Lake District - Friday 3rd February 2012
As an undergraduate at Durham University I got to know the Lake District really well through the Hillwalking Society (DUYHA later DUHWS) and had many excellent outings. I am reckoning it's now over 10 years since I last actually set foot in the area never mind did any hillwalking.
My plans for hillwalking in 2012 hadn't initially included anything outside of Scotland as I have intentions of covering a lot of munros this year. However a message posted on Google+ by an acquaintance from my university days got me interested in going back. In some ways I think that I fancied going back for old-times sake - a bit of a nostalgia trip maybe - but I do still have plenty of unfinished business in the Lakes. I am also hoping this year to do some more challenging routes in Scotland, particularly I fancy the Aonach Eagach ridge, so a bit of practice on some easier ridges first to check I can still handle the exposure seemed like a good idea.
The plan was to meet up for the weekend at Patterdale Youth Hostel and do some routes around that area. I particularly fancied a winter crossing of Striding Edge up to Hellvelyn. The hope was that there would be plenty of snow/ice to make the crossing a bit more fun. Initially I thought about just heading down after work on the Friday but the more I thought about it the more I realised there was a chance to head down in the morning and squeeze in an extra short day of walking on my own. This is the moment at which some of that unfinished business came into play.
Back in the dim and distant past of October 1995 on my very first outing with the DUYHA we went to Blencathra and I was in the group who were to ascend via Sharp Edge. This is a somewhat notorious route which, whilst not particularly technically difficult, has a very high number of accidents. I guess the location near to Keswick and the notoriety gives it the extra pull factor for people who would normally think twice. That day we were half way up the ridge when a member of a descending group fell a couple of hundred feet into a gulley. Needless to say we immediately got involved in the rescue and with the help of a helicopter the guy survived. I got my picture in the student newspaper but I never did get to finish the ascent.
There is no doubt that over the years since that day this route has grown in my mind, I imagined it as long, high and very narrow. So it was with a little trepidation that I started out from the car park in Threlkeld. It wasn't entirely clear to me if I would take one look and then go a different way instead.
The weather was utterly perfect, lovely blue sky, winter sunshine and very little wind. Needless to say it wasn't exactly warm but I set out on the 6km walk to the base of the ridge in just a couple of layers of clothing. The plan was a fast march, whilst eating lunch, to give myself plenty of time for the ridge and a wander along the top coming down by Blease Fell. Along the path to Scales Farm the going was very easy, there was no snow and only a little ice in darker recesses. I did find the descent into Scaley Beck very interesting with the light cover of ice, definitely one worth some extra care. As I came onto the edge of Mousthwaite Comb the conditions changed pretty quickly. There was a decent snow covering which had been compacted into hard ice by the weight of feet. At an altitude of about 300m the crampons had to go on to avoid a rapid unplanned descent. The path along the north side of Scales Fell following the route of the river Glenderamackin was similarly very icy, clearly the sun rarely reaches into this valley at this time of year. I spotted a couple of cross-country skiers coming over from Souther Fell onto Scales Fell but other than that it was very quiet.
Eventually I started to get some good views of Sharp Edge and to my relief it seemed rather shorter and easier than I had imagined. The conditions were good and I definitely felt in the right frame of mind to get up the ridge. As I reached Scales Beck it was clear from the tracks that some walkers had headed directly for the ridge and crossed a northerly face which was getting some sunshine. The combination of the angle of the slope and the fact that it had clearly recently thawed and frozen several times lead me to consider this a very dubious route. Instead I chose to head into the area near the tarn and ascend to the ridge by the southerly side. This is a little bit longer but much safer in my opinion.
On reaching the bottom of the edge it was time for a quick break and some photos. The views were amazing, white capped mountains and a frozen tarn below with plenty of blue sky. The silence was also impressive, given the proximity of the traffic on the A66, Scales Fell does a good job of sheltering this area from intrusive noise. Even better, there was no-one on the whole length of the ridge. In the summer the ridge can be one long procession of people which I suspect would massively reduce the fun.
