The day dawned bright but with a little more cloud than of late, keeping the temperatures down in single figures for the first part of the morning for our ascent of Great Gable from Seathwaite.
It was obvious however, on arriving at Seathwaite Farm that the drop in temperature had not dampened the spirits of the swathes of Lakeland walkers, with their hearts set on some lofty summit or another. The popularity of this unassuming farm come campsite as a good starting point for many of the higher fells ensured that parking was not an easy business, but after a few minutes of driving up and down the busy lane, I soon managed to find a spot big enough to shoe-horn in the little red Corsa.
After meeting the small party of 3 would-be summiteers we were soon on our way, making good time up towards Stockley Bridge and the beautiful cascade of Taylor Gill Force beyond.
The steady climb up past Taylor Gill is the first bit of 'up' for many of the walks out of Seathwaite and serves as a good marker for the pace of the day. After finding out that 2 of the party had already summited Scafell Pike from 2 separate routes on the 2 days previous, I was surprised at how quickly we dealt with this ascent and within the hour, we were well on our way to Sty Head tarn and the start of the steep ascent of Great Gables South East ridge.
The ever changing faces of the Lake District never fail to inspire me and as we began our ascent from Sty Head, where just 24 hours earlier a clear view of the Scafell Massif could have been enjoyed, a deep grey veil of cloud now hung, masking the higher tops. Occasionally, we were treated to a glimpse into the high mountainscape beyond, as the cloud swirled angrily around the snowy ramparts of Broad Crag and Lingmell.
As we ascended, the wind increased causing our pace to slow but before long the ridge began to ease in gradient and after a few more minutes of picking our way across the boulder strewn top, we arrived at the summit cairn just after 12 noon.
Although the view was none existent at first, we settled down behind a rock for a quick bite to eat and some clothing adjustments in preparation for the next leg of the journey. I love days like this on the fells because you know that with the strong wind pushing the cloud, there is always a chance that a momentary window will open, giving way to a beautiful moody panorama into the valley below and after being sat for perhaps 5 minutes, we were treated to just that.
Great Gable is such a prominent summit the views are truly awe inspiring and although quite fleeting, the moody sight of the cloud shrouded cliffs cascading down into Wasdale to the South, and Ennerdale the Northwest did not disappoint.
With the wind chill numbing the fingers, it wasn't long until we were on our way down the rocky path into Wind Gap which, contrary to its name sake, offered a welcome respite from wind, and the steady march up to the summit of Green Gable soon warmed us through.
Now below the cloud we took a moment to look back at the intimidating silhouette of Gable Crag disappearing up into the foreboding cloud, before turning tail and making for the third and final summit of the day, Base Brown.
By the time we had reached the summit of Base Brown, we were bathed in glorious sunshine and having taken a moment in a touch of drizzle, minutes earlier to put on my new waterproof trousers, partly to try them out and partly because I was convinced it was going to rain, I was slowly steaming inside my Gore-tex suit.
Instead of taking them off however, I decided to continue on, thinking that this would serve as a good breath-ability test and by the time we had made it down to the top of Sour Milk Gill I was well and truly roasted (but dry)
After a short scramble down the Gill and the obligatory photo stops along the way we arrived back into a very Summery Seathwaite just after 2pm.
A more diverse day its hard imagine, with smiles all round and a new route record to boot. Whats more I got to try out my new over-trousers, sort of, and at least from a breath-ability perspective I am more than satisfied. Thanks Haglofs.
