The Best Wrong Mountain climb ever Dec 2nd 2012 pt1

Well it was the day of another Twitteratti walk, i drove up to the lakes to meet friends for a walk around the Coledale Horseshoe, or at least i thought we were! 

 driving along the a66 towards Keswick the view of Blencathra came into view, snow capped and lit up in early morning sun , as i stopped to take an image a flock of seagulls appeared and what a super image it made :D     view large  HERE

 we all met in the car park in Braithwaite near to Keswick early on sunday morning. Gina had sent us all an e mail with the route ,including which path to take out of the car park.   so we all knew roughly where we where going:)
so after a group photo

 what did we all do?    yes you guessed it, took the wrong path out of car park  lol   instead of the small path behind the cars we started walking along the very good wide flat track down the valley!  Ooops
but we didnt realise this fact for another half hour!

walking along the path, chatting and taking some images of the snow capped mountains of Skiddaw behind us , i mention to Jimmy pointing up at Grisedale pike and said " arnt we supposed to be up there? "  he said the others know which route we are taking.

                                                       looking behind us to Skiddaw

i have just taken this image above and having caught up with Tanya ,she has informed me we have gone the wrong way!   Ooops,  Dave did suggest we climb straight up the fell side, but one look and everyone said  No way   haha    it appears everyone followed each other even though a few had already walked this route.   pity Ray wasnt with us , he would have known, and in reply to a txt someone sent him, his reply was " you didnt make that mistake did you? "     Doh

we are carrying on walking down the low valley track alongside the coledale beck  towards the Force Crag mine workings

coming to this stream we found the very smooth wet stepping stones very slippery and it was quite difficult to get across safely without falling in , Sian actually tumbled twice but was unscathed fortunatly, it would be so easy to twist an ankle or worse!

the path is at last taking us upwards , i stop briefly to shoot this image of the sun lighting up a pool of water, the oily surface reflecting the snow capped mountains and tinging the colour

                              and a panorama looking behind us towards Skiddaw again.

looking back towards our intended summit , Grisedale Pike. it soon became clear we were NOT going to climb it!    after a quick discussion it was decided to head towards Grasmoor which appears to be covered in snow  yay :)

gaining height rapidy we have now just past Coledale Hause and here is the view!   what a sight to behold, snow and blue sky ,what an amazing view.

walking along towards Grasmoor the snow is getting deeper and deeper, the surface frozen into a crust which is making walking far easier than soft powdery snow. 
                     Grisedale Pike with a slight covering of snow with Skiddaw in the distance.

                       here are the two"Glam walkers"  Tanya and Gina with Grasmoor behind.
                             please take a look at Tanyas blog HERE  & Ginas blog HERE

                       now loads of snowy shots as we make our way up to the base of Grasmoor :)

          i love how the snow folds across the landscape with the light catching all the bumps :D

      Time for a group shot, at the base of the climb up to Grasmoor summit , i got my silhouette in too

The amazing day will continue in part two , a tale of sledging i-phones,dangerous edge walk and views to die for  :D   which could have happened!

Bowscale fell pt3 june 3rd

After the exhilaration of traversing the "sharp edge" up to the summit of Blencathra we have now started making our way to---    i have no idea  lol.  but the thought of tasting Gina's homemade chocolate brownies is keeping me going  haha.  thank god they didn't follow the water bottle to impending death!
The thick mist has been obscuring the view most of the time , but i managed to take this shot as we are descending , err  Atkinson pike i think Ray mentioned it is!

it was soon Chocolate Brownie time, we have found a stone cairn to rest in, not a clue where we are right now, and the fog is so thick cant see a thing anyhow!  Gina's choc brownies are legendary to all her followers on twitter, think that's the main reason we are all up here now:)  now its time to actually taste one:)  we are all tucking in now Yum,yum. 

Well, i can now confirm they are amazing :)))))  everyone Must taste these :D 
the temperature is so cold i cant feel my fingers, dam British summer weather !  off we go again, heading towards the high point between Bannerdale and Blencathra , and then we are going to take a route towards Bowscale fell.

we are walking across fairly nondescript fells, heading towards Bowscale Fell,   it is really cold now, wind is blowing quite strong when we are not being sheltered by the fell side!  as the mist clears a bit i can see the sharp edge we had previously negotiated on route to the summit of Blencathra.there is a escapee water bottle down there somewhere  haha

We pass the "the white cross" a memorial i believe, must have taken a long time to bring up all the white stones! and The Horseshoe cairn is in sight now:)   the Beast is already there before us!!! haha

                                                         Multiple cairns on Bowscale fell.

                    we arrive at Bowscale tarn, well looking down on it!  and that is Carrock fell behind.

The end cairn on Bowscale fell

the view across the fells from the decent from Bowscale fell , i can feel my right knee tightening up now, think i am going to be in pain for the walk back to the car!  Arghhhhh

   we can now look down the valley we first walked down , with "The Tongue" over to the right and Souther fell on the left with Bannerdale in the centre.

we are finally back to the road, off to the Mill Inn in Mungrisdale now for a drink!

