Whiteside

Friday 5th April 2013

The problem I had with this holiday was that when I was originally planning it I’d anticipated walking over lots of high fells but the snow that lingered on the tops prevented me from climbing that high. For my New Year holiday I’d deliberately planned low level walks anticipating that snow and bad weather would put the high fells out of bounds; I hadn’t anticipated getting wintry conditions like that at Easter. A lot of my planned walks were shelved and I was having difficulty coming up with a good alternative, partly because where I was staying lent itself best to high level and not low level walks. This walk was particularly affected by this problem, which resulted in a bit of a messy day. For a long time I’ve had a desire to do Wainwright’s ascent of Grasmoor from Lanthwaite Green direct, which is a climb that Wainwright describes as being “probably less difficult than the North Wall of the Eiger”. The challenge of this difficult climb has been almost irresistible, but I would really need good weather for it and I’ve never been able to get it. I’d wanted to do this climb two years ago until the weather intervened and now once again I was unable to do it.

Still unsure whether I was actually going to do the ascent, despite strong winds and snow, I tried to put off my decision as long as possible, so I started the walk by going back across to Scales and following the path alongside the shore of Crummock Water below Mellbreak. I had taken this path back in 2002 after descending Whiteside and never taken it since, and despite overcast skies I had an enjoyable, relaxing walk to the northern tip of Crummock Water and Lanthwaite Green. There I had to make my decision and almost started the ascent of Grasmoor, but in the end common sense prevailed and instead I climbed the fell to the north of the Gasgale Gill valley, Whiteside. This was an excellent idea and I had a thoroughly satisfying climb up the steep fellside through heather up to Whin Ben before a steep rock-covered climb brought me up to the top of Whiteside. Due to the strong winds that I found at the summit I sought shelter in the lea of the fell and had my lunch while looking out across Lorton Vale towards Crummock Water and Loweswater.

I had now decided that I would repeat my walk of 2002, so after lunch I set off over Wainwright’s top and then over the actual highest point on the fell towards Hopegill Head. But I was becoming worried as I’d just remembered that the ridge narrows precipitously before reaching Hopegill Head and it was very windy with a generous helping of snow on that exposed ridge. Conditions got worse after the summit with a strong, cold crosswind that in the end made me decide that it was better to stay alive and be disappointed than be dead and break my mother’s heart. Perhaps it wasn’t that melodramatic, but I decided that the conditions didn’t warrant going on, so I turned around and headed back to Wainwright’s top and began to descend the steep stony path back to Lanthwaite Green. I may have been over-reacting, but I can easily come back another day and do that ridge in better weather; I may not have been able to if I’d injured myself or worse.

When I was back down near Lanthwaite Green I was left with another decision to make: where do I go now? Picking up tracks in the gentle slopes below the western face of Grasmoor, I slowly made my way into Rannerdale taking paths that I must have previously taken in 2009 after coming down from Coledale Hause. The difference in the weather in Rannerdale compared with at the top of Whiteside was astonishing as now the sun was shining, there was no wind, and it felt like a warm spring day. It felt like a completely different world to the inhospitable conditions that I had encountered on top of the ridge. Here, the lower slopes of the fell were covered in day-trippers who had just gotten out of their cars and were strolling through the bracken in the picturesque valley. When I was in Rannerdale two years ago the place was awash with bluebells, but now due to the late winter and early Easter the hillside was bare.

Rannderale Knotts lay ahead of me and I considered climbing it, but in the end I decided to follow the Rannerdale Beck along a very faint path beside the stream into the deeply cut valley. The faint path eventually disappeared and the terrain became so rough that it became very difficult to find a way up the valley. I could have continued to battle on up the valley, but in the end I decided to give up, again, and climb the steep eastern slopes to Saddle Gate. This was a tiring climb up dreary grassy slopes, but not as prolonged as I’d feared and eventually I managed to reach the ridge of Whiteless Edge. The conditions on this ridge were completely different to those I’d found on the Whiteside ridge as here there was no snow or a strong crosswind. Not far from where I’d joined the ridge was Whiteless Pike, so it wasn’t long before I was at the top of my second fell of the day and looking out at the awesome views across Buttermere towards the High Stile ridge and beyond to the snow-capped Scafell Pikes.

