Sirplum, Plum Buttress, Chee Dale Upper, Peak District
E1 5b
24th May 2005
In 1964 ethics hadn't been invented yet and pegging was de rigeur. I
wasn't actually born but I'm fortunate to count Bob Dearman as a friend.
Bob is one of the larger-than-life characters of the Peak District
climbing and caving scene. I'd first seen Bob's name in guidebooks during
those lazy days of summer when sport climbing in Chee Dale. You'd be at a
crag like Chee Tor walking along looking for the next set of bolts when
you'd look up and see a set of rusty pegs and tat vanishing up some steep
headwall. The guidebook would probably report that the first ascent was by
Bob Dearman/Bob Toogood/Rod Brown or some combination thereof and the
first free ascent was ten years later by Birtles and his mates. Above
ground and below ground the man has been prolific in the extreme. He
counts an ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, some very, very necky
cave exploration and the first ascent of some fine routes in the Peak
District to his credit. If you look through the gritstone guides, you
won't find any of Bob's routes though. It is said that when asked whether
he liked climbing on gritstone he said in his gnarly south peak accent
"narrrr...I don't like gritstone. Yer can't peg it".
I know that Bob is particularly proud of his route Sirplum, climbed
with much aid in the summer of 1964. Bob is not known for his bashfulness
but I'd heard from others that it was a 3 star route with amazing exposure
on the top pitch and since quality multi-pitch routes are scarce in the
Peak, I was keen to have a look. In fact the Northern Limestone guide
describes Sirplum as "One of the great ticks in the Peak which
reaches positions that other E1s don't". So, on a typically warm day
in May Reeve and I set off down the steep grassy track and walked along
the old railway line that runs in the bottom of Chee Dale. Seemed strange
to be carrying a trad rack in these parts. Soon, Plum buttress looms above
the trees and we got the guidebook out. The line itself is very obvious.
The first pitch takes you up some fairly scrappy ground to the right-hand
end of an obvious horizontal break. The second pitch starts here and
follows a rising traverse on the right-hand side of an obvious nose of
overhanging rock. Once established right on the nose the route goes
straight up to finish on a grassy edge above. On the first ascent, Bob
claims to have knocked a tonne of loose rock off that second pitch with
his peg hammer. Given that Bob has spent the subsequent 40 years
hammering, hauling and blowing up Peak District limestone below ground I
can well believe it. The route is all about that second pitch and since I
had suggested the route, I wasn't going to miss out on the chance to lead
it.
Reeve and I had just returned from a one-day crossing of the Cuillin
Ridge and were benefiting from the kind of fitness that big mountain days
bring you. Reeve started up the first 4c pitch and sorted the belay at the
break. I set off and after a spring spent climbing on grit, the limestone
took some getting used to. There were holds everywhere, many of them
covered with a thin layer of dust. A couple of tricky moves near the top
saw us sitting at the horizontal break looking out over Chee Dale. I stood
up...hit my head on the rock above and sat back down. Steep this next
pitch! After collecting the gear from Reeve I tackled the move off the
ledge. That took a bit of working out but a bit of drop knee action seemed
to work well. On the first ascent Bob stood in a sling to get over this
bit because the French hadn't invented dropping your knee at that point.
After that, the holds are huge but the angle's steep and as the guidebook
says you're on the way to "the edge of the world". The gear is
good but it's a bit of a stamina fest. You just have to keep on hanging on
and saving energy where you can. There's a massive thread half way along
the traverse that Bob threaded with a piece of rope on the first ascent. I
was pleased to find the sling in situ and clipped and carried on. Once you
get stood on the nose of rock you get a bit of a rest and then climb a
short groove to the top. By then, you're grinning like a loon with the
exposure and the majesty of the whole thing. Once I'd pulled over the top
onto some fairly unstable grass I sat down. Reeve followed up grinning
similarly and we both agreed that we had done one of the finest routes of
the grade in the Peak.
Siplum's not a good route if you're a boulderer and part-time E1
climber. You want to have a bit in reserve because it's very pumpy but for
those who are consistently climbing 'proper' E1s - it's a route not to be
missed. And if you see Bob on a Thursday night in the White Lion, Buxton,
don't forget to buy him a drink.
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