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7 miles 3020ft ascent
Nuttall 4.1 Langdale Pikes
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Starting in bright sunshine we climbed the steep cobbled path on the right bank of Bright Beck before transferring over to the right bank about 1/4 of the way up.
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Stickle Tarn
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With the effort of the climb we were soon shedding our outer layers and by the time we reached the snow line we were down to base layers.
3/4 of the way up the beck we transferred back to the left hand bank and continued up to Stickle Tarn.
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Skirted the tarn to the right and continued up Bright Beck before taking a gully to the left and following it up through virgin snow to the right of Sergeants Man before turning towards it to complete the climb.
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Continued on to High Rise, a rounded hummock to the NW without any great features before turning south to claim Thunscare Knott and zigzag to pick up Pavey Ark, overlooking Stickle Tarn, round to Harrison Stickle down and up the knoll of Pike of Stickle, the first scramble we've done in snow. Then headed back to the car park taking in Loft Grag on the way.
The return path was very trying, the way was rough and hard on the knees, with no respite at all, we were pleased to get back to the Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.
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Langdale
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The forecast for the weekend had been for sunshine and cold clear nights. However, the morning turned out to be dull and as we left the car park at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel it was drizzeling, but hoping for things to improve we set off.
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The lower tops were clear, pike of Stickle was just breaking the clouds. We made our way up the well established path, with stone steps, known as 'The Band'.
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As we finished the first steep ascent at White Stones the steps and path gradually became covered in snow but it was relatively soft and easy going. Following the procession of walkers in front of us we continued on our way swinging slightly left to take the well trodden climbers path rather than the more direct walkers path that no one else seemed to be using.
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With Bowfell still in cloud we made our way up to the col know as Three Tarns which were frozen over and only two visible through the snow. Turning right we made our final ascent to the summit of Bowfell following another walker, as guide, along a less well defined path until we reached the summit.
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It had been our intention to continue on round following the Nuttall route 5.2, but as the cloud was still low we decided to retrace our steps instead.
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We had expected that the return down through the snow would be slow but as it was reasonable solid yet not icy we were able to get a good grip and descend at a good rate until we dropped below the snowline.
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As we returned to the car park most of the hills were now clear and the sun making a half hearted attempt to break through but Bowfell was still in th cloud.
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6 miles 2450ft
Hartsop Horseshoe
Nuttall 7.3
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Thornthwaite Crag
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Started off from the car park at the far end of Hartsop village. Following the instructions in Nuttalls we first made a deviation following a track with a wall to our left. Realised that we were wrong as we weren't going steeply up hill so retraced our steps and followed a wall on our right, this definitely was going up hill and continued to do so until we reached Hartsop Dodd.
With a scattering of snow on the ground which gradually became deeper we progressed up the ridge to Stony Cove Pike, a flat top which was covered in mist.
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Following the instructions we set off on the steep decent to a col called Threshthwaite Mouth before again climbing steeply up the other side to Thornthwaite Crag. The snow that lay all around actually seemed to help as we were able to descend with more confidence, the firm snow giving better foot holds than wet rock. And going up the snow bound the loose shale together. With the low cloud we were not able to enjoy the views so set off again for our final objective of Grey Crag a high point on the long ridge down.
Following the top of the ridge gave views over the Hayeswater valley to our right and Hartsop village in front. From the end of the ridge we quickly descended on soft snow and grass along a little used path to return to the car park.
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Hartsop Dodd
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As we intended to have a long walk we had an early breakfast and got to Wasdale Head car park for a 8.55 start.
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The main aim of the day was to time the walk and check the route for the Scafell leg of the Three Peaks Challenge, so first we had to get to the starting point on the other side of the Fells!
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Styhead Tarn
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Leaving the car park we followed the route past Burnthwaite and then along the higher path to the north of Lingmell Beck to Styhead Pass and Styhead Tarn. The weather was bright and clear and as we made our way up the hillside we were soon down to our shirt sleeves. With the best weather we have experienced in the area we were also able to get some good shots of the hills.
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After Styhead Tarn we followed Styhead Gill and then Taylorgill Force to reach Stockley Bridge after 2 hours. A clear day makes a lot of difference as we had no trouble finding the path which we had difficulty following in the opposite direction in partial snow earlier in the year.
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As the path from the start of the Challenge at Seathwaite to Stockley Bridge is straight forward it wasn't necessary to time this section and so set off at 11.00 to follow the path up to Scafell following Grains Gill and Ruddy Gill up to Spinkling Tarn before turning eastward to skirt around Great End to Esk Hause and continue up to Scafell Pike via Broad Crag reaching the top at 1.00pm after 2 hours.
