High Stile
High Stile in the Western Lake District Fells
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Sheepbone Rake & the Buttermere Fells
A glorious day today climbing the Buttermere Fells by Sheepbone Rake, a little cloud early on soon cleared giving some glorious views throughout the day and even a good Brocken Spectre on High Stile.
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The Buttermere Fells
A great day climbing the Buttermere Fells, taking in Red Pike, High Crag and High Stile in near perfect weather with some stunning views thorughout
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The Buttermere Fells
A bit of a windswept and cloudy day over the Buttermere Fells was highlighted with some excellent views on ascent and descent
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The Buttermere Fells
A great day on the Buttermere Fells today, climbing from Buttermere by Scale Force to Red Pike and following the ridge over High Stile and High Crag before descending by Scarth Gap and back along the lakeshore path to Buttermere.
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Buttermere to Langdale
A long high walk from Buttermere to Langdale saw us above the clouds for the morning on a brilliantly clear and chilly day.
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The Buttermere Fells
A great day discovering The Buttermere Fells with a good mix of Lake District Weather. Taking in the summits of Red Pike, High Stile and High Crag.
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77 Peak Challenge Day 2
A great day above Ennerdale and Buttermere for the second day of the 77 Peak Challenge following the ridge from Great Bourne to Haystacks and a bit more.
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24 Peak Challenge
We had a group tackling the challenge over 2 days.Starting in Buttermere and finishing in Langdale on day 1. And starting on The Kirkstone Pass and finishing the challenge at St Johns in the Vale on day 2.
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The Buttermere Fells
A fantastic day on The Buttermere Fells today!
From Buttermere we made our way along the lake shore. As there had been a lot of rain recently we opted to avoid the boggy ground and head up the steep path straight up the fellside to the summit of Red Pike. Along the way short showers came and went, but as we reached the summit we were in the mist. From the summit we made our way through the thick mist up to the summit of High Stile. Shortly after High Stile we reached the summit of High Crag, and fortunately we were now under the mist and enjoying good views.
We descended to Scarth Gap where we had some lunch. As we chopped the first bit off of the walk we used the time to climb to the summit of Haystacks. We descended off of Haystacks down the Warnscale path and then back to Buttermere via the lakeshore.
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24 Peaks Challenge
Another fantastic weekend of toughing it out on the 24 Peaks Challenge in 24 Hours.
On Saturday morning I met the group in Buttermere, and after a few minutes of finalising kit we were on our way (8.17am). The start of the challenge is not a kind one as we got straight into the climb by heading up the steep steps leading to Red Pike. We made great progress up this steep climb, despite intentionally taking it easier as to not burn out. After the final scramble we were on the summit of Red Pike after 1 hour and 20 minutes. There was a bit of mist on the Buttermere Fells but there was more over towards Great Gable where we would be heading later.
From Red Pike we followed the ridge and a short climb brought us up to summit number 2, High Stile. From High Stile another ridge walk brought us quickly onto summit 3, High Crag. With 3 summits in the bag within a couple of hours we now had a large descent to deal with. We descended the steep slope of Gamlin End before heading across Scarth Gap. From here we scrambled quickly up the slope to the summit of Haystacks, unfortunately not one of the 24 peaks!
We headed south from Haystacks past Inominate Tarn and weaved our way around the many tarns and outcrops before joining the track that climbs up to the Moses Trod Path. We joined this path for a short while before cutting off to hoin the northern slope of Green Gable. A short drag up into the mist brough us summit number 4, Green Gable. Great Gable soon followed as we headed across windy gap and up over the boulders to its windswept summit. We didnt linger long as we were planning on having Lunch at Styhead pass. We reached Styhead Pass after the knee crunching descent and the break was very well received!
After the break we were back on the ascent and we made our way up the Corridor Route to the summit of Lingmell. We were still climbing really well and focused on now reaching the highest summit in England. The group continued to climb well and after about 20 minutes we were on the summit of Scafell Pike. We were lucky enough to have some views so we took a moment to soak them up before heading onto our next peak. We crossed Broad Crag Col follwed by Broad Crag and Ill Crag before a short ascent brought us up to Great End. We continued with great pace across Esk Hause and summited Esk Pike shortly after. 9 down, 1 to go. We crossed Ore Gap and picked our way through the boulders and onto the summit of Bowfell.
With all of Day 1's peaks done we now just had to descend, and we had 1 hour 30 to get to the bottom to do it in 12 hours. We descended to the Three Tarns before turning east and joining The Band. We walked very quickly down the good path and we got to the bottom at about 12 hours exactly!
The alarm clock went off way too soon on Sunday morning, but we had some unfinished business to attend to, so out of bed we had to get! Unfortunately 3 of the 10 were unable to continue onto day 2 of the challenge.
After meeting in Ambleside at 7am we got our lift to the Kirkstone Pass, a great place to start the second day as its 350m above sea level. However, despite having a head start the first slope up Red Screes was by no means an easy one. We set off and the sun was already breaking through the patchwork of clouds, it was looking like a good day. We actually made amazing progress up this steep slope and we were on the summit after just 35 minutes.
We took a few minutes to have a breather on the summit, but then we made our way across the grassy slopes to Dove Crag. Hart Crag and Fairfield followed soon after. With just over 2 hours gone we were now on the toughest section of the day. We descended down the steep western side of Fairfield before climbing the very steep slope on the side of Seat Sandal. From this summit we had to descend straight away. Back in the col we chose to take the steep runners path up to the summit of Dollywagon Pike, this was hard work, but once again the group climbed well.