That was an amazing day!  never to be forgotten and a really great group of people who will be friends for a long time.    another walk is already planned, cant wait:)

I would like to say special thanks to Ray , for guiding us today!  and Gina for supplying the brownies:D

Blencathra "Sharp Edge" PT 2 june 3 2012

The  scene was set for our Challenge of Climbing up to and across the infamous "SHARP EDGE" up to the summit of Blencathra  at 2848ft . I believe it is  known as one of the most difficult ascents on any mountain (excluding rock climbs) in the lakes , it follows a razor sharp ridge up the mountain face!
 Since 1947 there have been 73 incidents and 10 fatalities, glad i didn't know that before going!!

  After a short rest near to Scales Tarn the conditions were not great ,misty dampness still in the air and an increasingly strengthening wind!!!!!! , i am not really worried at the thought even though it looks at bit scary, maybe a bit anxious if anything!
anyhow, another group photo in front of the path leading up to the "edge"

Right! now it was the scary part! we start making our way up the path to the base of the traverse, i do wonder what Dave is thinking in this shot, probably" surely we are not going over that! "    haha

This is the first part of the traverse , looking up to the main sharp edge! even this part looks hard!   lol    Andy has gone first as he has done this before, many times i believe, Gina next and i am following her! 

 

At the top of this section , upon reaching the main traverse the wind has hit us! it is fairly strong , in fact a lot stronger than i thought it was going to be! and the rock is definitely a little slippery in many places , so that is going to make it a bit more of a challenge! i have just shot this image looking down to Scales tarn just before starting to cross the edge! it is a long, long way down!!!!!!!! lol     must not drop camera!!!

By the time i have taken this image and put my camera safely in the bag, Andy is already across the level section and Gina just past halfway "posing" for a picture that Andy is taking:) i make my way across to the halfway point, i am not finding it to difficult , just a bit of clambering using hands and very careful foot holds ! at this point Dave,Alan & Gary are behind me with Ray and his brother who is showing them the best route!
I sit down on a good large rock which has a good handhold on my left , i want to take a photo of Andy and Gina , this is when things get interesting AND a bit scary, well only a tiny bit! lol
Here is the image first.  it does look impressive doesn't it?

What happened next was - Rays dog "the beast" decided it was a good idea to run past me and try knocking me off !!!!!!    she has just got wedged between me and the rock on my left that i am holding on to, which means i am being pushed to the right over the edge while hanging on with my left hand!   i shout at her in Fright/shock!!   but she has reversed out of the way now and as i look up, Gina's water bottle is bouncing down the rock face and over the edge!!!!!!! and Gina is trying to save its life!!   OMG!    i actually think she has slipped on the rock and fallen , but is actually bending down trying to catch it!

 I quickly make my way over to her, she is standing where Andy is in previous image and holding onto the rock, she said " im ok" , but does look a bit shaken actually!   i think she was taking a drink at the time it slipped, but cant be sure as i had a Dog problem!!!!!!!!!

It is so easy for an accident to happen, especially in these slippery conditions , Fortunately it could have been Much Much worse! the chocolate Brownies could have gone over the edge!!!!!!! then what would we do????????????

Seriously though, this shows how easily something can happen , it might be so easy for anyone of us to end up where the water bottle went! we have to be very careful all the time while out in the mountains!!!!!

 The beast is now looking for the water bottle, unfortunately we haven't  heard from the bottle since, so presume it passed away on the way down!    Haha  .   later on Dave tweeted "Gina was unhurt ,in fact i think the bottle had enough and jumped!" 

I am making my way across now ,carefully getting good foot holds on the smooth slippery rocks and holding on to any available rock!  i does not take me long to get to the base of the steep scramble section , and i hear that Gary & Alan have both decided it is a bit to dangerous for them to cross safely , i have "Great Respect" for them for that , its not worth risking personal injury or worse and possible risk to other people if a rescue is required.

Andy has just taken this image of us crossing the "sharp edge" it really does give a good idea of what its like looking down on to it!    OMG!!     Have we really just made our way across there????

More of Andy's pics Here on drop box.

The others have now made their way to the end of this section , Dave has just got a bit stuck for a moment!   Ooops!     he said don't mention that!   

 Ray has advised us the easiest route is to take the gully over to the right of the concave shaped hump that is in front of us! Andy has already climbed straight up this hump and i feel that this is the best/ easiest route too , at least for the first 10 meters , so that is what i am going to do.  I have just made my way quickly over the hump, jumping across the smooth rocks and have made my way into the gully for the second part of the scramble, it is quite narrow and difficult to get good foot holds on the very smooth rock and  have just found a loose rock that almost came away in my hand!! Arghhh  but i am slowly managed to get up the gully and have now joined Andy quite high up for a rest while the others are still clambering up the lower part of the gully. the mist has rolled in again , and can just make out the "sharp edge" way below now in the mist!!!! Yes! we have just clambered over that!

it is amazing how fast the mist rolls in , then disappears so quickly up here!

