Oh, such a perfect day! The Adventure Van with a Social Plan on Napes Needle
The backstory…
In 2018 I bought a new-to-me van, soon to be named Bimble. She was an ex-hire vehicle and once fitted and kitted out inside, we headed off on adventures around the UK with my work as a DofE instructor and assessor. I knew that I wanted to do more with my little van, so I set up a personal project called ‘The Adventure Van with a Social Plan’, the idea was to find fellow adventurers who are experts in a different part of the outdoor industry to me and for them to teach me their craft. The social part was to bring along a friend to learn too. It took a while to sort the first one out and in September 2021 I spent a brilliant 24hours in a wood near Little Chalfont learning bushcraft with David Willis along with fellow adventurer Alex Mason – see the blog here.
One year on, it was time to do another adventure which turned out to be the most perfect day on Napes Needle.
Napes Needle as illustrated in a post card I received. Someone was trying to tell me something!
The expert….
Mark Eddy, a brilliant climbing instructor based in the Lake District, replied to my original post in 2018 and a mere 4 years later we finally had a date to climb a small but very significant rock stack called Napes Needle. I have climbed a fair amount of rock over the years and have climbed with Mark before so he knew my abilities. He also knew about my rather less of a love affair with super airy spaces. I love rock climbing but prefer the rock to be in front of my face rather than for me to be standing on top of a coffee table sized piece of rock with dozens of meters of air below me. However, as I am constantly encouraging people to step out of their comfort zones, I needed to take a leaf out of my own book and say yes to the airy coffee tabletop!
I love learning about people’s back stories and although Mark has been a climbing instructor for many year, spending his summers guiding climbs, scrambles and gorge walks in the Lakes and the winters guiding on climbs and scrambles in Spain with his company Mountain Journeys. In his own words he started his working life with a series of low level admin jobs, not really enjoying work before he joined Manchester Police for a couple of years seeing a whole different and much rougher side of life. He realised that there was more to life than being in tense situations for the rest of his working years and having been in the outdoors and climbing since the early 90’s, he made the leap into the outdoors where life is generally safer (it’s all relative!) even if the pay cheques are smaller. After a few years of freelance instructing he set up Mountain Journeys in 2008/2009 and hasn’t looked back since.
The team! Me, Mark, Sam, Seth, Chris and Lottie with Bimble the Adventure Van behind
The social bit – the team…
I was due to climb Ama Dablam (AD) in November last year with a client turned friend called Chris who had been on an expedition which I led in Nepal last Spring. We were climbing AD as peers so needed to build a good climbing partnership and get to know each other outside of the client/leader relationship and he was a natural choice to be my climbing buddy on the day. Roll on a bit of chat with his fabulous girlfriend Lottie who asked if she could join us. Mark said a resounding yes, sorted out a second climbing instructor Sam Marshland and a 4th client in Seth to join us and low and behold our little party of 3 had grown to a fab group of 6. 2 instructors, 4 clients. Game on!
The climb…Monday 19th September.
Napes Needle is a notoriously ‘airy’ 30m rock stack tucked neatly behind Great Gable. You can access it from a variety of directions however we chose to meet up at Seathwaite Farm and walk up from there. Seathwaite Farm Campsite is a great location on the north side of Scafell Pike with clean facilities and a quiet and very chilly plunge pool in the brook that runs through the farm. I had chosen to go up a little early to do a bit of wandering before our climb and met up with Chris and Lottie the night before where we enjoyed a beer in the rain. Auspiciously dark clouds hung over the campsite in the morning however the forecast was for sun during the day so when Mark, Seth and Sam arrived on the Monday morning, we had a good feeling about the day.
Lots of chatter aided our way up a very scenic route taking us over Stockley Bridge, passing Styhead Tarn and to the Mountain Rescue stretcher box at Sty Head, a good landmark which stands at the junction of several paths. If you head northwest your goal will be Great Gable, which I had climbed in splendid isolation on the Saturday whilst the crowds headed south from the junction to the highest mountain in Britain, Scafell Pike. West will take you down to Wasdale Head and southeast will see you heading towards the very picturesque Langdale Valley. Our route to Napes Needle took us on a smaller path traversing around the southwest side of Great Gable. The mountains around and the paths we were on were all but deserted as today was the Queen’s State Funeral and although we were out enjoying the beauty around us we duly observed a 2 minute silence at 11am in honour of the Queen. The air was still with only birds breaking the silence and the sun shone as I looked along Wast Water, the 6 of us deep in our own thoughts for those 2 minutes of reflection.
We arrived at the base of Napes Needle a few minutes later and I looked up and gulped. I hadn’t rock climbed since before Covid and although this piece of historical rock was not technically too hard, the final ‘hop’ onto the top would test my not so flexible legs. Mark and Sam had a short discussion about who was to head up first and decided that Sam, Lottie and Chris would stay at the base of the climb to get ready whilst Mark, Seth and I headed a little up to the left to a safe rock ledge to watch until it was our turn.
