Holme Fell

Tuesday 22nd December 2009

I had planned to start this holiday the day before this, but bad weather forced me to cancel my overnight accommodation and stay at home slowly getting frustrated by my inaction. When I could not stand being cooped up at home any longer I set off up the M6 with rather poor road conditions and braved snow on the Lakeland roads. Because of the snow I decided that I would just do a small fell, but still a Wainwright that I'd never done before. Holme Fell is just over a thousand feet high and is the fell that I missed out on my way to Coniston in May 2008. Now I would be able to correct that in quite spectacular weather.

Parking near Yew Tree Farm I approached the National Trust farm taking a path nearby that climbs to the right of the farm and heads towards Harry Guards Wood. Walking through soft unmarked snow I followed a clear path (even in the snow) into the woodland. It was very tiring walking through snow that was so deep I had to lift my feet high taking every step carefully toe first making sure of my footing each time. As I approached the wood I saw prints in the snow that didn’t appear to be made by feet. On closer examination I decided they must have been made by cows, which indeed they proved to be as soon after I entered the wood I came across a small herd of long-haired cows. After a lovely walk through the snow-laden wood I came to the bottom of the key to my ascent at Holme Fell: the Uskdale Gap, which I climbed right up to the top of the fell where I was greeted by stunning views of the Langdale Pikes and Wetherlam. Unfortunately these views quickly disappeared in the mist as I made my way across the undulating top to the cairn at the top of Ivy Crag before proceeding to the summit. As mist enveloped around me it started snowing, almost creating potentially dangerous white out conditions, which forced me to stop and check the map reference before carefully, slowly making my way up to the summit where I had my lunch. By the time I had finished eating the mist had cleared and as I made my way back to the top of the Uskdale Gap the sun had briefly come out. Leaving the stunning views of the surrounding fells behind me, I quickly dropped down the hill beside the Uskdale stream back into the enchanting woodland following my own footprints through Harry Guards Wood back to my car as it started to snow once again.

The snow on this walk was a good couple of inches deep, but since it was nice and soft I don’t think crampons were ever necessary. I have decided that I’ll probably not get any crampons as I intend to stay away from terrain that requires them. I learnt last year when they were necessary and after giving it a lot of thought I’ve decided that I don’t want to go into full winter walking. Unfortunately when I booked this holiday in the Lake District I didn't know the weather would be this poor (it is unusual to have a lot of snow in the Lake District as early as this in the season). During my holiday I stayed on the lower grassier fells that fortunately I haven’t been up before. This walk was quite simple, a short up and back down the same way, but the snow and general poor weather added an enormous complication to the walk that made it quite difficult and challenging as I constantly took care with every step. Nevertheless I quite enjoyed it.