Gullies might be described as chimneys on the biggest scale. They are the great rifts that split the faces of most precipitous mountains, and they vary in steepness considerably. Their interest lies mostly in overcoming the pitches which are formed where huge boulders, often as big as a small house, have fallen and become jammed between the walls.
 |
| The Devil's Kitchen (Snowdonia) with Llyn Idwal and Lake Ogwen below. Photo from G D Abraham, The Complete Mountaineer. |
Some of these are very impressive with the tremendous overhanging capstones looming overhead, often over a hundred feet high-and a deep black cave receding far under the great boulder. There are gullies of all shades of difficulty, and many abound in short, easy pitches most adaptable to beginners. They generally have the merit of giving a definite route, for having once entered into their recesses, any exit, except at the summit, may be more or less impossible.
Gully climbing has immense fascination and variety, but it should be unmistakably understood that it is almost entirely a development of British climbing. Gullies in the Alps are likely to be dangerous death-traps, for they are the natural drain-pipes down which the great peaks send their refuse. No climbing skill can avail against falling stones and ice; they are to be avoided. Apart from human agency, in British gullies the only falling thing usually encountered is falling water, though the writer's party once had a narrow escape from a falling bedstead. This was in the Great Gully on Snowdon, which has been spoilt by becoming the rubbish-shoot for the summit hotel.
References
From George D. Abraham, First Steps to Climbing, Mills & Boon, Limited, London, 1923.
No comments:
Post a Comment