We picked our way round the Climbers' Traverse to the famous landmark of Napes Needle on Great Gable. No one was climbing it because of the horrible weather. We were out in the rain for 8 hours - not pleasant. I had been worried about the steepness of the slopes. They look as though they might be 75 degrees or something similar. However, looking at sideways photographs taken by other people suggests much less. I used my walking pole to try to gauge the slope and I'd say actually about 45 degrees. Why does it look so much bigger? It's probably to do with "distance foreshortening" but I need to think about it more. If you fall vertically, gravity makes you accelerate at a rate of 9.91 metres per second per second. But a 45 degree angle means that the acceleration would only be 9.81 x cos45 = 6.93 metres per second per second. I've heard this called "dilute gravity". And friction would reduce this further. However, that won't help if you hit a rock.
