Sharp Edge

Perhaps the most notorious ridge in the Lake District, a Grade 1 scramble. Between 1947 and 2016 there have been 11 fatalities. I last climbed it on a misty, wet New Year’s Eve, 2007. The day before, although I didn’t know it at the time, someone had slipped and fell 100′. He was airlifted off by a Sea King helicopter but sadly died from his injuries.

Wainwright, not known for his rock climbing abilities, was particularly in awe of Sharp Edge and wrote of traversing the crux à cheval style, seated as on a horse. He said that the sight of it at close quarters is sufficient to forget all other worries, even a raging toothache.