Looking upwards towards the summit, i cant see much but it is very steep! this is a really great scramble, in fact i am thinking  "i really want to go back to the bottom and do all this again"   " i cant wait to traverse the "sharp edge" again!  "            Exhilarating!!!!!!

The six of us have now made our way to the top of this scramble section and can now follow a fairly good  path up to the summit trig point of Blencathra!!!    Yay.   by now the mist is so thick we cannot not see a thing!!!!!!!
and it is Bloody cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is supposed to be June , not mid winter! Arghhhhh

Gary & Alan have taken another easier path up from below to the summit and have arrived not long after us.
they are both a bit disappointed at not doing the Edge , but will have another go in better safer conditions another day.

              a summit pic of Gina,Andy,Dave and Ray standing on the trig point in the mist!!!!!!!
                                                                 no views today :(

 

What a fantastic part of the day, not what i had expected!   thought it would have been harder if truth be told!  anyhow the day is not over , we still have a long way to go, including another Wainwright! we will now descend down Atkinson pike and continue to Bowscale fell. where ever that is, as i have NOT a clue where we actually are lol

 

Really wish the weather was better, the views from up here would be amazing!  good reason to climb again i guess!

Blencathra via Bannerdale Craggs & "SHARP EDGE" PT1 with the Twitterati june 3rd 2012

Sunday the 3rd June will always be remembered as the day i conquered Blencathras "sharp edge"    Making friends on twitter who live in the English lake district lead to me being invited by Gina Pennington to join her & her hubby Dave along with a couple of other fell walkers ,  i am now calling the group #twitter fellwalkers or Twitterati in Gina world:)
I took the opportunity to research the  "Sharp edge"  reading about it and seeing a few images it does appear to be quite scary & obviously dangerous!    and only safe in dry conditions!!!
The meeting time was 8am in the village of Mungrisdale which is just off the main A592 to Keswick, which meant i had to leave home at 5.30!!!!!!!!!!!!
 and guess what, it was chucking it down!  not good, but the forecast was for the band of rain to be clear of the northern lakes so we should be ok, touch wood!  driving up a flooded m6 in torrential rain really didn't help while thinking of the "edge". any how ,i arrived in good time, and it was dry!

  i parked up and met Alan , then Ray who was to be our guide arrived with his brother.  the group was completed when Gary,Andy, Gina &Dave appeared. We did joke a few times during the day that everyone only came to sample Ginas famous home made chocolate brownies :))  more of that later!
So eight of us departed on our adventure, only Ray,his brother & Andy had previously done the edge!

                         Group photo so if anyone doesn't make it, we will know who!  haha
                                              L-R  Andy,Dave,Gina, Me,Gary, & Alan

The route was down the valley with Souther fell on the left, The Tongue on our right and heading towards Bannerdale. as you can see it was quite misty ahead!

We are following the Glenderamackin river then heading up towards the pale green hill on the right in this image towards Bannerdale ridge.

 and yes, here is Gina is trying to Tweet while climbing up towards the ridge, but unfortunately there was no signal!!!!!!   we are heading to the top of this small hill:)

Now we are heading directly up  Bannerdale ridge, covered in thick mist so cant see how steep it is!

A small group photo with Bannerdale ridge behind in the swirling mist!

 slippery shale!  very impressive though!   thick mist really adds to the atmosphere!

and Steep!

and as you can see, quite a slope to climb on the slightly damp slippery shale!!

Eventually we all made it to the top without any trouble, and this is our view!!!! Arghhh  the mist was constantly swirling around ,clearing slightly every now & again like in this image!

and the trig point at the summit by which time the air was wet with the mist!  More importantly being june, it was COLD!  almost freezing in fact!!!!!!  could not believe this is almost mid summer!

                                         Next stop, Scales Tarn and the "SHARP EDGE"
  we made our way down to the other side of Bannerdale crags  which is at the head of the valley between Bannerdale and Blencathra .  i guess we are not going to see any distant views today, but the very fine misty dampness in the air has gone so hopefully the edge will be dry enough to make a safe traverse!

                          around the next bend, might get to finally see our intended target!

           But no!  yet another steep climb lol  but can at least just see the top of Blencathra :)  i think!

     And finally, our first glimpse of the infamous "Sharp edge" the ridge running across the right hand side of this image!!!  Wow!!!  awesome sight!

We all stopped for a rest overlooking Scales tarn ,with the path up to the ridge clearly seen on the right!    it does look quite high!  lol   and we are going to have to clamber across the very top of that ridge!  OMG!  we have to remember to respect it, people have DIED trying to cross this ridge!!!!!!!

                                               To be continued :))))           the scary part!