These views completely justified the effort in my unorthodox route of ascent and stayed ahead of me as I slowly strolled down the gloriously engineered path that cunningly snakes down the hillside. I have descended this path many times before, but I think I’ve only ever climbed it once, on that 2002 walk that I’ve already mentioned several times. I can’t really complain about this walk, despite the weather not being at its best. The main problem was my planning of the walk as I’d spent so much effort on deciding whether the direct ascent of Grasmoor was possible that I’d failed to consider whether the Whiteside ridge would be crossable. I had been trying to do a walk that I hadn’t done before and in that I think I succeeded: I climbed Whiteside, and I climbed Whiteless Pike from Rannerdale, both of which I’d never done before.

Red Pike

Thursday 4th April 2013

After the fabulous weather of the day before it was now cloudy with a very strong, cold wind that made the walking unpleasant and not particularly enjoyable. Throughout this week there has been a strong, cold wind on the highest summits, but now that wind was at all levels and without the sunshine that I’d been enjoying earlier in the week. To start the walk I decided that instead of going straight up Red Pike I would climb Starling Dodd first, which lies directly north of the Ennerdale Youth Hostel, straight up the hillside. However, someone has put the Ennerdale Forest in the way, which restrict the routes that one can take onto the fells from the bottom of the valley. Wainwright didn’t recommend any route up Starling Dodd from Ennerdale because of “the lower slopes being entirely planted and fenced for forestry purposes,” however Chris Jesty’s revision mentions two routes, the zigzag forest road and the gap between the plantations. The forest road didn’t appeal to me so I tried the gap.

This is the only break in the trees between Bowness and Scarth Gap on the north side of the valley, left to provide a route for sheep to be brought down off the fells, but it is a dull route of ascent for Red Pike. Consequently I’d never taken this path before, but that just made me more interested in taking this route now, and what I found was perhaps a hint of what Ennerdale looked like before the trees were planted, bracken-covered and with the remains of old stone enclosures. Since my target was Starling Dodd, after crossing a fence I turned off the Red Pike path and, going around the corner of the plantation, made my way across the slopes of Starling Dodd. The previous day, from the far side of the valley, I had seen what looked like a clear path across the face of the fell that would provide me with an easy route of ascent, but on the ground I found no such path. At first I found a sheep trod that looked promising but this led to a steep scree slope and left me with a nightmare climb clinging to heather and clambering up boulders.

When I had eventually managed to get past the nightmare I was near the top of Starling Dodd and being assaulted by strong winds that had been hiding during my ascent. The wind continued to attack me for the rest of the walk up Starling Dodd and across the wide grassy plain to the foot of Red Pike. After going around the snow drift below the summit of Red Pike, I finally reached the top, but despite the sun briefly coming out the wind was so strong up there I didn’t fancy lingering and I certainly didn’t want to continue along the exposed High Stile ridge. Instead, I turned around and slithered down the snow drift back onto the broad, grassy, western slopes where I followed a path not far, but far enough away from Lingcomb Edge while steeling glimpses over the edge at Red Pike and down into Ling Comb. The path takes a perilous route beside the edge at the top of a steep drop that would have been suicide to follow with the strong winds that kept trying to blow me over, so I stayed a safe distance from the path and the edge as I slowly made my way down towards Scale Force.

