Friday 26 September 2014

When is a Wainwright or any Summit Truely Bagged?

I’m a little confused over what people consider bagging a Wainwright. For example, there exists in the Himalaya a ridge of summits called the Gasherbrum (translates to ‘Beautiful Mountain’ in Balti) massif. This massif is made of 7 peaks. If I climb the first peak Gasherbrum I and cross the connecting ridges between them all, summiting each peak, have I bagged them all? Or should I climb each peak individually. The worlds mountaineers seem to think so. Gasherbrum V and Gasherbrum VI remain unclimbed.
 
So transposing this to the bagging of Wainwrights, if I summit Green Gable and then walk across to Great Gable, how many Wainwrights have I bagged? I’ll be honest, I’m not out to bag all the Wainwrights, it’s a challenge I chose to ignore. I am happy to climb the interesting ones and look for nice views and meet nice people. I’m just interested in opinions on this as I find it intriguing. I certainly wont be judging peoples opinions. Please comment.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Haystacks: I get it……I think!

It’s name may be Icelandic, but Haystacks is a pretty appropriate name in my mind. Climbing over the summit has a feel of clambering over the top of a stack of hay bails. Positioned at the South West corner of Buttermere, a highly picturesque Lakeland Lake, Haystacks is one of the lower Fells at 1959ft or 597m. It has quite a unique structure, very different to the more conventionally shaped peaks around it. And appropriately, the site of Alfred Wainwright’s ashes.