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Ruddy Gill
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Sitting at the summit eating our lunch we were surprised to see a man kneeling on top of the Scafell Cairn proposing marriage to his companion!
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Mickledore
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After taking photographs for them we started back down at 1.15pm first of all heading out at 300° to reach the Corridor Route and follow the path to the left back towards Wasdale Head down Brown Tongue and then down Lingmell Gill which was on our left to arrive back at the National Trust car park at 3.00pm and a walk up to Wasdale Head for a larger shandy.
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With intermittent rain we sat in the car park at Wasdale Head and debated whether to stick to our original plan of going up Pillar which was in cloud, driving over to the Mountain Museum, or finding an alternative lower walk. One route that we had heard was interesting was 'The Screes', a path along the southeast shore of Wast Water, so we decided to combine this with a return route across the top via Whin Rigg and Illgill Head.
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Leaving Wasdale Head car park, we made our way to Brackenclose along the path by the old river bed and then to the south east shore of Wast Water. The path followed the shore line closely and was quite well marked on the ground but a sign on a gate warned us of things to come:-
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Caution Screes Footpath - The footpath is rocky uneven & may be slippery according to conditions. Care should be exercised at all times & extra time allowed for in poor weather conditions.
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For most of the way we progressed without problems, but towards the end we came upon a 400m section where the path disappeared and we had to traverse boulders large and small which had been made slippery by the rain and our progress was considerably slowed, but after what seemed an eternity we were back onto a more substantial path and our pace picked up again.
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By the time we reached the end of the lake we had travelled about 6km in 2hr 45min on level ground! But at least it had stopped raining and the skies, whilst not clearing did at least look brighter.
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Now for the climb up to the top of the ridge we had just been walking under. Shedding a layer of clothing, we turned left off the track and headed up Greathall Gill, a steep 45° slope that seemed to go on and on but after 45 min we reached the ridge path and the going became easier, and with the improved conditions we had views all around.
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After stopping for lunch just below Illgill Head we continued on and descended down the end of the ridge to reach the path to take us back towards Wasdale Head. But first we wanted to check on a minor path we had missed the day before so turned back up Lingmell Gill to try to pick up the short cut path that runs north from Lingmell Gill to Wasdale Head.
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Found what we were looking for just below the second gate and followed it back to Wasdale Head for refreshments.
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Having missed out on a walk the day before because of the weather, we decided to put in an extra day and travel back late.
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The forecast was for early showers but clearing later and so we set off from Wasdale Head, in the mist, at 9.15am and headed up the Black Sail Pass. As we progressed the mist started to clear a little and we were hopeful, though the cloud was still quite low.
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On reaching the top of the pass we turned right and headed up the path to the top of Kirk Fell. The map showed the path going to the west of the crags but the path on the ground went off to the east, so we followed this and found ourselves tackling a wet scramble up a gully which after much stretching and heaving brought us out on the top of the crag from where we followed the fence line in the mist to the summit. On a clear day there are probably fine views from the top, but we could only see about 20m.
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Gatherstone Beck
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For the return back we decided to follow the fence line that took us to the west of the crags and the path shown on the map. This was better than our ascent, but still a bit of a scramble.
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Having regained the top of Black Sail Pass we then headed up the track towards Pillar, still in the mist we had to follow what paths we could see on the ground and use the compass bearing. After a while we finally reached what we thought was the top of Pillar and took a GPS reading to confirm we were correct.
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If we had had a view we had intended to take a look a Pillar Rock and also take in Steeple, but as the mist was still persisting we decided to take the route back to Wasdale going over Black Crag, Scoat Fell and Red Pike. Again with only our compass and what tracks we could see on the ground we made our way down to Windy Gap and up the other side to Black Crag.
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With the visibility still poor, but not dangerously so, we continued on our bearing, even though we could not see a path and after a while picked up a path that was heading in the right direction which took us to a peak and then quickly descended into a valley. This was not what we expected but as we were going the right way were not too bothered. On inspecting the map later it would seem that the peak we had reached was Red Pike and not Scoat Fell as we had thought, which we had managed to miss out by passing to the east of it.
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Soon we were descending out of the clouds onto a col with a large fell in front of us which was obviously Yewbarrow Fell. Our intentions earlier in the day had been to go over Yewbarrow, but with the cloud obscuring it we felt there was now no good reason to do so and so took the path to the west of it down Over Beck and back to the road at Overbeck Bridge.
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And back to Wasdale Head Inn for an early evening meal before driving home.
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