Back in 2002 I’d originally planned to descend Red Pike by this route, but ultimately took the Bleaberry Tarn route because of time, and subsequently I have never been on this path. But I won’t be keen on doing it again as I had a horrendous time on a narrow path that just got steeper and steeper with patches of ice and the strong wind that constantly made me feel like was going to fall down the steep hillside. I was cursing the path, the ice and the wind as I really thought I was in danger of breaking my neck, so I was greatly relieved to finally get down to the bottom not far from Scale Force. There are easier routes down the hillside that veer away from the edge to Scale Beck, but I hadn’t taken it. In better weather, in ascent, I might have loved this path, but I don’t like steep descents and the wind and ice just made things feel lethal, though it probably felt worse than it actually was. Eventually I reached the deeply enclosed waterfall of Scale Force where I had my lunch.

After a morning to forget and my plans for the day in tatters, I was left wondering what to do for the rest of the day. In the end I decided to do a walk over Mellbreak so I joined the Floutern pass path for a while before crossing Black Beck and passed through bleak Mosedale where a solitary holly tree adds to the desolation. I actually thought the valley was quiet and tranquil and I enjoyed my walk around the western slopes of Mellbreak to the northern end not far from the village of Loweswater. Wainwright said Mellbreak should always be climbed from Loweswater, so that is what I did, on a brilliant path that climbs the steep craggy slopes of White Crag. This is an ingeniously designed path, cunningly weaving a course up the crags through the heather and is an absolute joy to follow. This fabulous climb more than made up for my anguish while climbing Starling Dodd or descending Red Pike.

All too soon I reached the cairn at the top of Mellbreak, but not the summit as Mellbreak is made up of two tops with the better, craggier northern top actually being the smaller of the two. The broader, grassier, southern top is slightly higher, thus proving that there is no justice in the world. Nevertheless I really enjoyed my stroll along the ridge between the two tops, despite a strong wind and grassy slopes on the south top, partly because of the awesome view ahead of me towards the fells that surround Buttermere, decorated in wintery splendour. On the descent, I followed the clearest route off the fell eventually reaching the Mosedale path near Black Beck and with the sun finally coming out I followed this delightful path across Scale Beck and on to Buttermere. There were a lot of negatives in the first half of this walk, but from start to finish my walk after lunch through Mosedale and over Mellbreak was thoroughly enjoyable.

Haycock

Wednesday 3rd April 2013

My holiday in the Lake District was rather frustrating as I was unable to do the walks that I had planned due to the snow, but what I had instead was amazingly sunny weather almost every day. I came back from the Lake District with a suntan that made people ask where I’d been for my holidays. They were very surprised when I told them. The weather on this walk was probably the best with wall to wall sunshine and great views across the Lake District and beyond all day. The walk started from the Ennerdale Youth Hostel without a cloud in the sky as I crossed the valley and up the tongue between Silvercove Beck and Deep Gill. I had previously taken this excellent route back in 2005 and I had no hesitation in taking it again as it is easily the best route up to the ridge south of Ennerdale. In 2005 I had turned right at the top of the ridge to visit Caw Fell so this time I turned left towards Haycock. There had been no snow on the ascent, but there was quite a bit of snow around Haycock and particularly on the sheltered rocks of Little Gowder Crag.

This small outcrop lies between Haycock and the point where I’d reached the ridge and blocked my path. I could have gone around Little Gowder Crag and this would have been the sensible, safer option in order to avoid deep, compacted snow, but instead I thought I’d try my hand at a bit of mountaineering, albeit on a tiny, almost insignificant scale. It was tricky but fun as I made my way up the hard snow, digging in with my boot to create steps in the not particularly steep snow. Anyone else would scoff at my playing in the snow but I was excited by my courageous efforts to scale this mountain that was actually a small crag. There was very little actual danger in what I was doing, but it was fun to pretend otherwise and it wasn’t long before I passed over Little Gowder Crag and was up at the top of Haycock.

It was very windy at the top of Haycock with a harsh, cold easterly, but the views beyond the top over Scoat Fell and towards the Scafell Pikes were stunning in the cold, clear air. However, I didn’t want to stay at the top exposed to the cold wind for very long so I carefully made my way back down the snow-covered slopes and around Little Gowder Crag following the wall that lies along the top of the ridge over to the top of Caw Fell. This is a vast fell that Wainwright describes as being “a rolling upland of modest height, predominantly grass-covered, and of mainly easy gradients.” I had left the snow of Haycock behind me now and the wide grassy slopes of Caw Fell were completely clear of snow so I had an untroubled and carefree walk across the open fell surrounded by bright sunshine and clear views all the way towards the coast.

