Raven Crag climbing

Crag: Raven Crag, Langdale
Routes: Revelation (HS 4b:led p.1), Bilberry Buttress (VS 4c,4b:led p.2), Holly Tree Direct (HVS 4b,4c,4b:led p.1)
Just another perfect summer day: sunlit dew as we left the tents in Grasmere, the yellow grass shimmering in the morning sunshine. After a big breakfast, we drove back over to Langdale, and walked in to Raven Crag from the Old Dungeon Ghyll. If I've waited a long time to revisit Gimmer, it's been even longer since I last climbed at Raven Crag: in fact, it was perhaps the second or third venue I ever visited, doing Middlefell Buttress and Evening Wall with the university climbing club in 1990! The crag has more to offer, and we started on the far right hand side with the excellent Revelation, which is well named as it offers a continuous series of big holds. I led the first pitch up a scoop and delicate slab, before Vic led the second which starts up a strenuous slanting crack and continues up easy ground to another short, steep wall taken on big holds: great start. Bilberry Buttress is the classic VS of the crag, at the top end of the grade. The initial crack is off-width, polished and awkward. The second is steeper, demanding some crack technique until some superb finishing holds can be used: surprisingly strenuous for the grade. Vic linked the two together, and I led the top pitch which moves right to another crack, slightly dirty, up to a detached flake and final slab. Finally, we went for Holly Tree Direct, one of the crag's most obvious lines. I combined the first two pitches - initially up a slab which was supposedly 4c but felt easier, and then up a pillar leading to an obvious pinnacle (this bit might have been Original Route). Above, the obvious groove is undercut, so requires a subtle solution which took some figuring out. I had to retrieve Vic's gear from the top of the steep ramp, then downclimb to traverse a steep slab on small holds: with my finger injury, this was difficult. A long step gains the groove, which is easier but sustained VS. The finish traverses left to easier slabs. Jogged back to the car and got home in two hours, the roads deserted as England played in the World Cup quarter final.