Eskdale climbing

Crag: Hare Crag, Eskdale, Lake District
Routes: Celebration (MVS 4b:sol), The Rib (D:des), Easy Slab (VD:sol), Fireball XL5 (MVS 4b:led), Jugged Hare (MVS 4b:sec), Slab Route (S:led)
After a night in the superbly positioned Eskdale youth hostel and a cooked breakfast, we ambled up the path through chest-high ferns to this crag: just a few minutes walk in beautiful early morning sunshine. Our plans for the day were ambitious and required precise timing: two or three hours climbing (so we had to move fast to tick the crag and sample the three distinct buttresses so obvious from the hostel grounds), then a long walk from Eskdale to Wasdale, then the Lingmell Dash British Championship fell race, then a long walk back to Eskdale for the long drive home! This, the first part, went very well. We headed for the obvious triangular slab for a delightful solo warm-up on three easy routes. First, Celebration: theoretically VS 4b but only because of the lack of gear. Nicely delicate slab climbing on superb and surprisingly unpolished rock. I traversed across to the Rib on the left of the slab and descended this back to the base. Continuous movement on rock first thing in the morning: lovely! A bit further right, Easy Slab was as described, a splendid easy romp up to the apex of the slab on better holds than Celebration. From here, we moved round to the central crag where I led the mild VS of Fireball XL5. This was short but very varied and enjoyable, again on surprisingly unpolished rock. A lovely crack up the left side of a big flake leads to its tip. From here, a distinct crux move up a steep crack leads to a slabby corner above. This is still interesting though. Conscious of the time, we moved immediately across to the final lefthand buttress, where Vic led Jugged Hare at the same grade. This had a bold start up a slab, and a lovely upper wall which took a delicious flake crack which begged to be climbed. Satisfying, simple laybacking. If it went on for 50 metres it would be a famous classic! After descending, I had a few minutes to sprint up Slab Route, a rather bold but very easy Severe covering a large amount of the crag, which takes a curving crack line diagonally right up the upper slabs to gain a small ledge. Then fluted rough cracks give a welcome friend placement and juggy finish. After two hours of pleasure, it was now time for the pain, so we walked back to the hostel past singing yellowhammers, still in glorious sunshine, and drove to the nearby village of Boot for the walk-in to Wasdale.