Helvellyn in the Snow

Snow having fallen in the lakes, it was time to get out on the fell.  The Weatherline Fell Top Assessors had been reporting accumulations of snow on Helvellyn, with the normal scouring of the summit plateau by Westerly winds, dumping into the Eastern gullies.  The likelihood was that the snow in these gullys would not yet be consolidated enough to climb on, but a walk up Swirral Edge would give me a much better idea of the conditions.

Starting from Glenridding I made my way up ‘Little Cove’.  Place Fell over the other side of Ullswater had a healthy amount of snow on it, and soon I was walking up through snow as well.


Place Fell from Glenridding

The valley had been sheltered, but as I gained the ridge of Birkhouse Moor, it became increasingly windy and the snow depth increased.  Many hollows had large accumulations in, and I tried to follow the tufts of grass marking the areas of shallow snow, to avoid post holing in the drifts.


Looking down the wall from Birkhouse Moor

With some effort I reached the hole in the wall and spoke with a few other people who were behind me, and some others who had just turned back from Sharp Edge.  The wind was strong enough that I definitely decided not to attempt Striding Edge, and carry on towards the less challenging Swirral Edge.
With the cloud coming in, and spindrift in the air I was very pleased to be wearing my goggles, and with a bit of dead reckoning, navigated to where Red Burn leaves the Tarn.  From here I made my way part way up the side of Swirral Edge, before stopping to put my crampons on for the first time this season!

The snow on Swirral Edge was reasonably firm, but more from the passage of feat than anything else.  Off to the side of the ridge the snow was still very powdery, which did not bode well for gully climbs. The final snow slope was steep, and a guy descending it was having some confidence issues with this.  After some gentle and then not so gentle coaxing from his companion he managed to descend and I made my way up to the summit plateau.


Swirral Edge

The were quite a few people at the summit shelter.  Several had braved the wind and come up sharp edge, whilst some others had completed climbs in what the reported as poor, unconsolidated conditions.  Despite the wind having dropped somewhat, the wind chill was still pretty strong, so after a quick bite to eat I made my way back down Swirral Edge.

Stopping to take my crampons off at the bottom of the ridge, I elected to take the slightly shorter and hopefully more sheltered route, following the Red Burn back down to Glenridding.  The slopes of Catsye Cam looked to be in skiable condition, and reminded me of my hope to learn to ski,  if only to shorten the walk outs in winter.  I felt very envious of the skiers who came down the path on the other side of the valley, after using the Ski Tow on Raise, but soon I was on the metalled road from the Youth hostel and not long afterwards back at the car.

Evening Run up Clough Head

 

 

Thursday afternoon became warm and sunny so I thought i would take the opportunity to get out for a run after work.  From Threlkeld I ran up through the fields to the Old Coach Road and traversed the bottom of Clough Head until I found the path upwards.  It is  a steep climb but a light breeze kept me cool as I walked up, and was greeted by some spectacular and unusual cloud shapes over Keswick.

On gaining the summit trig point I stopped to catch my breath and admire the view, as another fell runner came towards me from the other side of the fell.  He remarked that he rarely saw people up here, and despite it being on the Bob Graham Round I would have to agree with him.

After  saying our goodbyes we left in opposite directions and I ran down towards the rocky knoll of Calfhow Pike.  Skirting under this I picked up a trod that took me down the valley in a north-westerly direction back towards the Old Coach Road.

 

A slow run took me back round the bottom of Clough Head back towards my start point with the last of the sun’s rays appearing through the clouds over Keswick.

Borrowdale Fell Race Cover

 

On Friday night I did the now annual early August trip to Rosthwaite.  With the team I was helping to provide safety cover for the Borrowdale Fell Race, manning the Scafell Pike summit checkpoint.  After saying hello to the early arrivers in Rosthwaite I drove down to Seathwaite and after trying a multitude of different packing options managed to get just about everything into my Osprey Mutant Pack.  Thankfully it was a nice evening as I walked up the valley towards Styhead Tarn, and the Stretcher Box.

 

The party of Three Peakers who had started at a similar time to me were now far behind, but there were plenty of people pitching up at the tarn.

I followed the corridor route towards Scafell pike, but after Skew Gill struck up to the left, away from the path, up a grassy rake, flanked by a rock wall to the right.  A stiff but fairly quick climb brought me out to the promontory and tarn of Lambfoot Dub, where I found Rob Gilder and his bivy.

It was a lovely spot, thought I was slightly disappointed to see that someone else had camped here recently, but not bothered to replace the stones that were arranged in a ring around the flattest piece of ground.  As well as a wonderful view of Great Gable and Wasdale, the spot came with a handy kitchen area that Rob had already made use of.

As it got dark we had dinner and then spent the next few hours chatting and looking at the stars as they came out.  All very tranquil!

The camp also gave me the chance to try out a new piece of kit.  The Klymit Inertia X Frame camping mat is a new ‘world’s lightest’ bit of kit, and works in a similar manner to other inflatable sleeping mats (e.g. Therm-a-rest Neo Air) except it has cut outs in the mat to decrease the weight.

In theory your sleeping bag is allowed to loft into these voids, rather than being entirely squashed under your body weight,and so it shouldn’t be as cold as you might think.

In practice I did find I got cold over night, but that is perhaps due to the very light synthetic sleeping bag (Mountain Hardwear Lamina 45) that I was using.  Also I had not taken with me the mini pump that is supplied with the mat, which might have allowed me to put a bit more pressure into the mat, possibly improving my comfort.  Next time I will also take the manufacturers advice and put the mat inside the sleeping bag.

After a slightly chilly night we awoke to a reasonable day and within an hour were making our way up into the corrie formed by Greta Gill, and up a scree slope to the col between Ill Crag and Broad Crag.  We nipped up to Broad Crag’s summit so Rob could tick the Wainwright.  It also gave us a chance to admire the view and get a ‘hero’ shot of Rob!

Jason had walked up that morning and we met him at the summit of Scarfell Pike.  We got comfortable and after about an hour the runners started turning up and we spent the next few hours taking down their numbers and then checking they had all gone through.  The weather stayed mostly ok with the odd shower, but was much nice than last year.

By mid afternoon we had made sure all the runners had got down ok, and so we  headed back down the Corridor Route to Seathwaite.  The night was finished off with a barbeque, drinks, music and dancing in the Scarfell Hotel.