We were now onto the easier section of the walk and the summits would start to come much quicker. After Dollywagon Pike we took in Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, White Side and Raise. We had just 3 summits left and we seemed to be walking better than ever. It had been windier across these last few summits, but the sun was starting to come out again. We cracked on to the Dodds, and we had soon taken in Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd and our final summit, Watson's Dodd. We had done it, all we had to do was descend down to the roadside.
We descended down the grassy slope towards Castle Rock, and after passing the rock face we had made it to the roadside. John met us at the bottom and produced some champagne to celebrate our success. We had managed to complete the second day in just 8 hours 20 minutes, brining our total time to 20 hours and 20 minutes! Well done Chaps!!
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Butteremere Walking Weekend
Day 1:
Today our route was to tackle half the Buttermere Fells. After meeting Rob, Karen and Caroline outside the Bridge Hotel in Buttermere we made our way down the footpath that leads to Scale Force Waterfalls. Karen, a fairly new hill walker could not believe the route we were going to do today, as well as not believing she would be able to do it however I knew she was about to be proven very wrong! We contoured around to Scale Force Waterfall, and after a few very pretty pictures we made our way up the hardest ascent of the day. It was on this section we felt a little bit of the days drizzle, but fortunately that was all it was. As we got to just over 500m we got amazing views down to Buttermere and also up to our first summit of the day, Red Pike. We pushed on and tackled the steep flank of Red Pike and were soon enough on top tucking into our sarnies! From here we had breathtaking (not even an exaggeration!) views over to Pillar, the Gables, the Scafells, the Langdales and even through into Keswick.
The next section of the route was undulating and after another short climb we were at the highest point of the day (and weekend) on top of High Stile. We soon pressed on and followed the now narrow ridge line along to High Crag, our final summit of the day. From here we descended the steep slopes and followed the path along to Scarth Gap. On this part of the walk we gained fantastic views of Sundays objective, Haystacks. At this point in time Karen didn't want to think about going up Haystacks, but I am sure after a good nights sleep she will be raring to bag it in the morning! We descended down Scarth Gap to the shores of Buttermere Lake and completed the final couple of kilometers along the lakeside.
Without hesitation we all walked straight into the Beer Garden in the Bridge, and were soon sipping cool drinks and tucking into a bag of Walkers, Crackin'!
Day 2:
This morning I was joined by Rob, Karen and Caroline from yesterdays walk, as well as Neil (Birthday Boy) Michelle, Lynda and Mark. We started from Gatesgarth Farm and the morning was looking bright......200m down the track we were all donning our waterproofs, oh well it was coming anyway! The group climbed the track up to Scarth Gap and soon enough we were facing the final scrambly ascent up to the summit of Haystacks. By now we were feeling stronger gusts of wind and the rain was hammering down. We reached the summit at 11.30 and after a few summit snaps, and a quick happy birthday sing song for Neil we made our way East. We passed Inonimate Tarn, the iconic location where A.W's ashes were scattered. The ground was undulating but we were dropping altitude, and eventually we got fantastic views underneath the cloud and down the valley into Buttermere. I led the group to Dubs Hut, on the flank of Fleetwith Pike, where we were able to eat our lunch under the shelter of a slate building. From here we descended down the path back to Gatesgarth Farm. A thoroughly enjoyable day of which everyone enjoyed!
If these sound like your kind of walks you can join us on The Buttermere Fells Walk, Haystacks or even a whole Buttermere Walking Weekend
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The Buttermere Fells
A great day today above Buttermere, we set of from the Bridge Hotel at 10am and followed the path climbing to Scale Force, most of the ground was frozen so the boggy bits were easily crossed.
From Scale Force we climbed te path by Lingcombe Edge to the summit of Red Pike, there were some great views, although it was a little hazy over the coast today.
From Red Pike we followed the ridge to the summit of High Stile, the highest point of the day before continuing along the ridge to High Crag.
We descended over Gamlin End from High Crag and down the Scarth Gap Path to the Buttermere Lakeshore and back to Buttermere.
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The 24 Peaks in 24 Hours Day 1
A near perfect day in the snow today, we set off from Buttermere just after 8am climbing by Sour Milk Gill onto the summit of Red Pike, a wonderful view over the Solway and out to the Isle Of Man with Ireland just visible beyond!
We followed the ridge east climbing to the summit of High Stile and then onto High Crag, descending the steep slope of Gamlin End and onto Haystacks.
The snow was quite deep in places and much of the usually boggy ground on the southern side of Haystacks was frozen over, progress on this ground was slow but we pressed on to climb to the summit of Brandreth and followed the ridge over Green Gable to climb to the summit of Great Gable, watching a snowboarder on theslopes of Green Gable and a paraglider above our heads on Great Gable. We had lost a lot of time between High Crag and Brandreth so it was decided not to climb Scafell Pike, the boulder fields on Broad Crag and Ill Crag would not much fun in the dark!
Instead we descended to Sty Head and followed the path to Sprinkling Tarn and onto the summit of Seathwaite Fell and then over the Allen Crags, here the sun set and we descended by Angle Tarn to Rossett Pike in the dark and down the Rossett Gill path to Mickledore and the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, for a well earned drink, arriving at the hotel at 7.50pm, 10 summits and a great day on the fells.
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