rime

Rime Ice, uploaded by rantoutloud.

Skiddaw : Hey there is a view!

Skiddaw from Keswick Moot Hall

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A bright but hazy morning saw me up early and after a brief rather manic drive along the A69/M6/A66 saw me in Keswick by 8:00.

The weather forecast was a bit dire with rain and showers predicted for the afternoon. So, determined to see if there was a view for the summit of Skiddaw I planned the early start. In all the years I have been walking in the Lakes and the many times I have actually been up Skiddaw I have been surrounded in mist or buried deep in cloud and rain and never seen any kind of view from the top.

The other reason for chosing this particular route was to reconnoitre it in preparation for the Lakeland 3000s later on this year. One of the key things we learned from the Yorkshire 3 Peaks trip was that knowing the route meant that virtually no time at all was spent looking at the map. That saved us a huge amount of time as we were inevitably making good forward progress all day, stopping only for food and drink. This walk from Keswick's Moot Hall to the summit of Skiddaw and back, is the first section of the L3K trip. Making sure we can get out of Keswick at the start and back through the town and on to Borrowdale in the dark will be important.

As it was I got a little lost at the beginning and found the dead end that is the road up to the Keswick Hotel and the Station. A short detour and a stop or two two for photos and to embed the path into the memory meant that it took about half an hour to clear Keswick and get to the start of the Latrigg path at the end of Spooney Green Lane.

Once on this path there is no real possibility of losing your way. This is a main road of a path and it continues around Latrigg, forming part of the Cumbrian Way long distance path.

This early in the morning there were few people about and I made good progress, running some of the time, walking otherwise. The climb from Hawell monument is pretty unremitting calling for some determination, head down, keep going. It's not until the shoulder above Jenkin Hill is reached does it become flat(ish) enough to break into a jog again.

The summit is still some way from here but the views are indeed fantastic despite the haze, and its windy a somewhat refeshing cold Southerly breeze bringing a welcome relief.

A short stop on the summit to pat the ubiqutious dog, say hi to passers by and take the odd photograph, using thenew camera's self timer and the trig point as a tripod. But the breeze is actually quite cold and it's not long before I'm off at a fair pace down.

The path is quite steady from the top and I'm able to crack on passing all those still on their way up. Most of these folk are well overdressed or so it seems. Maybe it's just me being a bit self rightous.

View Skiddaw from Keswick in a larger map

The way back is obvious, through the plantaion around Latrigg again and Spooley Green Lane but then I missjudge the road and forget the gate and well get a bit lost on the old railway track back down into Keswick. It's not long before I realise and correct my mistake and get back onto the road, coming back into Keswick along the road in from the A66. Back at the Moot Hall in what is now a crowded market place at about 11:00, 3 hrs round trip, 11.1 miles according to the GPS.

 

Gear: inov-8 Flyroc 310

Running Gear

I've been using a pair of inov-8 Flyroc 354 GTX trail shoes for some time now. However, while at the iROC event the other day inov-8 were selling any of their shoes at a ridiculous price of £30. Well I couldn't resist and bought a pair of the standard Flyroc 310's and wore them then end there for the race. I've used them since too for the training run around Hexham last Tuesday. To say I'm pleased is a bit of an understatement, no blisters and dead comfy, they're fantastic. They are lighter than the others and for these warmer times they appear to breathe more easily.

I haven't quite taken to wearing them about the flat but that's just because they're already too muddy.

iROC : The Fell Race

The baptism of a novice

As Churchill said it'll be long and it'll be hard but of this I can assure you there will be no withdrawal, too bloody right. It was long, 15km. It was hard, 900m. It was bloody hard, according to my team member '..it's the hardest thing I've done to my body ever..' and he plays rugby regularly. There wasn't any withdrawal either, I did complete the course dispite my ankle. The last leg included a fording of the river, so cold it anethetised my ankle sufficently to allow me to run the last mile properly.

I wasn't last but was well down the field finishing in just over two hours, 2:03 to be more precise. Mark did much better, 1:40, well done him but we're both outside of the top 100 entrants. The winner's time by the way was 1:03!

There is a iROC Race Report over on SleepMonster's website and some photos too. More photos on my flickr photostream and Paul's Facebook

It was a learning experience that's for sure. Will I do another? Probably the bug has bitten, the endorphines addictive and the rationalism ...

Immediate plans are now focusing on the Lakes 3000's trip though, that's all the 3000ft peaks in 24 hours in the Lake District, 46 miles and 11,000ft of actual ascent. Target dates are early June.

Three of a Kind

Round the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, 9 hours, 25 miles.

