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.