thoroughly and accurately mapped out, and paths are so distinctly traceable as they now are, few adventures happen to the careful man, and the fierce struggles which form the chief delight of crag-climbing are wofully lacking. There is another branch of British fellscraft, however, which may meet with the favour of such persons, and which should be better known to every one; but to discuss this it must be assumed that every climbing machine; every rock scrambler, has found his natural sport, for the man to whom this pastime is open must be able to discern grace and symmetry in the waterhewn |
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