The view out of the window at 7:00 in the morning was not at all promising and when combined with the events and advice from the previous evening the prospects for success were not looking good.

The evening we arrived at The Station Inn at Ribblehead there were Cave and Fell Rescue folk all over Whernside and a Sea King helicopter in the field all trying to evacuate a couple of walkers from below the summit. The two of them had fallen over 300ft on the ice and one was quite badly injured but alive.

The initial part of the route takes a path below the famous viaduct, a spectacular sight or so I'm lead to believe but in today's weather it's a mere shadow in the fog and I can't even get a photograph.

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Ice Cold : On the Edge

The Icy Adventures of Gripp Type-Thinne II

"The best snow and ice conditions in 20 years", that's what the man promised and that's what we got. Well pretty much. It was a little misty and the view was restricted later in the day but the conditions underfoot were solid hard neve and just fantastic walking and climbing.

The path up from Patterdale, very familiar now, takes no time at all and stopping only to take the odd photograph the top of the ridge is reached at the Hole in the Wall within the hour. The hole is nowhere to be seen, it's under about 10ft of had packed snow and only the very top of the ladder stile is to be seen.
We stop to put crampons on, Gripp looking very pleased he'd brought them this time. I swapped windproof fleece for another base layer and windproof jacket expecting the wind on the ridge itself to be bighting.

The conditions were fantastic, firm ice and snow making foot placements solid and confidence building, the wind not distracting at all except in one or two places. I even had time to stop and take photos of the mele along the ridge, for it had become obvious that there was quite a number of folk determined to take advantage of these conditions.

The last step down at the end of the ridge required some care, holds and ledges packed hard with ice and then the final pull up to the summit, seeking out steeper ice along the face to make it more interesting.

After a brief stop at the "shelter" made even more tenuous in that regard since all the snow packed into each and every corner had reduced it's meagre effectiveness even further, we set off over the actual summit of Helvellyn to the cairn above Swirral Edge. The steep ice was firm enough to walk down a seemingly impossible slope to the easier ground along the ridge itself. This is no where near the edge that it's bigger brother demonstrates at the other side of the corrie.

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Windward Ho!

The Coledale Round Extreme

The forecast was for extremely windy weather, 60mph + and was described by the MWIS as

South or south-easterly in the range 35-40mph, but on higher summits 45mph, gusts locally in excess of 60mph Will continue to make for very difficult walking on exposed higher areas - with any mobility difficult on highest summits and ridges. Severe wind chill.

I can vouch for the accuracy of this prediction. At one point in the walk I literally had to crouch down and clamber up the path almost on all fours in order not to get blown over the edge. Most of the time I was leaning with a 30 ~ 40° list into the wind in order to stay upright.

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There was a point when I sat down at the summit of Hobcarton Pike, or Hopegill Head if you prefer, when the coffee flew sideways and not into the mug, when the rucksack moved 3' to the left in an instant, when a fellow walker passing by was blown onto all fours, that I nearly decided to go down via Coledale Hause and back along the valley. However foolishness got the better of me and I continued up Eel Crag and along the ridge, Sail and Causey Pike, stepping back along the ridge a while before dropping down to Barrow Door and along Barrow Gill and back to the car at Braithwaite.

The header photo for this entry is taken looking south from the summit of Eel Crag more towards Pillar rather than Scafell group, some of the other shots on Flickr do take in the whole vista.

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?

Scafell Pike in the clouds

Scafell Pike, uploaded by rantoutloud.

Scafell Pike in the clouds. Despite the forcast being just about OK the weather last Saturday, (30th Aug 2008), was poor, the cloud base was down at around 2000ft. That's about the height of Esk Hause, and as we climed up through Calf Cove and the boulder field that lies between Great End and Broad Crag we must have veered off too far left and got lost. Actually well and truly lost and even a little concerned after a while of wandering about. Eventually stumbling across Ill Crag, stopping for some lunch and attempting to get bearings and collect thoughts on which way to go. Even going North from Ill Crag we were quite disoriented and started to go down the path towards Gt. End before realising our mistake. There were many other people out there looking similarly lost too.
Eventually as we descended the gap between Broad Crag and Scafell Pike the mist cleared a bit to give us all confidence in our direction. Indeed after stopping for something more to eat and the remains of the coffee at the summit, on the way back down the mist cleared and we decided to take in a visit to Great End and got quite a marvelous view all round. The route back down Rossett Gill and Langdale was uneventful.
The photos here are from an earlier trip I did on a day in June which I think will have to go down as the best day of the summer.