Esk Buttress & Scafell

I finished my exams on Monday morning, so an afternoon of celebrating with people in Lancaster, early yesterday myself, Zoe, Joe and Adam headed to the Lakes. I've climbed on a lot of the crags in the Lake District but somewhere I've always wanted to go is Esk Buttress in Eskdale. It's an fantastic piece of steep rock sitting above the marshy plains of upper Eskdale in a fantastic setting. We walked in getting there in a little over an hour and a half with, being inevitable as its upper Eskdale, myself and Zoe who were in trainers getting wet feet.

Awesome clean steep rock on Esk Buttress.

We started off up Bridges Route HS 4b as there was a party on the Square-cut Chimney start to Medusa wall. Bridge's route is fantastic for the grade and we did the meat of the route, doing the first three pitches, the final one which is a delicate exposed traverse. From the third belay Bridges Route traverse off via a few easy pitches to the right so we moved onto Medusa Wall VS 4c on the wonderful right-hand face of the prominent prow in the center of the wall. Two long pitches of excellent climbing led us to the top of the crag.

Medusa Wall, hight on Esk Buttress.

After topping out we scrambled up the final remaining 300-400m of height which lead us to the summit of Scafell Pike where we were rewarded with excellent views back to Lancaster, the wind farm in Morecambe bay, Isle of Man and Scotland. We headed down via the Broad Stand col, and resisted the temptation for a route on the East Buttress as it was getting late. Wet feet again on the walk across upper Eskdale and down Moseledale back to the car.

Highest top in England.

A fantastic day, it felt great to get out on a proper mountain journey, a long walk, climbing with a rucksack and scrambling, and excellent weather. If you've not climbed on Esk Buttress I highly reccomend it.

Photos courtesy of Zoe Taylor.