A great day climbing Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head: A little snow on the summit today but a great day with good views on the way down by Esk Hause and Sty Head.

We didn't expect too much from the weather today as we set off from Wasdale Head to climb Scafell Pike, it was raining pretty heavily as we met at the car park outside the Wasdale Head Inn and the forecast for the day was for rain turning to snow through much of the day.

We pressed on though and it turned out to be well worth it, as we climbed towards Lingmell Breast the rain eased and we were soon climbing the Brown Tongue path with our hoods down.

There were some views back over Wast Water as we climbed the Brown Tongue path and we could see as far as the Irish Sea Coastline near Seascales but there was a blanket of cloud above us and it was still pretty grey.

We were soon up into the cloud and climbing up through Hollow Stones, we opted to take the path up to Mickledore and then up to the summit of Scafell Pike as we were looking for the more interesting option today.

As we climbed up towards Mickledore there were patches of snow beginning to form on the ground, damp snow at first but once we were up at Mickledore it was thicker and colder snow, most enjoyable to walk on.

There wasn't much to see at Mickledore today, we couldn't even see up to Scafell Buttress so we pressed on, past the stretcher box and up over the boulders towards the summit of Scafell Pike.

The snow ranged from a very light dusting in places to about 5 inches in others, it was much more pleasant walking on the snowy sections than the icy rocks though. We were soon up at the summit of Scafell Pike, there was a slight breeze up here today, but nothing like the winds we have been experiencing the last week or so!

We stopped behind the summit platform to have a quick lunch stop and for a few photos, it wasn't long though before we were starting to feel a bit chilly and there was a fairly unanimous decision that we should get moving again before too long, so after a quick chat about our route for the rest of the day we pressed on.

It had been decided that as there was some snow up here on the tops we should try and spend as much time in the snow as possible so we decided to descend north and follow the ridge towards Great End.

The steep path down from Scafell Pike towards Broad Crag Col can be quite treacherous at times with some snow on it but today it was easy enough, just a light covering of snow and no ice to speak of. We were soon down at Broad Crag Col and starting the climb up over Broad Crag.

The boulder field up on top of Broad Crag was a little tricky at times but we were soon across Broad Crag and climbing up onto the flat summit plateau of Ill Crag.

We were still in cloud so opted not to climb to the summit of Great End today with out the view, instead we descended through Calf Cove and down to Esk Hause.

As we dropped down below Esk Hause the clouds started to break and we were rewarded with some wonderful views to the north over Borrowdale to Keswick and Skiddaw and as we walked below Great End the clouds lifted off the crags above us.

There were still clouds on Great Gable ahead of us as we dropped down from Sprinkling Tarn towards Sty Head but there were some good views down into Wasdale with the Wasdale HEad in in sunshine below us.

We took the path down from the stretcher box at Sty Head below Kern Knotts taking the gentle slope down towards Burnthwaite Farm and the Wasdale Valley.

As we crossed the flank of Great Gable there were some great views, along the Wasdale Valley over Wastwater to the Irish Sea and even a good view of the Isle of an in the distance, not what we had expected when we set off in the rain this morning!

We were soon down at Burnthwaite Farm and following the path back alongside Fogmire Beck to the Wasdale Head Inn. A great day on Scafell Pike.