Easter Wasdale Camp Trip

Well the plan had been to get tot he lakes on Thursday before the Good Friday rush and to camp in the NT campsite in Wasdale. Sadly when we arrived at the site they weren't allowing anyone who hadn't booked in. So we sought the alternative which was the campsite opposite the Wasdale Inn, this was little more than a field, and a cold water tap. This was almost music to my ears, although I do enjoy showers, roughing it meant if felt more like an adventure.

The Plan for the Easter weekend was just to get into the Hills around the Wasdale Valley and do as much as possible. The Weather wasn't great but it was still fun ! A lot of fun!

4 hours of constant rain on Friday meant that things got muddy, but it was no Glastonbury at least ;)

More snow than I was expecting.......BONUS!

Me somewhere on Great Gable

Rick on Great Gable

Descending Great Gable looking toward Styhead Tarn

Looking back up to the top of Great Gable

The plan on Good Friday was to walk down the length of Wast Water and then back across the the tops Via Whin Rigg and Illgill Head.

Scrambling across the screes on Wast Water

On the top looking toward Illgill Head, the weather had started to turn a bit nasty at this point.

Saturday's plan was to go up to Black Sail Pass and head towards Pillar.

The back of Kirk Fell with a bit of Great Gable on the far left.

On the way to Pillar looking into the Wasdale valley

The views on the way to Pillar should have been fantastic but the weather closed in. :(

The descent from Great Scoat Fell

Just my luck the weather got better the closer we got to the end of the walk. Typical !

On Sunday, the weather hadn't been as good as forecast so Rick and I decided to head home we had three really good days in the hills and some fun in the pub. It had been cold but fun. There will be more camping trips for sure :D

Fairfield Horseshoe 2010

Saturday 13th of March. 

Well this was really a bit of a training walk and a test to see how far my fitness has increased since 2008. The last time I did this route I was badly out of shape and had only been walking for about 3 months. The walk destroyed me, it took nearly 8 hours and it took me a week to recover. This time it was very different, it only took 5 hours 3 mins... ish. I felt fit and strong and only had a minor niggle from my left knee. 

Enjoyable this time rather than torture :P

Still plenty of snow about but not enough for axe and crampons :(

EEK! i have been slacking !

Well yes i have been slacking, not in terms of getting out in the hills but in terms of updating my blog.

Well over the next couple of days I'm going to clear the backlog!

Here it comes ! 

More Fun in the White Stuff !

After my first successful winter scramble on Blencathra, I was hungry for more. I decided that it would have to be another classic lakes scramble, Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. The weather reports were good and both edges were in full winter condition, so I emailed Ric and off we went !  

It was a grey cold start to the morning but the distant hills showed promise, so we set off from Patterdale eager to get up into the snow.

As Ric and I headed further up we began to encounter more and more snow, things were starting to look really good. We continued up to 'Hole in the Wall', where there was significantly more snow and a whole bunch of people in process of gearing up with axes, crampons, harnesses and ropes etc.

 As we left hole in the wall the weather began to close in, the wind picked up, it began to snow and visibility dropped. I have never been in a real white out, this came close.

 

I couldn't see much from here and I began to wonder if we would actually see any of Striding Edge. I felt a bit sorry for Ric because it was the first time he had been on the ridge and he was going to miss the views. 

 Fortunately for us the weather began to clear up and Striding Edge began to reveal itself in all its wintry glory.

The view from the ridge to Helvellyn was amazing, it seemed like a different mountain with its winter coat on, positively alpine. 

We made good progress along the ridge and in the back of my mind I was preparing for the customary backlog when we got to what some call the "bad step". 

As predicted there was a queue,  some people were climbing down to the side of the bad step just to get past people who were moving slower.

I started to get a little concerned that the climb down might be more difficult in winter than I had thought, as there seemed to be quite a few struggling with it. In the end Ric and I decided that we didn't want to wait any longer and just went down to the side of it. When I looked back I realised that climbing down to the side of the step was probably harder than coming down the step itself. 

 

Me descending.

From the bottom of the "bad step it didn't look too bad, but you would be surprised how often it catches people out.

 With the only tricky scrambling done it was time for the final push up the snow slope to the top of Helvellyn.

 Me on the snow slope to the top.

 Looking back along Striding Edge, almost at the top.

  

  

Heading toward the summit.

We tagged the summit and headed straight over to Swirral Edge. We headed down the snow slope to the edge, it was steeper than I expected and the snow was softer.

 

 Once on the ridge it was pretty easy to navigate our way down. It was at this point that I noticed a large group of people coming up,some without crampons and axes, some in shorts !!! I found this rather disturbing and amusing at the same time. I wondered if I would be hearing about any of these people on the news.......

 Looking back up from Red Tarn. If you look closely you can just make out climbers heading up the gully routes. The gullies looked like a lot of fun but a little out of my league for now anyway.

 Back down in the valley, warm and sunny ! Another amazing day in the mountains!

My First Winter Climb !

The weather was going to be perfect, a midweek thaw and then freezing northerly winds would refreeze everything in the lakes, Saturday was going to be an opportunity too good to pass up.

 I have never done any winter mountaineering before I decided to jump in at the deep end a bit and head for Blencathra with my mate Ric. The plan was to go and see what the conditions were like, taking an easy route up Scales Fell, I really wanted winter scrambling but was well aware that I had 0 experience.

This is what greeted us when we arrived.

 

 Hall's Fell ridge was simply too tempting we decided that we would head up to the top of Blencathra and have a peak at sharp edge but probably avoid it.

Patchy snow and ice to start with, nothing that really worried me and to be honest I was just blown away at how amazing the whole mountain looked.

As we got higher, the ice axe and crampons had to come out and this was where the test began, Ric and I moved on with an equal share of caution and enthusiasm. It really was superb, ice and hard snow, it felt like a real adventure.

Ric puts on his game face!

Me posing! At least I have a new Facebook profile pic :P

 Moving with axe and crampons wasn't as hard or as intimidating as I thought, however in the back of my mind I really wasn't confident I could arrest a serious fall. The plan was go so and careful and don't slip!

Hall's Fell Ridge was so good I didn't want it to end! 

Coming close to the top now, I kept looking back and thinking "Did I really just come up that?" It was a bit surreal because this looked like a real snowy mountain, and I'm not a real mountaineer, well not yet anyway ;) 

The views from the top were stunning, not a cloud in the sky however the wind on the top was insanely cold, I had to take pictures qucikly, my hands couldn't take being out of my gloves for more than a minute or so.

 

 

The view down Hall's Fell Ridge.

 

 Looking out toward Skiddaw.

Me and Ric on the top with Skiddaw in the background.

Ric and I decided that we had so much fun coming up the ridge that we wanted more of the same and headed over to Sharp Edge for a look. Before we even got there we decided we were going to do it. Needless to say this would be a bit more testing than our first ridge.

 

Ric posing as we moved down Sharp Edge .

Moving along Sharp Edge was a lot harder than Hall's Fell Ridge. There was less bail out options and a much greater risk of taking a serious fall. This was not the most graceful of scrambles, scraping and inching along on hands, knees, always aware that a slip meant game over. Thinking back now I wasn't really that scared or intimidated but I was tested and had to really concentrate on what I was doing.

A quick look back up Sharp edge.

We finally made it down and again Ric and I looked back and said "Did we really just do that ?"

 

 

We had a quick stop for lunch in the sun below Sharp Edge and then we headed off to the car. The Day exceeded all my expectations. It was probably the best day I have ever had in the hills. It also proved to me if push yourself out of your comfort zone in the mountains you can learn a lot, just go carefully and be safe.