Brant Fell & The Ergosphere

Written by Greg Chapman Sunday, 09 May 2010 10:52

A couple of pieces of news from the central Lakes: first up John Kettle has climbed two likely new lines on Brant Fell. Both problems are on a craglet 50m away from the main outcrop, featured in the Rockfax Lakes Bouldering guide– walk southwest (lakeward) from the main crag to a gnarled old tree growing in rocks, then 10m due west of the tree. This steep crimpy slab offers a number of straight-ups from 3/V0 to 5/V1, similar to those on the main crag, as well as two neat traverses. The Car Sick Traverse (6a/V2) follows a line of pockets right from the left end of the crag. At the central groove step up and continue delicately left across the slab (crux) without using the top of the crag. The Gaskoid Variant (7a/V6) traverses the slab leftward on delectable crimps from the central groove, only using holds below the overlap.

At the Sampson’s Stones, I climbed a long-standing project on the Cosmos Boulder. The Ergosphere (7c+/V10) climbs out of the obvious cave on the main face, starting matched in a slot at the back and following holds out of the left side of the cave round the lip and up, to make for a superb and powerful outing.

Image: The Ergosphere (7c+/V10)