Nethermost Pike and High Raise

Wednesday 8th April 2015

At the start of this day I walked back along Grisedale taking the path on the northern side of the valley because I had walked along the other side at the end of the previous day. My aim at the start of this walk was to climb Nethermost Pike and for that I needed to branch off this path and onto a path that climbs towards Nethermost Cove. I was anticipating this junction for a long time, throughout my walk along the valley, so upon the slightest hint of a path I climbed steeply up the hillside to a stile over a wall, but this was clearly the wrong way. The latest, Walkers Edition, of Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides has detailed instructions on the location of the junction, but this was no help to me as that version of Wainwright’s guides had only just been published and I hadn’t had an opportunity to consult it. A high-level traverse through dead bracken brought me to the groove that is the path up to Nethermost Cove, and although the path seemed little used it was well-engineered with zigzags up the steep hillside to spectacular waterfalls in Nethermostcove Beck.

After crossing the stream I climbed grassy slopes to the foot of the ridge up Nethermost Pike, which is a climb that I have been hoping to do for a very long time, probably ever since I first read the Wainwright guide to the Eastern Fells. I have been thwarted on a number of occasions when I’d planned to climb the east ridge, but had to change my plans due to bad weather. That was not a problem on this walk as the good weather that I had been blessed with all week continued throughout the morning with gorgeous sunshine as I walked along the broad, grassy ridge with stunning views down Grisedale behind me and enticing views before me of the east ridge and the crags that surround Nethermost Pike drawing me on. When the gradient steepened significantly at the foot of the fearsome-looking east ridge a path appeared up the steep ridge on an exciting scramble to the top of the peak that must surely have given this fell its name.

Upon triumphantly reaching the top of the east ridge of Nethermost Pike I rejoined the Derwent-Eden watershed that I had been following throughout this holiday, however on the next fell along the ridge, Dollywaggon Pike, the watersheds for the River Derwent and the River Eden part company. The Eden watershed goes around Grisedale Tarn and up over Fairfield on its way to the Kirkstone Pass whereas the Derwent watershed descends over Willie Wife Moor to Dunmail Raise. I had decided that I was going to follow the Derwent watershed so I came off the main path and dropped steeply down Willie Wife Moor, which was really rather boggy. I didn’t fancy staying on the moor all the way down so I eventually descended to Raise Beck where I joined a clear path down to Dunmail Raise. A better route would have been to have taken the zigzags to Grisedale Tarn and from there taken the Raise Beck path all the way down to Dunmail Raise.

This was the first time that I had been on the path beside Raise Beck and although in places it seemed to be heavily manufactured, in other places it seemed to be completely disintegrating, almost as if the path had been poorly made. It is a very rough path, especially in descent, so I was relieved when it eventually brought me down to Dunmail Raise where the main road between the Northern Lakes and the Southern Lakes passes. Beyond the pass is an unrelentingly steep slope with no path and nothing of interest. This climb was a torture so that it was with great relief when I reached the top and staggered over to a nearby rock where I collapsed and after slowly recovering, I had my lunch. When I was thoroughly refreshed I made my way up to the summit of Steel Fell and from there along the ridge to Calf Crag.

While traversing along this ridge I realised that all my previous visits on this ridge had been in winter and invariably with snow on the ground. Initially it is an enjoyable, undulating ridge but eventually descends into a broad bog and an unsatisfying squelch all the way along the rest of the ridge until the ground eventually begins to rise to the popular fell of Calf Crag on the popular Helm Crag ridge. I didn’t linger at the top but turned right along the ridge following the path to the top of Far Easedale where I took the route less trodden. On my very first visit, in 2002, to the Lake District, after traversing the Helm Crag ridge in bad weather, I managed to find my way up the hillside towards High Raise. Ever since I have wanted to do that climb again in better weather and since the climb lies on the watershed I now had my opportunity. There was only a faint path, but it passes through absolutely stunning scenery made even more delectable by being rarely visited.

The gloomy, overcast skies that had come over in the afternoon failed to dampen my enthusiasm for this entrancing route up an otherwise uninteresting fell. Old fence posts lay on my route but they were too sparse to be a sure guide, but they did eventually bring me to the top of the peak marked on maps as Codale Head. Sergeant Man lay a short distance away, but I turned my eyes west following the fence posts towards High Raise. These posts led me to the track that I’d found in bad weather, in 2002, when climbing this route for the first time. On that occasion I’d turned left towards Sergeant Man, but now I turned right and walked all the way up to the broad top of High Raise. There I left the watershed behind and headed north past Low White Stones on poorly maintained paths to Greenup Edge, where an even worse path crossed the pass. The only time that I had previously been across the deceptively named Greenup Edge was New Year’s Eve 2012, in bad weather, but even in better weather the boggy plateau was not a pleasure to cross.

At Lining Crag a better path appeared, but by then I’d already had enough and didn’t enjoy my walk down the path to Borrowdale, even though I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t enjoying the descent. The walk down from Greenup Edge seemed to go on for a long time so it gave me plenty of time to reflect on this walk. Even though I had accomplished two long desired climbs I felt dissatisfied. The climb up Nethermost Pike wasn’t as good as the long wait had demanded with the only really good bit being on the short, sharp east ridge. The weather had deteriorated, but that hadn’t prevented me from enjoying the climb up from Far Easedale Head, though the distant views were now hazy. I may not be keen on climbing the east ridge of Nethermost Pike again, but I would definitely want to explore the uncharted territory east of High Raise again. After this tough, tiring walk maybe it was the eight blisters that I counted on my feet that was the actual cause of my problems.