Climbing the ridge itself was good fun and nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be. If anything I felt that with my crampons on the snow and ice was making it easier to climb than it would be on a damp summer's day. There were no slippery sloping slabs to be handled gingerly in just a pair of boots. I took my time over the climb but before I knew it I was on the crag and having a breather for more photos. The route is definitely narrow and the drops are precarious but I never felt overwhelmed. There was only one moment of bum-shuffling and most of the route was done on the very top since there wasn't any obvious alternative track. As I reached the half-way point one other guy joined the ridge and followed me up, I was clearly appearing in his photos so I got some of him to give a sense of scale. Clearly not everyone feels the same about the route, later on in the day the Keswick Mountain Rescue team had to go and help some poor soul descend as they had become cragfast half-way up (cragfast-scrambler-rescued-from-lakeland-edge).
On reaching the top of the ridge it was an easy walk across a snow field to Hallsfell Top. The bright sun brought out my sunglasses to avoid getting too dazzled. At the top I met a couple of guys out for a walk who were part of the local mountain rescue team, they weren't on a call-out but did have their radio and it was clear that a helicopter rescue was taking place somewhere in the Lake District. I have previously done Hallsfell Ridge in full winter conditions and it is an excellent route for those who prefer to avoid any scrambling whilst still having the chance to get the crampons out.
The walk from the top then went over to Knowe Crags which gave some nice views back to the main top and I got a good view of the cornices above Gategill Fell and Middle Tongue. The route down over Blease Fell had a lot more snow and I kept my crampons on until reaching the wall above Blease Farm, it's amazing what a difference they make whilst descending.
As I reached Blease Farm I met another walker and had a pleasant chat with him as we returned to Threlkeld. He was lucky enough to be heading for the pub, I was heading off in the car firstly to Keswick to find a decent shop for some new gaiters and then onto Patterdale.
The whole route was approximately 10km and took me 3hr 45mins. At the time, I reckoned this up as showing I was reasonably fit for winter routes but given that it had been very a long time since I did 3 days back-to-back walking only time would tell.
My plans for hillwalking in 2012 hadn't initially included anything outside of Scotland as I have intentions of covering a lot of munros this year. However a message posted on Google+ by an acquaintance from my university days got me interested in going back. In some ways I think that I fancied going back for old-times sake - a bit of a nostalgia trip maybe - but I do still have plenty of unfinished business in the Lakes. I am also hoping this year to do some more challenging routes in Scotland, particularly I fancy the Aonach Eagach ridge, so a bit of practice on some easier ridges first to check I can still handle the exposure seemed like a good idea.
The plan was to meet up for the weekend at Patterdale Youth Hostel and do some routes around that area. I particularly fancied a winter crossing of Striding Edge up to Hellvelyn. The hope was that there would be plenty of snow/ice to make the crossing a bit more fun. Initially I thought about just heading down after work on the Friday but the more I thought about it the more I realised there was a chance to head down in the morning and squeeze in an extra short day of walking on my own. This is the moment at which some of that unfinished business came into play.
Back in the dim and distant past of October 1995 on my very first outing with the DUYHA we went to Blencathra and I was in the group who were to ascend via Sharp Edge. This is a somewhat notorious route which, whilst not particularly technically difficult, has a very high number of accidents. I guess the location near to Keswick and the notoriety gives it the extra pull factor for people who would normally think twice. That day we were half way up the ridge when a member of a descending group fell a couple of hundred feet into a gulley. Needless to say we immediately got involved in the rescue and with the help of a helicopter the guy survived. I got my picture in the student newspaper but I never did get to finish the ascent.
There is no doubt that over the years since that day this route has grown in my mind, I imagined it as long, high and very narrow. So it was with a little trepidation that I started out from the car park in Threlkeld. It wasn't entirely clear to me if I would take one look and then go a different way instead.
