A great day climbing Scafell Pike today. The 2nd of November and we are still getting amazing weather on the fells which is giving us some fantastic views!
I met Joanna at Seathwaite Farm and we were keen to get on our way up the flat track to Stockley Bridge. We climbed over to Styhead Gill past Taylorgill Force and continued to make our way up to Styhead Tarn. From here we could see the mist was just covering the tops of Lingmell and Great End, but then sun was poking through the clouds to provide the most dramtic of views. We made our way along the corridor route, which was nicely sheltered from the wind that we had previously been experiencing. We were soon at Lingmell Col ready to climb the final ascent to the summit of Scafell Pike. It was only half way up this ascent we saw our first fellow hillwalker of the day! We felt there was a party somewhere that we hadn't been invited to! :( haha. We got to the summit and were hit by some strong winds coming from the East, so after a few snaps next to the summit trig point we headed for the shelter. Amazingly it didn't feel quite as cold up there as it has done the last few trips, so our lunch stop was slightly longer than the 5 minute 'gobble and go', and we actually had a whole 15 minutes before we felt we should warm up again. We made a quick descent off the Pike and onto Broad Crag where we saw our second person of the day. Unfortunately this person was temporarily mis-placed (lost) and they needed a little guidance back to where they needed to be. After navigating the boulders of Broad Crag and Ill Crag we were soon down out of the mist at Esk Hause, where we were now getting fantastic views over towards Bowfell and the Crinkles, The Langdale Pikes, and down into Borrowdale. We waved off our lost welshman and continued on our path down to Grains Gill. We had another tea stop at the head of the valley again admiring the views and putting the world to rights before starting this final descent. We got back to Seathwaite Farm and had both had a very enjoyable day. Crackin'! Written by Matt Burt
