Helvelyn,Nethermost pike and Dollywaggon 0ct 21 2012

Another day in the mountains, i set off for the lakes with no real idea where to climb, but Helvelyn always seems to appeal to me.  so i decided as it was looking a sunny day for a change and the possible chance of a cloud inversion i decided Helvelyn was to place to go. driving through Windermere and through Rydal & Grasmere it was thick fog, a cloud inversion was a good possibility.  i parked at the swirls car park at Thirlmere and started climbing up the Gill path.

                  early morning mistiness with sun just hitting Blencathra in the distance.

                            climbing higher and looking back down the mist is building :)

       using 300mm lens to show the dramatic mini cloud inversion building over st johns in the vale.

         the full view :)  amazing standing here watching it building and flowing into/over thirlmere!

i am seeing some very atmospheric conditions , taking loads of images as i climb steadily upwards:)
zooming in on Thirlmere , the colours are starting to look good.

as i climb to the top of the crags i get my first view towards the Coniston fells, unfortunately no cloud inversion but the low mist looks wonderful.

 

 a "sun dog"  Yay!   rainbow in sunlight :)

                                                   a wonderful panorama, view LARGE

       Looking down Swirral edge with a superb looking sky:)   a great day to be up in the mountains.

      i cant believe there are no other people up here yet on a beautiful day like this! i guess it will be packed up here later :)     the summit cairn on Helvelyn.

                 
                              looking the opposite direction towards langdales and coniston fells.                                                                       view LARGE

 heading across to the summit ,a view of Red tarn from Helvelyn with Swirral edge on the left, Striding edge just visible over to the right.

       i am at the summit, only 2 other people here and two just coming up swirral edge onto the top,             Looking towards Nethermost pike and Dollywagon ,on the left.   my next destinations :)

 i have made my way across to Nethermost pike, i think this is the summit but not too sure  lol
but who cares, its wonderful up here today :D

                                                         Dollywagon ahead, i think  lol

                                    i am on the tongue now on Dollywagon summit What a view!

           looking back towards Nethermost pike top right corner. sitting in the warm sun eating lunch

                               i can just make out Windermere  through the mist :)

                Looking back towards Nethermost pike and Helvelyn where i have just walked from :)

  i have started walking back towards Helvelyn now , using 300mm lens to show Harrop Tarn across  Thirlmere.

                                           stunning views today and great big skies :D

 Thirlmere in view now, what a day it has been up here.  i will take a drive round Thirlmere later to shoot some of the autumn colours :)

                               The autumn colours are looking fabulous now in the sun

                that is the end of a great mornings climb , of to drive around Thirlmere now :)

A Challenge on a Mountain May 16 th pt2 Fairfield

After a great start to the day , finding and shooting my first ever Duke of Burgundy it was now time to climb a mountain!   Fairfield was today's target at 2964 ft and includes a scramble up a scree of loose stone! cant wait :)
I parked up in the Dunmail raise and started to climb up "raise beck" towards Grisedale tarn. the blue sky of the morning had disappeared and replaced with quite thick cloud!  not great for photography but being a lot cooler than the early morning was much better for climbing:)   in fact it was quite cold considering it is May!!   this was taken about halfway up the waterfall section , looking back to Dunmail raise.

       

and looking upwards!

a few quick shots of the waterfall, must come back mid winter when snow on the ground and they are frozen!!!!

                          The path climbs steeply following the waterfalls until it levels out

               eventually i get my first view of Grisedale Tarn , and Fairfield summit on the right

in this image you can clearly see the path winding its way up the scree towards the summit!

This is the beginning of the steep climb towards the scree section!

At the top, just before the very steep climb to the summit , i meet two ladies coming down , they had just come from st Sunday crag and had tried to climb the scree but found it too loose , they said a couple other guys had warned them not too try as it was extremely slippery with loose shale sliding under the feet!      i had already made it this far , so wasn't going to give up now!              i thought!  cant be too difficult could it?    any how , a quick shot looking down towards Grasmere with Coniston in the distance.

here is a phone pic of the scree section, looks quite daunting actually looking up , i was thinking "how the hell do i get up there then?"

starting to climb up the shale, & as already mentioned was sliding from under my feet , so i chose to go off the path on the right hand side , it was a mixture of grass and rock, much steeper but i could get a decent foot hold and i had no trouble climbing up the steepest section of scree before coming to a more normal rocky path!   i said hello to one of the locals :)   but didn't get a reply:D

                                        The view down towards Ullswater was magnificent!

and looking down on Grisedale tarn, with Dollywaggon pike behind and Helvelyn range in the background!  think might climb Dollywagon from Grisedale sometime:)  then over Helvelyn!

                                  looking down to Grasmere with Great Rigg on the left

Finally the summit plateau, a fairly flat top with multiple cairns and two small wind shelters:)

as you can see, very flat with Windermere in the distance!   so when someone says you wont make it, or too dangerous/slippy, ignore them lol   wouldn't have missed this for anything!

Looking towards Helvelyn over to the left, with St Sunday Crag right of centre.  it was while standing by this shelter a person appeared from knowhere and said "Gooday mate, bloody freezin up here! " it was a guy from australia on an annual 3 week holiday in the lakes :)  he was correct, for May it was freezing!!!!!

another view of yet another cairn with st Sunday crag on the left!

a wide view showing Windermere on left, then Esthwaite water and Coniston water. with Great Rigg running down the centre to the right.

Another cairn , this time facing towards Langdales with Easedale tarn just visible near centre of image and Helm crag to the left of it!  as you can see the cloud was really building so i decided to make my way back down.

a view of Seat Sandal on the left of Grisedale tarn, starting to get quite dark now!!  the path back takes me through the gap behind the tarn, so a long way to go!!!

If you would like to read Tanyas account of her funny Fairfield trip and a really good blog of lake district walks.click here   Heelwalker

all images taken with canon 5d2 & 17-40 L