Training : Lakeland 3000 Shakedown

The Final Piece of the Jigsaw

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The day started out cool and calm. The photo of Hartsop Dodd captured in a brief stop on the way to Windemere station. On arrival only to find connecting trains late and connections failed, the reliability of Northern Rail brought into question. Would this have happened under good old British Rail?

Re-route via Oxenhome and the delay made up and we're on our way to Borrowdale, via Keswick and the crowds are awakening, some are in Saabs and Volvos and we queue up behind them and process down the road to Seathwaite. This gives us time to view the road and paths which forms one of the road legs of the route itself. It may look easy but I bet there's scope for a balls up and the eight miles from Keswick after the first pull up Skiddaw this will be tough in the heat; if it's as hot as this.

Cresting the hump back bridge at Seatoller and we're brough up a jolt, there are 100's of cars and presumably many hundereds of people too. So much for a Friday being less crowded, it's half term of course.

We're keen to get going and make excellent progress along the path, past the farm where the route crosses the river Derwent at Stockley Bridge. Then on an upwards quite steeply to Styhead Tarn. A quick stop to check the map, it's ages and half a lifetime ago since I've been here. Locating the Coridoor Route another 1500ft and the col at Lingmell is topped. All the while making guesses, which top is that, Scafell, no you can't see it from here.

Great Gable

Its crowded now and the haul up to Scafell Pike is taken as fast as possible, topping out at the cairn 2:10min from the start. Stopping for something to eat and drink, consulting the map and options to be discussed and with decisions made. Scafell is only reached by losing around 850ft and climbing back up, via Fox's Tarn again; then doing it all over again on the way back! The view from the more secluded summit is well worth it.

The route home is via Broad Crag and Esk Hause then Sprinkling Tarn With it's beautiful seclusion and cool and inviting water it's difficult not to linger and swim! Grab a few photos, Gable is impressive from here, then on to Styhead Tarn rejoining the route up, back to the car. Damn it is HOT!

Mountain Weather : Inversion Layers

Inversion layer, by rantoutloud.

Temperature inversion layer above Fairfield taken from from St. Sunday Crag. This climate phenomenon is due to a layer of warmer air above the cold dense air mass closer to the ground. I believe that the principle reason for this formation is due to a combination of the high pressure air mass which was sat on top of the UK and the low angle of the winter sun. According to Wikipedia "An inversion is also produced whenever radiation from the surface of the earth is less than the amount of radiation received from the sun, which commonly occurs at night, or during the winter when the angle of the sun is very low in the sky."

Conditions in the higher layer were extremely bright clear air with temperatures around freezing, maybe +1° Celsius. Visibility was in excess of 20 miles despite the haze and the wind was steady around 20 mph. Within the lower layer the temperature must have been closer to -8° Celsius and the wind significantly stronger and the humidity; judging by what most people call hoar frost, but is in fact advection frost, which formed on everything and every one; close to 100%. The visibility within the colder layer was down at around 15m and the transition between one layer and the next was very sudden, within around 20m.

There seems also to be some particular aspects of this specific fell and it's surroundings that makes this dramatic formation occur regularly. I have seen and photographed it before on several occasions over the years.

High Up Iced Up

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The Deepdale Horseshoe

Endorphins free flowing a day set up with great promise the weather forcast looked amazing with the high pressure still maintaining a presence over the UK after several days. This High was the cause of the bright clear weather last Saturday and the fantastic clear views from Place Fell and the still cold air in the valleys. Arriving in Patterdale at around nine am the outside temperature, according to the car's computer, was -6°C and everything was white and icy.

A burst of activity and the steep slope up to the 1st shoulder of St. Sunday Crag is reached; the views into the eastern crags of Helvellyn group is fantastic, it's so clear and you can see for miles, except the for the haze. The view over Ulswater is worth the climb in itself. I just manage to capture the steamer on its way across the lake, it's wake making increasing patterns on the surface.

The cloud which is streaming over Fairfield is being held at bay by the mass of relativley warm high pressure air sat on top of the colder layer below.

This inversion layer looks dramatic with freezing fog/cloud billowing in the strong wind, seemingly following the contours of the fell as it over Fairfield, Cofa Pike and down into the hollow at Grisdale Tarn. Eventually it seems to escape and breaks out over Dollywaggon and Nethermost Pike.

The route I plan to take takes me right into the cloud layer as I climb steeply up over Cofa Pike and on to Fairfield. As I pass those coming down everyone mutters something about how cold it is and judging by their appearance, they're all covered in a white frost they are not joking.

The temperature gradient is dramatic as is the change in visibility. From a almost warm 0°C in the sunshine on St Sunday to what feels like -8° takes almost no time at all and by the time I get to the top of Cofa Pike the visibility has dropped to just a few metres.

Navigation on the summit of Fairfield is notoriously difficult, the place is flat and relatively featureless. Even the cairns only add to the confusion in the fog as they are too close together and too many in number. Several times along the path to Hart Crag, the point at which I turn left to follow the path down to Bridgend, I'm asked for directions or confirmation of where we are. At one point I get the GPS and the compass out to make doubly sure as a small group of walkers, obviously on some form of organised walk are completely disorientated.

The remainder of the route follows the ridge down from Heart Crag over Black Crag and Hartsop Above How and the transition from the cold inversion layer back into the warmer one is almost as dramatic.

Bowfell, High Raise and The Langdale Pikes

Bowfell and the Langdale Pikes

22112008, uploaded by rantoutloud.