The weather was utterly perfect, lovely blue sky, winter sunshine and very little wind. Needless to say it wasn't exactly warm but I set out on the 6km walk to the base of the ridge in just a couple of layers of clothing. The plan was a fast march, whilst eating lunch, to give myself plenty of time for the ridge and a wander along the top coming down by Blease Fell. Along the path to Scales Farm the going was very easy, there was no snow and only a little ice in darker recesses. I did find the descent into Scaley Beck very interesting with the light cover of ice, definitely one worth some extra care. As I came onto the edge of Mousthwaite Comb the conditions changed pretty quickly. There was a decent snow covering which had been compacted into hard ice by the weight of feet. At an altitude of about 300m the crampons had to go on to avoid a rapid unplanned descent. The path along the north side of Scales Fell following the route of the river Glenderamackin was similarly very icy, clearly the sun rarely reaches into this valley at this time of year. I spotted a couple of cross-country skiers coming over from Souther Fell onto Scales Fell but other than that it was very quiet.
Eventually I started to get some good views of Sharp Edge and to my relief it seemed rather shorter and easier than I had imagined. The conditions were good and I definitely felt in the right frame of mind to get up the ridge. As I reached Scales Beck it was clear from the tracks that some walkers had headed directly for the ridge and crossed a northerly face which was getting some sunshine. The combination of the angle of the slope and the fact that it had clearly recently thawed and frozen several times lead me to consider this a very dubious route. Instead I chose to head into the area near the tarn and ascend to the ridge by the southerly side. This is a little bit longer but much safer in my opinion.
On reaching the bottom of the edge it was time for a quick break and some photos. The views were amazing, white capped mountains and a frozen tarn below with plenty of blue sky. The silence was also impressive, given the proximity of the traffic on the A66, Scales Fell does a good job of sheltering this area from intrusive noise. Even better, there was no-one on the whole length of the ridge. In the summer the ridge can be one long procession of people which I suspect would massively reduce the fun.
Climbing the ridge itself was good fun and nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be. If anything I felt that with my crampons on the snow and ice was making it easier to climb than it would be on a damp summer's day. There were no slippery sloping slabs to be handled gingerly in just a pair of boots. I took my time over the climb but before I knew it I was on the crag and having a breather for more photos. The route is definitely narrow and the drops are precarious but I never felt overwhelmed. There was only one moment of bum-shuffling and most of the route was done on the very top since there wasn't any obvious alternative track. As I reached the half-way point one other guy joined the ridge and followed me up, I was clearly appearing in his photos so I got some of him to give a sense of scale. Clearly not everyone feels the same about the route, later on in the day the Keswick Mountain Rescue team had to go and help some poor soul descend as they had become cragfast half-way up (cragfast-scrambler-rescued-from-lakeland-edge).
On reaching the top of the ridge it was an easy walk across a snow field to Hallsfell Top. The bright sun brought out my sunglasses to avoid getting too dazzled. At the top I met a couple of guys out for a walk who were part of the local mountain rescue team, they weren't on a call-out but did have their radio and it was clear that a helicopter rescue was taking place somewhere in the Lake District. I have previously done Hallsfell Ridge in full winter conditions and it is an excellent route for those who prefer to avoid any scrambling whilst still having the chance to get the crampons out.
The walk from the top then went over to Knowe Crags which gave some nice views back to the main top and I got a good view of the cornices above Gategill Fell and Middle Tongue. The route down over Blease Fell had a lot more snow and I kept my crampons on until reaching the wall above Blease Farm, it's amazing what a difference they make whilst descending.
As I reached Blease Farm I met another walker and had a pleasant chat with him as we returned to Threlkeld. He was lucky enough to be heading for the pub, I was heading off in the car firstly to Keswick to find a decent shop for some new gaiters and then onto Patterdale.
The whole route was approximately 10km and took me 3hr 45mins. At the time, I reckoned this up as showing I was reasonably fit for winter routes but given that it had been very a long time since I did 3 days back-to-back walking only time would tell.
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