Above Mardale
July 21st, 2011A great day above Mardale Head today, we set off from the Mardale Head car park and followed the lakeshore east a short way to meet the ‘Old Corpse Road’ above Rowantreethwaite Beck to meet the grassy path climbing to the summit of Selside Pike.
From Selside Pike we followed the fence-line west climbing to the cairns on Artlecrag Pike before reaching the summit of Branstree.
We descendded south from Branstree over Selside Brow and after a short lunch stop we continued to follow the ridge south over Tarn Crag to Grey Crag, this section of the walk was a little boggy underfoot, but we reached the fine viewpoint of Grey Crag.
After a short stop at the summit of Grey Crag, we returned north, skirting around the summit of Tarn Crag and crossing to Gatesgarth Pass before descending back to Mardale Head.
Easdale
July 20th, 2011A good short day above Grasmere today with a school geography trip. From Grasmere we climbed by Sour Milk Gill to Easdale Tarn before descending to Far Easdale and following the valley back to Grasmere.
Blencathra
July 19th, 2011A good day on Blencathra today, a few showers persisted as we climbed the Halls Fell ridge, making the slate ridge quite slippery in places as we climbed to the summit of Blencathra.
From Blencathra we followed the ridge west, stopping for lunch near the top of the Gategill Fell ridge before descending over Blease Fell back to Threlkeld.
The 3 Peaks Challenge
July 17th, 2011A very wet weekend on the 3 Peaks Challenge today, some of the worst weather I have ever faced on the 3 Peaks.
We set off from Glen Nevis at just after 5pm, for the first few minutes we were not wearing waterproofs, this would be the only time for the entire weekend we wouldn’t be in quite heavy rain.
From ten minutes in tough the rain started, very heavy at times as we climbed in good time to the summit of Ben Nevis, making good time we reached the summit and descended in just under 4h 30m.
After getting into some dry clothes and collecting our food we were on our way to the Lake District, the weather on the journey was horrendous, and we reached Wasdale a little behind schedule, but we made good time, climbing to the summit of Scafell Pike in 1h40m and descending quickly to make an overall time of 3h10m.
A good journey south from the Lake District to Wales gave us a good chance of completing the challenge, we reached Pen-Y-Pass with 3h 50m remaining of our 24 hours, although by now we had by far the worst weather of the weekend, now very wet and windy, good time was made on the way up, reaching the summit in 1h 50m leaving us 2 hours to get pack to the pass, brilliant.
We all reached the pass, the last man in with 20 minutes to spare, wet and bedraggled, but considering the conditions throughout the weekend rightly pleased with their achievement.
Rock Climbing – Wodens Face
July 15th, 2011A good short session climbing on Wodens Face in the Borrowdale Valley.
We climbed a few good short routes on the right hand face of the crag including Wodens Cheek.
Lingmoor Fell Navigation Training
July 12th, 2011Another good day today with a Navigation Training course, this time on Lingmoor Fell.
We ran several navigation exercises across the southern slopes of Lingmoor Fell to Busk Pike before climbing to the summit here we stopped for lunch before a long loop around Lingmoor Tarn and back over the main ridge brought us down to the Little Langdale Valley and the path back to Elterwater.
Silver How Navigation Training
July 11th, 2011A great day on the Silver How ridge today with a Navigation Training course.
Setting of from Elterwater at 10am we climbed onto theridge above High Close and followed the ridge over Dow Bank to Silver How, running several navigation excercises on the way to the summit.
After lunch we continued along the ridge past Swineside Pike before descending to Chapel Stile and following the river back to Elterwater.
Helvellyn & Striding Edge
July 10th, 2011A near perfect day on Helvellyn and Striding Edge today, we set off from Glenridding at 10am and climbed by Lanty’s Tarn, following the wall up onto Birkhouse Moor making good time.
From Birkhouse Moor we followed the ridge, past the ‘hole in the wall’ to High Spying How and the start of Striding Edge. The conditions on Striding Edge were perfect, dry sunny weather with barely a breeze. We made good time crossing the ridge and climbed to the summit of Helvellyn, reaching the wind shelter just before 12.30.
After lunch we descended Swirral Edge climbing to the summit of Catstycam before descending down to the Greenside Mines path back to Glenridding.
Lingmoor Fell Navigation Training
July 9th, 2011Another good day on Lingmoor Fell today, this time on a Navigation Training day.
We climbed from Elterwater and ran several navigation exercises on the way to the summit of Lingmoor Fell where we stopped for lunch before descending to Lingmoor Tarn and then making our way down to Little Langdale and back to Elterwater.
Harter Fell
July 8th, 2011A good day above Eskdale today with mixed weather.
We climbed from Eskdale, picking a fairly direct route to the summit of Green Crag, the weather held out for us as we reached the summit of Green Crag in good time and had were well on the climb towards the summit of Harter Fell before the rain hit us although it was not as bad as we had been expecting, about half an hour of light rain as we climbed to the summit of Harter Fell.
We stopped in the shelter o the summit rock to eat our packed lunched and as we ate the weather cleared giving us good views all around.
From the summit of Hater Fell we descended to Hardknott Pass climbing over Border End to the summit of Hard Knott, as we reached the summit rain blew in over the Duddon Valley catching us, and there was a roll of thunder not too far away, we descended quickly back to the pass and down towards the Eskdale Valley.
As we descended to the Hardknott Fort the rain stopped and the weather cleared drying off completely as we descended back to Eskdale.
