It’s bluebell time here. I’ve always found it hard to get good bluebell photos but here are some.
Month: April 2015
Photo post
Taken in Brittany somewhere, but I couldn’t say where.
Scafell from Wrynose 20th April 2015
- 9 1/2 miles
- 830 metres ascent
- 7 hours 15 minutes
- View the route on plotaroute.com
I’ve never been up Scafell before, in all the times I’ve been to the lakes. This way starts from the beautiful area between Wrynose and Hardknott passes. It starts by following the wide valley of Moasdale. This was like walking on a wet sponge most of the way. Lovely and soft on the feet but you need to think light thoughts to avoid sinking. Great views of Crinkle Crags on the right, Bowfell just after, then the fantastic Scafell range including Scafell, Scafell Pike, Ill Crag, Great End, Esk Pike, and the various classic rock climbing crags like Scafell Crag and Esk Buttress.
At the end of Moasdale the path rises a little and then drops down. On the map you seem to have to do a slight detour left to follow the marked path but it’s quite easy to carry straight on to cross the stream via whichever stones you find convenient then contour round just below Long Crag towards the aptly named Great Moss. All the way so far I hadn’t seen a soul, despite it being some of the best and warmest weather of the year. I thought as I got to the foot of Scafell I would see more people coming up from the Eskdale path but still there was no-one.
The path now gets steep and it starts with some pleasant easy scrambling (perhaps barely grade 1) with a lovely tumbling stream on your left and some turquoise rock pools that would need a much hotter day to tempt me in. The mountain scenery is tremendous, especially the various crags to your left on the flanks of Scafell and the massive Scafell Crag way above you.
The Foxes Tarn path isn’t obvious so you need to be careful with your map reading and match the actual terrain to the features on the map. There are various feasible and obviously trodden lines and I took one of them. It was scrambly up steep grass and rock steps but perfectly fine (as long as you watch where you’re heading for). I soon naturally joined the head of a great defile filled with boulders and then saw a couple below me join the defile at its base, so perhaps that was the normal way? It didn’t look very attractive as it all looks on the point of falling down. More on this later.
After the defile there is still plenty of loose almost-falling-down rocks, then what I presume to the the tarn, which is more of a puddle. There was still a snow patch here, even after all the warm weather we’ve had. Now the path turns right and up a very unpleasant scree/gravel slope but not for long and then the top.
To the right is Symonds Knott, which is right at the top of Scafell Crag. You get a great view of Scafell Pinnacle and Pisgah behind it (which you can easily scramble onto) and down the very steep and narrow Deep Gill, still choked with snow, and a great view to Pike’s crag beyond in the sunshine (Scafell Crag has a reputation for being cold but Pike’s crag gets all the sun going).
A few people on the top but not many and certainly not as many as the Pike over the way. Not being the highest has advantages if you like solitude.
I got a good show when a fast jet, which I’m guessing was a Hawk trainer, flew by between me and Great Gable at about mountain top height, straightened and then dived steeply down towards wastwater, ending up seemingly skimming the surface of the water. Of course, the camera was turned off with the lens cap on so no chance of getting it ready to get an action shot.
Return by the same route, except on the way down (not mentioning ending up on my backside on the scree slope at the start) I went down the sharp tumbling defile I’d seen the other couple coming up earlier. Rocks from football size to family car sized are all perched as though frozen and on the point of falling. It’s a steep but exciting descent with some simple scrambling. I wouldn’t like to do it on a busy day, thinking about other people possibly dislodging the boulders above me, but I got down without shifting anything. If you’re coming up and are looking for this way, it’s pretty obvious, a dead straight gully on your left just below Scafell Crag.
Return by the same route and still no people around, a real treat in this area.
Photo post
This is pretty typical of south pennines countryside. Not nearly as prettified as the yorkshire dales national park, much more of a living and working area.
Random photograph
Found in a stream in a side valley (called “cloughs” around these parts) in Calderdale, about half way between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge.
Random photo
I’ll post occasional random individual photos here, usually because I’ve just got round to processing them and I don’t have anywhere else to put them.
Woodhouse Scar climbing
With the CMC we’re now into the outside climbing season and both last week and this we’ve had glorious sunny warm tuesday evenings at Woodhouse Scar.
I haven’t done much outside climbing for a couple of years (getting my excuses in early 🙂 but I didn’t expect to have lost quite so much ability.
First night, the 7th of April, I took a look at the rock and asked Michael (the local expert) to recommend a nice easy warm up. He suggested The Corner or Corner Arete, both Diff. It’s hard to say which I did as they’re eliminates of each other but it was fairly straight-forward. He next suggested Original Route as also being a straight-forward Diff which turned out to have a somewhat tricky boulder problem first couple of moves but otherwise fine. Honour having been done I top-roped Slanting Cleft (Severe) which was hard work (I fluffed an early move and fell off, glad I wasn’t leading it).
Move to next week and I thought I’d start by leading a V.Diff I’d led twice before, having warmed up the previous week and, I thought, got my climbing head back on. I tried The Layback. I got about a third of the way and frightened myself and backed off. That’ll teach me! Up with the top-rope and Tim goes up first then I have a go. I’m glad I backed off – carrying on from where I stopped was distinctly difficult and not at all elegant! I really am out of practice. So, no more V.Diff leads for me until I’m properly confident again.
Next stop Jetsam, also V.Diff, also on a top-rope. More straight-forward this time. Then onto Cave Crack. Wow, is this hard for a V.Diff! I felt like my arms were about to give out. I really do need to get my head back into shape and start using my feet and balance more effectively.
Finally, Basin Cracks (V.Diff). Tim and I had a look at the starting moves, which are undercut. It looked like a very tough start. We tried it and weren’t sure it would go but what the hell. Get the top-rope up and Tim goes first. Sure enough, the rope goes tight and he’s off. Try again, off again, so my turn. I look at it like a boulder problem at Leeds Wall and work out a sequence and rehearse it mentally. Tie on, and it works! Great handholds all the way up, and finally my head is working and I’m using my feet and balance correctly and what a great route. Told Tim he has to do it next time, as I’m sure he’ll be able to.
So I think it will be a few weeks before I’m leading V.Diffs but it’s nice to remember how much fun real climbing on real rock is.
