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!

Wasdale to the Top of England

Scafell & Pike

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Another new trip for me, Scafell and from Wasdale. Tim and I were to reccy the link between Scafell Pike and Scafell by driving into Wasdale Head and then taking a route from there to Mickeldore, the col between the two tops.

We set off in foul weather from the head of Wasdale at about 9:00, wet and windy, the forecast looking to be accurate. Climbing steeply, skirting Lingmell Gill the route goes straight towards Mickledore via Brown Tongue, into the thickening cloud and showery rain. It's warm work and there's the usual dilemma of 'overtrousers' or 'no-overtrousers'. I adopted the latter dress code.

The path steepens at the head of the cove and the scree underfoot does nothing to help forward / upward progress. When it's saturated like this it's more like walking in wet cement. Then suddenly we're on the col itself, cloud and wind making this spot feel very isolated and dropping the temperature enough for us to add layers. We're glad the wind is not at the forecast 'gales' 50mph level, that would have been too much.

Now the direction is down, the other side of the col towards the bottom of the East Buttress looking for a short cut through the rock and vegetation to a point 1/3rd the way up Fox's Tarn Gully. We see several possibilities but nothing definite and its very wet and slippery and opt for the safer option of the Gully itself. This is waterfall climbing, but it's steady and absorbing so the loss of height is quickly regained and without too much time lost. Fox's Tarn itself is just a peaty pool of water with a huge boulder sat in it but provides a necessary landmark, we bear right up the steep slopes behind to the summit ridge. The well cairned path bearing back around to the left to the summit of Scafell proper.

Time for a refuel, food and coffee in the cloud and wind a photo or two for posterity. Then suddenly the cloud parts and we catch a glimpse of Wasdale below, only a glimpse mind as the cloud rolls back in. This is no place to linger and with no view to keep us there we head off back down the way we have come. Finding the top of the gully easily we drop down the waterfall just as wet going down as up.

Mickledore

At the foot of the gully we have a steep climb back up to Mickledore, this time we hug the base of the gigantic cliffs in a further attempt to find the elusive shortcut. This time we do indeed see where the faint 'path' seems to go right into the heart of the craggy moss. Note the word 'path' is a very lose term and I am not confident that in a tired state this is the way forward, better the safer option even if we lose that extra 20~30m in height.

From the end of Mickeldore, just below Broad Stand we see our next objective in the clearing cloud and mist, Scafell Pike. The highest point in England is gained in short order, its now familiar bulky cairn covered with people of all shapes and colours. There's obviously an event on as there's a marshall with a radio and fell runners appearing every so often, only to disappear at an alarming speed. Our enquiries establish that the event is "The Three County Tops", Helvellyn, Scafell Pike and Coniston Old Man.

Author, Wastwater

The route down is via Lingmell Col and is fairly straight forward, if long and steep at the end. The weather plays tricks, at one time heavy showers and others bright sunshine. The clear spells allow some good photos of the unusual view of Mickledore and down the Wasdale valley all the way to the West Coast and the Irish Sea.

Tim looking down on Wastwater

Great Gable and Styhead Tarn

Lakeland 3000

All four 3000ft peaks in the Lake District

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Update Update

We completed the walk at 3:24 on Saturday 13th June 2009. see Lakeland 3000 for details

The Idea

The idea is to set a challenge for yourself, one that is not totally unrealistic but one that you know will stretch your endurance and determination beyond a point where you have been before and a bit more.

Why?

Why not? Well actually for many reasons:

• To have a focus and reason for getting and staying fit.
• To be sociable.
• To have something to do with spare time, other than work.

The Detail

The actual challenge is to walk the four 3000ft tops in the Lake District in one day starting at and returning to The Moot Hall in Keswick, all within 24 hours and unaided.

That's an approximate total of 46 Miles, 11,000ft of ascent.

1. Keswick Moot Hall 06:00 Friday
   
2. Skiddaw Summit
3. Keswick
4. Borrowdale
5. Seathwaite
6. Lingmell Col
   
7. Scafell Pike
8. Scafell
9. Scafell Pike
10. Broad Crag
    
11. Esk Hause
12. Angle Tarn
13. Stake Pass
14. High Raise
15. Steel End
    
16. Wythburn
17. Helvellyn
18. Thirlmere
19. Keswick Moot Hall 06:00 Saturday
    

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.

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.