The highest point on the fell is in the north-eastern corner not far from the wall that I was following, and beyond that the wall takes a sharp right turn whereas I continued straight on past a shelter to a cairn that afforded me with wide-reaching views across the West Cumbrian coastland, and there I stopped to have my lunch with the views stretching across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and beyond. Returning to the wall, I followed it down a slope and over a fell that Wainwright doesn’t recognize as being a separate fell and really doesn’t warrant such a title as it is only a grassy mound above the small Iron Crag. I had a long distance to cover across this vast fell, but the gradients were easy with grass underfoot that made for easy, relaxing walking. There is a cairn at the top of the mound, above Iron Crag, but getting to it wasn’t easy as the only way across the wall was through a gate that was blocked by a drift of snow.

The long slopes led me to a conifer plantation that was soon crossed and a short climb led me up to the top of Crag Fell, a fell that I have visited several times before, but always at Christmas. The first time I climbed Crag Fell I tried to take a route past the Crag Fell pinnacles, but made a mess of it due to the snow. Now I tried to do the route in descent joining an interesting little path that follows a precipitous route across the steep hillside high above Ennerdale Water. The path isn’t in very good condition, crumbling away in places, and is very narrow which made the walk tricky but exciting as a result. The latest version of Wainwright’s guide recommends taking a higher path above the pinnacles just below Revelin Crag, but I probably wouldn’t have found it as exciting.

This path took me to the top of wind-swept Anglers' Crag where I took the path that drops steeply down to the shore of Ennerdale Water and the excellent path below Anglers' Crag around Robin Hood's Chair. that cleverly tackles the craggy terrain falling precipitously from the top of the crag down to the lakeshore. This is on the Coast-to-Coast route so must be a great introduction to the delights of the Lake District for those making their way from the west coast of Cumbria all the way across Northern England to the east coast of Yorkshire. After passing Robin Hood’s Chair, the walk settled into a pleasant stroll beside the lake on a lovely path that leads all the way into Ennerdale and back to the youth hostel. This was a nice little walk but nothing more as the snow on this holiday stopped me from doing great mountain walks up the high fells like Pillar or Great Gable and forced me to explore areas of the Lake District that I wouldn’t otherwise have visited.

Green Gable

Tuesday 2nd April 2013

On this walk all I needed to do was go to Ennerdale where I was booked in at the youth hostel, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there, which was not unusual on this holiday because of heavy snow that remained on the high fells. However, I always knew how I was going to start, in this case by walking up beside Sourmilk Gill from Seathwaite. From the Borrowdale Youth Hostel I walked along a fun, little path beside the River Derwent (despite a lot of erosion of the riverbank), and along a handy off-road route to Seathwaite, the start of many great walks in the Lake District. From there I climbed beside Sourmilk Gill on a steep path that I’d used only once before, in descent and ever since I’ve wanted to return: I wasn’t disappointed. I had excellent views of the surrounding fells as the path steeply climbs the rocky hillside and up a lovely rock step until eventually the gradient levelled after a waterfall that was heavy with icicles. The path led me into the hidden valley of Gillercomb with the Hanging Stone lying precariously half way up the side of Base Brown. I came down from Base Brown in 2006 and now I considered climbing past the Hanging Stone to the top, but eventually I decided to stay in Gillercomb due to the unknown quantities of snow that I would find.

