Have been some absolutey 'crakin' landscape photos on this site recently so as scrambling has been hitting the headlines one way or another here is an action shot for a bit of a change.
Its Chockstone ridge on Grey Crags in Birkness Combe, Buttermere its given 3***'s in the Evans guide and IMHO its the best scramble I have done to date in the Lakes.
Once you get to Grey Crags, the first section of the route is called Harrow Buttress starting from the toe of the buttress, then you descend a diagonal gully that takes you to the start of Chockstone Ridge which is simply delightfull passing a gendarme before moving out onto the front of the face to finish.
This deposits you at the foot of the headwall which despite its steepness has an easy route up it.
One reason I think Grey Crag is such a good venue is that it has at least 5 south facing buttress's dotted about the hillside, each buttress has several routes of various grades giving you a choice of many independant routes PLUS an even greater number of mix'n'match combinations to get to the summit of High Stile.
The Bestest thing of all is that the summit of High Stile is only a few metres away from the finish of the scramble.
I love this walk once you get onto High Crag you follow one of the top ridges in the Lakes, which gives you a perfect view of where you have been scrambling, onto High Crag then Haystacks.
If you are felling fit you can do another superb scramble on Round Howe.
AND....... if you have still not had enough you can traverse round onto Fleetwith Pike and follow the arete down which has to be one of the most impressive forrtpath in the Lakes.
