WWW.KARLSWALKS.CO.UK
PICTURES AND TRIP REPORTS FROM MY WALKS IN THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT
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E-mail - karl@karlswalks.co.uk |
I had arranged to go for a walk in the Lakes with Sue on Tuesday but all the weather sites were saying that there would be constant rain so I decided at the last minute to go up on Monday which was forecasted to be dry. David came with me today ( Sue could only walk on Tuesday )
Not a bad day at all, dry and unseasonably warm as we made our way through Glenamara Park getting a view along Ullswater.
Our intention was to climb Nethermost Pike by the east ridge but unlike the other times I've done it, go all the way up from the valley floor following Nethermostcove Beck which is the beck you can see ahead.
Further along Grisedale now. There is a path marked on the map which is on the right of the beck when seen from here but we thought we might make a detour to the old mine workings on Eagle Crag which is the hill to the left of the beck.
Looking upstream from the crossing of Grisedale Beck.
We decided that we had enough climbing to do so decided against exploring the old mine.
A bit of blue sky above and what could be High Spying How on Striding Edge coming out of the cloud.
Looking back down the valley.
Eventually after a pretty stiff climb we reach the start of the ridge and have a look down into Nethermost Cove. Striding Edge above was coming in and out of the cloud.
As we started up the lower bumps on the ridge David said " well that doesn't look too bad "
.
But when the upper slopes loomed out of the mist he said "No" and I said " Yes".
After the mist had blown away David thought that it didn't look that bad after all. We decided to refuel here before attempting the climb..
Looking back past the top of Eagle Crag from our lunch spot.
Unfortunately whilst we were having lunch the weather took a turn for the worse. The mist descended and the wind got up making it quite a bit cooler. I've climbed the east ridge three times before ( once in full snow cover ) and come down once but never in mist which lead to us taking a very tricky way up.
The rock today was very slippery and the grass wet so after about half an hour of fruitless clambering around we just couldn't seem to find a route up which we were comfortable with so we decided to retreat whilst we still could.
Thankfully the mist lifted as we came down giving us a view of Hard Tarn so to enable us to have different descent route we headed down to it, which was still quite tricky but we made it safely.
High Crag reflected in the very clear water.
On our way down Ruthwaite Cove.
Dramatic swirls of cloud were constantly blowing along the valley and up over St. Sunday Crag.
A couple of quite impressive falls are passed on the way down.
Lower Grisedale and Place Fell are clear now.
Eventually we reach the main path coming out by Ruthwaite climbing hut.
Nearly back to the end of Grisedale and the east ridge is clear but the top of Nethermost is still covered.
Looking back We definitely made the right decision, Nethermost Pike will still be there in the summer and David is determined to come back in better weather and have another attempt.