The sun was quickly drying and warming the rock whilst Sam took the lead with a couple of ropes and was quickly on top making himself safe, ready to belay Lottie and Chris after they had tied into their respective ropes. The 3 of us on the rock ledge had a great view of the climb and chatted about past lives and current goals whilst shouting encouragement across to Lottie and Chris. The climb to the top is a short but exposed one with the crux being a 2-meter contortion of all 4 limbs all whilst making sure you had your Brave Pants firmly pulled up. Lottie and Chris did a great job of the climb and were soon on top and waving across at us at which point I realised that it was my turn.
As Sam was already on the top of the Needle and secure in place it seemed sensible for him to stay there, and Mark continue to be cameraman from our ledge. Whilst Chris and Lottie were abseiling off the stack, Seth and I made our way over to the base. We popped on our rock shoes and once Chris and Lottie were down and safe, we tied ourselves into our respective ropes and off we went. Getting back onto rock was a joy, it had been way too long since my last climb out in the open and I realised just how much I have missed it. There is something calming (most of the time) and focussing (all of the time) about working out where your fingers and feet are going to be placed. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes you have to work harder at finding what works for you. I headed up first with Seth following on behind and before I knew it I was below the crux, on a small rock ledge big enough for Seth to join me before I dug deep to find my inner Spider(Wo)man and grunted my way up the final couple of meters in height. Longer and more supple arms and legs would have been helpful but with a bit of help from Sam with a tight rope keeping me in place, I was on top and thinking ‘crikey, it’s tiny up here'. Before Seth came up to join us I asked Sam if I could stand up. A bit of a surprised yes was the reply and there I was, the girl who hated heights and airiness, standing 30+ meters on top of this iconic climb.
Once Seth had joined us it was time for a wave across to the others and to then head back down. A bit of a shimmy back to our safe zone followed by an abseil back down to our boots and a quick scramble back up to Mark, Lottie and Chris, we sat down as a 6 and marvelled at the views whilst having a quick bite to eat and chatting about this iconic climb.
As we still had plenty of daylight and potentially other objectives to go for, Mark then had a think about what was next. He was pleasantly surprised at the time it had taken for our climb as well as our willingness to continue on rather than heading back down and that was when Arrowhead Ridge Direct came to mind.
‘It’s not as difficult as Napes Needle’ he announced but we soon found out that difficult is all relative! At the base of the route we split into teams again, me and Seth on the end of Marks rope and Lottie and Chris with Sam. Climbing on a rope with someone you don’t know is a great lesson in trust and communication. I had only met Seth that morning and here we were, connected by a few feet of 10mm rope with Mark at the other end expertly guiding and leading the way. Each small pitch was exposing, most definitely ridgy, and there was no messing about. In order for Seth and I to be safe we had to communicate with each other. If I started off too quickly he would have to race to catch up, or the rope would tighten too much and pull him off balance. If he climbed too quickly behind me, the rope would slacken too much leaving us both exposed if we were to slip. None of which were good outcomes so we soon had a great line of chat going, as well as enjoying the views and wondering just how much more ridgey and direct this route was going to become.
As we worked our way higher we both relaxed into the climb, every now and then checking on how Sam, Lottie and Chris were doing behind us. Before long we were onto the last bit of scrambling and up to a little knoll above the route celebrating our little wins with a sandwich and glug of water before topping out on Great Gable and then wandering back down to our cars and vans at the campsite.
Mark had done a great job pulling the team together and for requesting great weather. I am always keen to learn from others, seeing how guides and leaders work with clients, what strategies they use in various scenarios, there is so much to take in and he and Sam made for fantastic teachers, being informative, jovial when needed but direct when the time was right.
Afterwards
That evening, after Sam, Seth and Mark had departed all with big smiles, I was sat in the corner of the pub at the Scafell Hotel, wine in hand and lasagne on the table, watching the recap of the day’s events in London and chatting through our epic day out in the fresh air with Chris and Lottie.
Sometimes, long awaited events don’t quite meet our expectation. This one had surpassed it.
Mark has suggested Troutdale Pinnacle as my next objective when I am back in the Lake District. Watch this space!
A huge thanks to Mark for offering up his time and this climb, to Sam for co-piloting the day with him and to Seth, Lottie and Chris for being the perfect climbing buddies.
How to contact Mark
Mark can be contacted on 07971 622616, mountain.journeys@yahoo.co.uk or www.mountain-journeys.co.uk. He has also written a climbing guide for Cicerone called Costa Blanca Mountain Adventures which can be found here.
Hatching a plan for ‘what’s next’!