Saturday 22nd November 2008, 7:30 in the morning, twilight and the weather shaping up for a cold and clear day. The weather was extremely cold and windy, 35~45mph (about -20DegC wind chill) but it was promised to be clear and cloud free.
So a decision was made to at least to take a look at the unfamiliar territory east of Angle Tarn towards High Raise. This section forms part of the Lakes 3000's that we're planning to do next year. Coming after the slog up and down Scafell and Scafell Pike it is likely that will have to be done mid afternoon before we get to Helvellyn. It is a somewhat bleak and rounded group of fell and while we're expecting to do it all in reasonable weather it's obviously advantageous that we're as familiar as possible to make the journey as easy as can be.

In order to make it a bit more of a walk I decided to start from Langdale and ascent up to Esk Hause via the Band, Bowfell and Esk Pike. Esk Hause is the turning point on the route for this section. The track from Esk Hause down to Angle Tarn is very familiar ground and I've covered this at least twice in the last few months. At the point where the path crosses the outflow from the Tarn the path diverges, continuing south west to Rossett Gill and roughly north east to Stake Pass where it crosses the Cumbrian Way.
I followed the Cumbrian Way path for a short while before dropping down into Stake Beck and headed straight up the hill towards the summit of High Raise. The effort to cross the mile or so from the pass to The summit ridge seemed all out of proportion to the 300 or so metres the map suggested it was. The boggy ground, the number of small false summits and what I can only described as heather and moss moguls made the going very tough indeed.

Having got to the top of High Raise, managed to get some food and coffee inside of me the remainder of the walk across Thuncarr Knott, and the Langdale Pikes, (Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Pike O'Stickle and Loft Crag) was done in rapid order. The wind and the cold made it almost impossible to stop without freezing almost immediately. The path down over Raven Crags to the New Dungeon Gill pub is just long and hard on the knees.

In total the day was about 14 Miles, the GPS missed a bit, and about 4900' of ascent in about 7 hours.
The evening was spent winding down at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Catherine Destivelle's film was very inspiring. Followed by a excellent meal at Deja-Vu a small French Bistro in Kendal with friends.

Y Lliwedd

Y Lliwedd, by rantoutloud.

Sunday 26th Oct 2008
The last top on the Snowdon Horseshoe. Weather by this time was excellent and the whole round from Crib-Goch was one of the best days I've had. The start of the walk was in thick mist which persisted until we got to Snowdon itself. It started to clear on the way down the Watkin Path. This view of Y Lliwedd looks almost alpine in character reminding me of something from the Italian Dolomites perhaps?

Grisdale Pike

grisdale pike, uploaded by rantoutloud.

Cold wind on top, cloud closing in from west, ipod karma shuffle in reflective mood. The weather is fantastic and the clouds hold off all day. Didn't stop anywhere for long and the complete round took just about 4.5 hours.
The route takes the path from the quarry car park at the edge of Braithwaite up on to the ridge to Sleet How and Grisdale Pike itself. After a brief stop for coffee and a banana (?) Hopegill Head or Hobcarton Crag depending on which map you read, down to Coldale Hause and back up to Crag Hill, or Eel Crag again depending on which map you read. From Eel the ridge is followed over Sail and on to Causey Pike. The descent from the col between Scar Crags and Causey Pike leads down to the path which skirts Outerside and Stile End and back down to Braithwaite by the Coldale Pub, about 9.5 miles. This means I still haven't visited the summit of Grasmoor! I was informed by John that it was too boring anyway so I don't feel I missed out.

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Ingelborough and Pen-Y-Ghent

2/3 of the Three Peaks

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Blencathra via Hall's Fell

Gategill by rantoutloud.

Sunday, early start alarm off at 5:00AM hoping to get a weather window before the heavy rain and wind predictied by our chums at the Weather Centre for later on in the day.
Dash over to Threlkeld marred by forgetting the speed camera ot Low Row service station on the A69, think I got snapped! Damn!
Walk up to the summit of Blencathra, technically Hall's Fell Top, is always a challenge. It's steep, lots of pretty orange lines to cross, and the ridge in the wet can be tricky as the rock is slate like and very slippy. The best route to follow is definately to stick to the crest of the ridge, the seemingly attractive path to the left is neither fun or less dangerous.
Very pleased with progress up the hill, no-stop ascent, except to take photos and completed in just over 1.5 hrs. That's not quite good enough yet for 2 miles and about 2,400' of ascent, will need to do better than that. Descended via Doddick Fell running down the easy sections, slipped on aformentioned wet slate and fell on arse. Back down, in the car and home by 12:00. Now looking forward to watching rugby and Ponteland Rugby BBQ later.
The map below is a plot of actual track data from my GPS data logger.

Looking up Hall's Fell at the start of the rocky section

Foule Crag and Sharp Edge from Doddick Fell

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The Lakes 3000'

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The Challenge

A friend of mine recently said 'set yourself a real challenge', (you know who you are now see what you've made me do!). Well I did, the trip up Scafell Pike from Langdale was challenging for a first day on the fells for over a year. Having now completed that I think I need another, The Lakes 3000ft Peaks in 24hrs sounds about enough. According to Ken Wilson's book 'The Big Walks' thats 16 to 20 hours and 46 miles and includes 11,000ft of ascent.
According to friends I'm Mad, but I'll give myself enough time to train and set a target of completing the round before this time next year.
What then....'The Bob Graham Round?'

Skiddaw, will I ever see the view?

This Sunday descided to climb Skiddaw. I've been up this tottering pile of slate several times and never seen the view over Keswick and Derwent Water, which I am lead to believe is superb.

The weather was foul above 1800ft with wind and low cloud obscuring the views. Missed the right turn on the way down and ended up almost in Keswick before realising. Even after skirting around Under Skiddaw it meant a much longer walk back to the car.