Comments on: Days Like This, No 19: Pillar and the Rock http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/ ...and a few more reasons for climbing mountains Fri, 04 Mar 2016 19:51:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23210 Sun, 03 May 2015 10:53:43 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23210 Hi Steve. You’re welcome.

]]> By: Steve Bibby http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23208 Sun, 03 May 2015 03:18:35 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23208 Terrifying screes there, Alen. I wouldn’t even look over the edge. I’m windmilling in my armchair.

Thanks for the tale.

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23202 Sat, 02 May 2015 14:57:03 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23202 Hi Chrissie. The Ballroom Dancing Society sounds like really good fun. Looking back, if I’d have done more of that sort of stuff rather than spending weekends alone in the mountains I would have been a much more rounded and sociable person.
Yes, Touching the Void made a big impression on me. A marvelous and thought-provoking film.
Cheers, Alen

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23201 Sat, 02 May 2015 14:48:51 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23201 Hi Karl. Pillar in snow sounds magical, especially from the Black Sail hut side because it’s a much less-frequented route. I camped outside the hut once but I’ve never slept in it. It’s a fantastic area.
Glad you didn’t break your arm. Once is enough, I think, for that scree chute. I won’t be doing it again, that’s for sure.
All the best, Alen

]]> By: chrissiedixie http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23198 Sat, 02 May 2015 09:50:56 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23198 Don’t especially like the look of those screes myself, I have to say….
Your retro posts always make me realise just how old I am though. I was at Uni then, and the Ballroom Dancing society was the biggest club ever (really!) and we were all dancing like John Travolta.
And Brown Girl In The Ring always drove me up the wall :D
Touching the Void is an excellent film. I’ve even shown selected excerpts to my Year 6s at school when we’ve been doing a topic on mountains. Kept them quiet.

]]> By: Karl http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23196 Sat, 02 May 2015 09:37:59 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23196 A very timely post Alen as I was up on Pillar last week. Usually (I’m ashamed to say) Pilar was just a mountain that needed crossing on the way to somewhere else but I was staying at Black Sail hut and given that a load of snow had fallen overnight the shortish climb was the sole object of the day and I finally appreciated why it’s a lot of peoples favourite Lakeland fell and after a wonderful climb in the snow I now think that it’s possibly one of mine as well.
I have come down the wind gap scree once but never again ( and I didn’t even break my arm, which was a good job as it was a boiling hot day and I didn’t have a footie scarf with me)

]]> By: Jo Woolf http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23181 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:47:58 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23181 :D

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23180 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:44:02 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23180 I blame Blue Peter.

]]> By: Jo Woolf http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23179 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:35:17 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23179 It actually sounds terrifying. But I can see now – I had no idea that they were getting so much wear from runners and climbers. I knew about the wear on the paths, especially places like Snowdon, but this is in a different league!

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23178 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:28:26 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23178 Certain screes in the Lakes have become severely eroded, stripped of their stones by countless boots. The one that starts near the top of Pike o’ Stickle, in the Langdales, is very bare at the top. I don’t know whether anything official has ever been implemented but concerns have been raised several times concerning erosion. According to champion fell-runner Joss Naylor (see link below), Doorhead Screes is now “set like concrete” because of passing boots ??? my own included, it seems.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/oct/12/country-diary-lake-district

]]> By: Jo Woolf http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23177 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:06:28 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23177 I didn’t know it was not PC any more! Not that I would try it. But aren’t the stones trying to get down the mountain anyway?

]]> By: McEff http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/28/days-like-this-no-19-pillar-and-the-rock/#comment-23176 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:01:24 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9152#comment-23176 Hi Mark. Thanks for that. Yes, the traverse takes you to the edge of the notch (seen clearly in the picture), beyond which is the actual top of the rock a few feet away. The rock itself is out of my league, too.
Cheers, Alen

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