Mangerton North

Frank and me went to Mangerton North again today to have a look at the buttress that rises steeply in a series of steps to just below the summit. We walked past it two weeks ago and we thought it looked very promising. It would only offer three or so short pitches but we are going to try and explore more rock climbs this year and this seemed like a good start. We climbed up an easy gully from the Horses Glen and traversed from the top to the buttress. We were very disappointed to discover that the rock was covered in a layer of mouldy slime that made it desperately treacherous. We decided against the first section and we went around it and thereafter had a look at each section in the hope of finding anything climbable. Alas it was not to be and the faint mist that accompanied us from the car was fast turning to a heavy drizzle that made conditions even worse. We completed our walk on the top of Mangerton and descended the tourist track back to the car.

A very promising looking piece of rock

Despondant or wha

 When we were about three quarters of the way down we came four people, one of whom had twisted her ankle and was unable to put any weight on it. The mountain rescue had been called. Frank and I put her sitting on a couple of walking poles and she placed her arms around our shoulders. We carried her down a few hundred meters when the rescue service called back and informed us that a full rescue had been initiated and they would prefer that the casualty was left where she was and that they would deal with it. It would have been tiring but I feel that we would have got her down ourselves and perhaps just a few bodies to offer a helping hand would have been sufficient. Still I hope she is all right. Anyway we are resolved to return to the buttress later in the year when the weather is dry and warm.