Broad Stand - Aug 6th

[Ben B]

Well it certainly was greasy and slimy...

Thanks to Dave and Simon for managing to get me up it in those conditions (combined tactics, manfully pulling on pro, standing in slings, etc - have we no shame?!). The greasy slabs above were running black and green slime and the whole area had been liberally sprayed with WD40.

For the record as of yesterday the only gear left is a number 9 nut of unknown vintage - but bomber - round the corner from the shelf behind Fat Man's Agony ie below the shelf of the stand proper.

Ali came through on time on his anticlockwise attempt, despite conditions being awful (strong winds and driving rain all across Honister to Wasdale). We had a desperately slippery descent to BS, where a diagonal abseil was needed to get down to the FMA. (Evidently 3 months of rain hasn't helped provide clean, dry rock. It took me an hour to strip the belays and get back to the summit with all the gear safely - I have much sympathy for the other team who left the rope behind three weeks ago in grotty conditions, and agree that Broad Stand isn't a place to go litter-picking in bad weather).

Despite being 30 mins ahead at Dunmail the weather deteriorated further over Helvellyn and some nav errors (new fences in the dark on Calva and Skiddaw etc) all combined to push the time over 24 hours. A fine effort IMHO for a first attempt with minimal recce time and greasy, wet and windy conditions. Given that parts of the route were entirely new, I reckon that's a good showing.

Ben B

[Mark Smith]

Good effort to keep going in that murk. Hats off!

Will there be another go to get under 24 hrs or will this weekend's experience suffice for the BGR?

Know exactly what you mean re the conditions at Broad Stand. What surprised me as much as anything was how greasy the area was above BS, i.e. your excellently described 'WD40' area . That was 6 weeks ago, goodness knows what it must be like now after so much more rain.

[Ben B]

Not sure what Ali's plans are, but I suspect he'll be back for more. The conditions were pretty nasty - a cool, dry day would have been just so much easier. He's a whippet and I reckon with some more groundwork he'll be a cert.

Re: Broad Stand, I was expecting a short but awkward problem and easy scrambling above. Instead pretty much anywhere from FMA to the summit plateau was slimy and grim. Ali and I were skating around in fell shoes, and it's a long way down if you blow it.... the ledges at the top of Mickledore Gully were especially gruesome. I'm looking forward to doing it in the dry one day :-)

Ben B

[Full Moon Addict]

I reckon that going AC in the wet its just as quick to go down foxes tarn and take the traverse to mickledore. you can run that for the most part whereas the slabs down to broad stand are slow in slippy conditions.

[FellMonster]

I reckon that going AC in the wet its just as quick to go down foxes tarn and take the traverse to mickledore. you can run that for the most part whereas the slabs down to broad stand are slow in slippy conditions.

I regularly sh*t myself when reading baout broad stand and this rope climbing......have never been there...is it genuinely that bad? Bear in mind i suffer wildly from vertigo especially if there's a sense of exposure involved. (and no, i dont mean full frontal)

[Bob]

I regularly sh*t myself when reading baout broad stand and this rope climbing......have never been there...is it genuinely that bad? Bear in mind i suffer wildly from vertigo especially if there's a sense of exposure involved. (and no, i dont mean full frontal)

In climbing terms it is *very* easy and is commonly used for descending from routes on the East Buttress and Scafell Crag. However all these things are relative and to someone who isn't used to rock climbing it can be somewhat unnerving.

The climbing itself is confined to the couple of steps after Fat Man's Agony ( a chest wide slot to reach a ledge or platform) which itself is at ground level. The slabs above are easy angled (maybe 25 or 30 degrees) but the line taken is somewhat involved and the best line can be awkward to follow on first acquaintance, though it is well polished these days.

So what's the problem Well you climb the awkward steps at the bottom at the left edge and a slip from here would see you bounce and then go maybe fifty feet to the foot of the East Buttress. It's not exposed, in fact it feels quite enclosed. It is possible to climb in the right hand corner of both steps but this is harder and often greasy.

The first photo here http://www.wasdale-mountain-rescue.o...pot_photos.htm shows the lower section with the dashed yellow line being the line to follow. Looking at the bottom shot, there is an abseil point to the right of the upper figure. It's a big boulder on the edge of the drop directly above the arete of Mickledore.

On my round I was similar to Ben B - I used every available aid to get up the thing no pride whatsoever.

[Bob]

Here's a YouTube link about the boulder in Lord's Rake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruXyGy1TFT0

[XRunner]

Here is a website showing how to free climb Broadstand

[Ben B]

Thanks - I enjoyed that. Given that the sloper to the left has running with slimy water and the crack to the right had zip friction and some green gunk in it we opted for the large crack further left. 1.5 friend or medium nut at the back, pull manfully, slide in to the crack and ascend by rippling beer gut rhythmically upwards whilst attempting to smear as much body as possible in contact with the rock as the water slooshed in up sleeves and down trousers... Dave led this first and from beneath it looked like an act of gross sexual indecency of the most despicable kind

The diagonal abseil was well protected: four bits of bomber pro (large chockstone, medium nut, a 1.5 friend and a 1 tricam in four separate cracks and equalised down to the corner above the stand).

Anyway, that's enough moaning about Broad Stand already. 'Twas grim but not as bad as doing just over 24hrs must have seemed. Roll on the day the pillar in Lords Rake finally goes and we can get back to normal :-)

[FellMonster]

In climbing terms it is *very* easy and is commonly used for descending from routes on the East Buttress and Scafell Crag. However all these things are relative and to someone who isn't used to rock climbing it can be somewhat unnerving.

The climbing itself is confined to the couple of steps after Fat Man's Agony ( a chest wide slot to reach a ledge or platform) which itself is at ground level. The slabs above are easy angled (maybe 25 or 30 degrees) but the line taken is somewhat involved and the best line can be awkward to follow on first acquaintance, though it is well polished these days.

So what's the problem Well you climb the awkward steps at the bottom at the left edge and a slip from here would see you bounce and then go maybe fifty feet to the foot of the East Buttress. It's not exposed, in fact it feels quite enclosed. It is possible to climb in the right hand corner of both steps but this is harder and often greasy.

The first photo here http://www.wasdale-mountain-rescue.o...pot_photos.htm shows the lower section with the dashed yellow line being the line to follow. Looking at the bottom shot, there is an abseil point to the right of the upper figure. It's a big boulder on the edge of the drop directly above the arete of Mickledore.

On my round I was similar to Ben B - I used every available aid to get up the thing no pride whatsoever.

Thanks kindly for the pictures and video you all posted. To be honest, I think its beyond what my nerve would tolerate, and it'd a bit like getting B.A on a plane...I'd need to be dragged kicking & screaming. Im determined to go and take a look at it in the flesh sometime tho!