UKH Hills - 'East Chockstone Gully'

180m, 2 pitches. Looking up from the Grisedale trench East Chockstone gully cannot be missed. Standing 180 meters to the right of Pinnacle ridge with its huge upper exit area this gully is a must for any aspiring mountaineer. Walking up the Grisedale valley you will come to a small wooden footbridge,from here head straight up the grassy face, some climbers may prefer to ascend by the Elmhow zigzags which is easier on the legs but you lose the scale going this way. Head to the right of the tributary which flows under the bridge, height is quickly gained and as you approach the crag face look for a giant boulder which stands affront of East chockstone gully then from there head for the right hand side of the entrance to the gully . The climb up is steep and on grassy ground (the use of a climbing axe would be helpful here), however this should not pose any problems for the accomplished rock climber. Once obvious height has been gained you will find yourself on a narrow grassy ledge, moving to the left you will then drop down into the gully which is a dark and foreboding place and offers no escape route, the narrow walls of the gully towering high above you. At this stage you either move forward or abseil out which can be achieved successfully using a half rope and two prominent rock spikes, these can be clearly seen on the right hand side of the gully. I had to do this myself on one occasion after spraining my right ankle after a slip on the crux wall. Moving forward you climb over two small rock steps, during a winter ascent you may feel the need to rope up here thus in winter the rock steps would count as one individual pitch. Beyond this is the crux wall standing well above head height and almost like a narrow chimney with its smooth sided walls. I found the best way over this obstacle was to get a nudge up from my mate Gary who I then roped to assist his ascent. From the top of the crux wall you will find yourself on steep moving scree, be careful here as its easy to send scree cascading down on any second climbers [sorry about that Gary]. From here its an easy climb to the exit area with St Sundays summit being some yards away to the right. As there is no escape routes from East Chockstone (Scrambling Grade 3) this makes it in our opinion the most difficult and awe inspiring of all St Sundays' gullies .........Big Hell .