During the same holiday Messrs. Pope and Madan climbed from Tennis Court Ledge to the Fives Court on Pisgah Buttress by traversing from the right-hand end of the Ledge for a short distance. Thence they climbed directly up a steep rock-face for 15 feet or so to the Fives Court, a somewhat easier but much more exposed route than that up the crack utilised in the first ascent.
Other variations of a minor character have been made on many of the older climbs; indeed so thoroughly has the face been scoured, that it would be a very rash man who would nowadays come down to the Wastwater Hotel and say that he had made a new route up Scawfell.
_THE BUTTERMERE CLIMBS, AND THOSE IN OUTLYING DISTRICTS_
For strong and experienced parties of climbers, with a penchant for boating, fishing, and long mountain tramps on the ‘off days,’ Buttermere is well-nigh ideal. Moreover, the _blasé_ ‘Wastdale Header’ will find amongst the fine corrie-like combes of High Crag and High Stile, and above the great hollow of Warnscale, climbs of an entirely different nature from most of the nail-scratched, polished courses of his former haunts. Many of the Buttermere climbs are still to all intents and purposes virgin ascents. The rock of which they are formed does not take nail-marks so readily, and the blatant, scratched foothold, which positively shouts at one ‘here am I!’ is as yet an alien in these parts. The texture of the gullies is very different; it is always necessary to be on the alert for unsteady chock-stones; every hold needs testing; in fine, care and experience are essential to safe ascents.
Mr. L. J. Oppenheimer, in his book ‘The Heart of Lakeland,’ has made out a strong case for the claims of Buttermere as a centre for the more historic climbs, and justly says that ‘after Wastdale Head--though no doubt a long way after--it is one of the best centres in Lakeland.’ The Buttermere Hotel is in every way a most excellent house, and to those whose leaning is towards a simple life the farmhouses in the valley are second to none. So much granted, it is perhaps as well to review the work that has been done here, chiefly, it may be stated, by Mr. Oppenheimer and his friends and brethren of the Rücksack Club.