Staying on the path, I weaved a course through the tranquil hanging valley of Gillercomb until I reached the end where a heavy bank of snow blocked my route up to the ridge. With enormous care I climbed through the snow bank following the footsteps of my predecessors on this route up to the top of the ridge that surrounds the short valley. The risk on this climb wasn’t much as a slip would have taken me safely back down into Gillercomb and there wasn’t enough snow for an avalanche. After this tricky ascent I found myself in a perfect, divine-inspired moment: I was buzzing from the climb, the sun was shining, there wasn’t a breath of wind and the views towards the Scafell Pikes were amazing. I just wish I’d taken a picture. Soon after I started climbing towards Green Gable the wind picked up and it started to become really cold. All the heat that I had generated during the climb, that I had basked in at the top of Gillercomb, was soon lost as I wrapped myself up and slowly climbed the snow-covered slopes of Green Gable. The final straight up to the summit was on hard, compacted snow that probably needed crampons, so after, with infinite care, I reached the top of Green Gable I decided that it would be an enormous mistake to continue towards Great Gable despite the famous fell looming large across the Windy Gap.

A strong, very cold wind was blowing at the top, so it wasn’t long before I turned around and headed carefully back down the rock-hard snow onto safer terrain feeling that I had been a little out of my league at the top and was relieved to be back on sparser, softer snow. After crossing Gillercomb Head I found some shelter from the biting wind where I could look back upon the gables while having my lunch. After eating I made my way up to the top of Brandreth where a number of outcrops seem to fight for the honour of being the summit, each carrying a cairn. I visited each one before going to the one that I thought must be the summit. Brandreth is a fell that is often overlooked as people bypass it on their way to Great Gable. Wainwright described the summit as “a bare, cheerless place, a desert of stones,” but it quietly sits at a important junction of ridges, feeding three distinct rivers: Derwent, Liza and Cocker. Slowly I made my way down the broad grassy slopes of Brandreth, pausing at the top of Brin Crag to take in the views down Ennerdale and back towards the gables.

In 2002, on my first visit to the Lake District after visiting Great Gable for the first time, I came down this slope with my eye on Haystacks ahead, but I wasn’t sure of the route. I now know that the best route between Brandreth and Haystacks is past Great Round How onto the path that passes the outlet of Blackbeck Tarn, a route that I have subsequently used many times. However, in 2002 I blundered straight on towards Haystacks wading through bogs and heather not knowing where I was going. Now I wanted to find a good, direct route without the diversion to Great Round How or the bogs. My first step was to cross the route of the Coast-to-Coast at the top of Loft Beck, however a huge snow drift at the top of the beck blocked my route and forced me to take a wide diversion until I had reached the other side where I could climb the 540 metre top that overlooks the beck. From there I tried to weave a course across the complex terrain of Haystacks taking in every prominent top including the ones marked on O.S. maps that top out at 534 metres, 544 metres and culminating on the 545 metre top that overlooks Innominate Tarn. I was having far so much fun I forgot I was supposed to be heading straight towards Haystacks.

After passing the frozen-solid Innominate Tarn, I visited the 582 metre top before finally going across to the summit of Haystacks, which is also littered with tops and crags that all absolutely had to be visited. Eventually I decided that I had wasted enough time exploring Haystacks, so I tried to make my way down to Scarth Gap. When I came over Haystacks on New Year’s Day 2010 there was plenty of snow on the ground and I found that the descent to Scarth Gap was the trickiest bit of the walk, so I started this descent expecting trouble. At one point a family ahead of me was having a lot of difficulty getting down a particularly steep, slippery slope that had a big build-up of snow at the foot, but rather than waiting dutifully for them I decided to head straight down some steep, loose stones. This didn't avoid the build-up of snow, but it did get me around the traffic jam on the path and with a lot of care I managed to get to the bottom of Scarth Gap. I had wasted so much time on Haystacks I didn’t have enough time to do anything else on this walk except turn left into Ennerdale. I soon turned off the main path into Ennerdale taking a narrow path that crosses the craggy, southern slopes of Seat slowly descending into the Ennerdale Forest and down to the valley-bottom track, where a slow stroll took me all the way to Ennerdale Youth Hostel. This was a fantastic walk through stunning scenery and with gorgeous weather; I really can’t complain.