Langdale, Middlefell Buttress, 12th April 2007

Lorna and myself spent a couple of days in the National Trust, Great Langdale Campsite, in the Lake District. The weather was excellent and the scenery fantastic! The campsite is the perfect base to from which to explore the Langdales, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags.

We booked two days instruction on basic ropework with Bob Henson, a local guide and member of the Mountain Rescue Team. Although we wanted to learn the basics for roped scrambling, Bob said if we spent the day on Middlefell Buttress (Diff or V.Diff I think?), we would learn the techniques that apply to both scrambling and climbing.

We set off from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Pub car park and headed for the err, middle buttress!

The route is an excellent place to learn to lead and place protection etc, and if you look carefully, in the centre of the picture, at the top left of the buttress, you can just see the tree (with in situ gear) that we did our 50m abseil from. It is possible to go all the way to the top, but we spent the whole day on the lower section practising. After having such a good day in great weather, we were looking forward to the next day on Dow Crag doing "Easy Terrace"!