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Winter Mountaineering - 11th - 14th February 2000

In preparation for the Venture Scout district trip at the end of February myself and Alan Howard decided to take a trip up to the Lake District in order to test out our fitness, check that our kit was all OK and enjoy some time on the mountains before the responsibility of leading groups.

A minor crisis at work resulted in me being delayed. We left Henley far later that planned, whilst this was a unfortunate as we both knew that we would not get there until late it had the benefit that we mould miss the worse of the weekend traffic. We stopped at a nice pub in Warwick for supper and then continued on to the Langdale climbing hut.

We arrived at the hut to a downpour which did not bode well for the rest of the weekend. The hut was cold as it had not been used for a while and of course the heating was off. Nevermind I was so tired that I unpacked my sleeping bed and was asleep within minutes.

 

Saturday

Saturday I awoke refreshed and ready to tackle a mountain. The rain was easing off and by the time we'd finished breakfast had stopped all together and the sun was starting to shine. Julian Cooper, a long standing friend of Alans, joined us for the day. He's local so we were hoping that he'd be able to help us find some snow.

It was decided that we would drive down to the Old Dungeon Gill hotel where we departed towards Great Gable. The path was long and relatively flat. A nice way to start the day. A good way to get used to my plastic boots again. It seems like ages since I last wore them. The best thing about plastic boots is that you can walk all day in the rain, through puddles and not get your feet wet. A major bonus when in the Lakes.

There was a good but steep climb up. Alan was starting to feel the effects of a couple of months rest after his trekking in Nepal. On reaching the top the wind was really blowing. Windsurfing weather but of course I did not have my board at the top of the mountain! We carried on to one of the gullies leading to the summit which we investigate. With plenty of snow it would have been an excellent climb, but with thin ice and lots of water running down the rocks we abandoned after a few pitches. It was climbable but would have been wet, cold and hard work. We decided that with the time available we ought to start heading back.

 As it was the climb back down took us until almost dusk. But still allowed for a beer in the hotel before returning to the hut, and then onto Ambleside for supper in an excellent Italian.

Sunday

Sunday we drove via Ambleside to the Dunmail Raise pass. From there we climbed the Raise Beck path, past the waterfalls to Grisdale Tarn. The snow was in evidence around the tops of the mountains. Enough to look good in the mid-day sunshine, but not enough to climb. We skirted around the edge of the tarn and started the climb up to the top of Fairfield. The path got steeper and steeper with the amount of snow increasing. It seemed a good idea to get out the ice axe, if for no other reason than to help reduce the load on my knee which was suffering from the hard work that it was being asked to do. I think that the combination of uneven ground and plastic boots were forcing to be twisted in angles that it has not had to cope with for a few years.

It was still nice to have the ice axe in my hand as we reached the steepest part of the track, with the quite solid snow underneath. The summit was reached at lunchtime. The views were excellent with miles of visibility in every direction. The wind was however biting and as no shelter could be found on the top we decided to climb down a little before starting on our feasts.

The thought of returning the same way was not appealing so we headed towards St. Sunday Crag taking the opportunity to assess the gullies around Helvellyn and Nethermost Pike. There looked to be a good amount of sold old snow in them. With some luck there will be snow more snow and freezing weather over the next couple of weeks consolidating the small base already there.

The climb down was easy as we cut back on a path leading to the Tarn. My knee was starting to ache and I know that I'll have to do a bit of work in the gym over the next couple of weeks to strengthen the muscles around it. The climb back down took about the same time as the climb up, and we arrived back at the van in time for a quick pit stop at the local pub before embarking on our trip back to Henley.

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