Wild camp - Ore Gap, Lake District, 21st June 2014.

Heading into the Langstrath valley from Stonethwaite, on a very warm Saturday afternoon.
 Lots of folks out and about especially at the various rock pools on the way.  

The zig - zags at Stake Beck, near the end of the Langstrath valley. Well made path great to walk up and great for the mountain bikers that were coming down it.  

Once we'd got to the top of the zig - zags, and Stake Pass, we got the first view of The Great Slab and Bowfell, from a different angle for a change.  

After passing the descent for Langdale, we made our way along to Angle Tarn.

Surprisingly., there were only two tents at the tarn, but we continued on up to Ore Gap. 

Alpine style cairn just before Ore Gap where pitched the tent.

At dusk, I took Tess for an extra walk over Esk Pike
 with views over Esk Hause and the Scafell's.  

Looking over Grange over Sands (I think?) from Esk Hause. 

Derwent Water and Keswick from Esk Pike.

Tess on Esk Pike at Dusk, with the route to Scafell behind on the skykline.

A glorious summer's morning at Ore Gap, with Bowfell behind.  

A poop with a view!

Tess, cooling down in Angle Tarn on our way back down to Langstrath.  

Spot the climbers on Eagle (Heron) Crag.

"Tilly's Barn", near Stonethwaite Farm campsite.

Two days in Wasdale - 17th / 18th May, 2014. Day 2.

Sheep pushes tree over!

The long plod up through Hollow Stones.

Scafell Pike's north facing crags.

Scafell and Broad Stand from the Mountain Rescue Box.

Lord's Rake from the stretcher box.

Great Gable seen from Scafell Pike.

Back at Stockley Bridge and Seathwaite. 

Two days in Wasdale - 17th / 18th May, 2014. Day 1.

Myself and Jon spent 2 days in Wasdale. Day one was from Seathwaite, up to Styhead Tarn, via Taylor Force Gill. 

From the stretcher box at the tarn, we took the path for the Climbers Traverse, crossing the Hell Gate gullies and the climbers crags.

Spot the climbers on Trophet Wall.

We didn't "Thread the Needle", as we were carrying large packs, so went below,
watching the climbing action as we did so.

Home for the night - Wasdale Head.

Scafells from Great Gable. 

Final look at the Napes Ridges as we descended the scree for the main path to Wasdale. 

Back on solid ground!

A welcome sight.

Great Gable from the campsite at the Wasdale Head Inn.

Threading the Needle, 11th March 2012.

With the prospect of little in the way of winter climbing (at our level !), myself and Ian decided on some easy-ish scrambling in the Lakes. The forecast was also a bit better further south and so we headed for Seathwaite with The Climbers Traverse, a "threading of the needle" and Sphinx Ridge. The walk via the alternative path alongside Taylorforth Gill was pleasant but sweaty in the unusually warm weather, and the Climbers Traverse was equally enjoyable. The low cloud came and went as we approached Napes Needle and we finally got a view of our route between the needle and the crag behind. The way up between the Needle and the main crag needs some squirming and grunting to get up before a brief rest on some blocks before the tricky (in the wet) downclimb.    

As it turned out, it was damp in the shaded side of the needle and together with the very polished rocks we didn't fancy trusting our boots on the greasy rock. We had put harnesses on in case of this so all we had to do was get out the 30m roped, place it round one of the blocks and abseil down.  

Ian abbing down through the gloom on the other side of the needle. We then made our way around the face of the crag to the Dress Circle for a well earned cuppa!  

Sadly there were no views of the Scafell's to be had through the cloud and there was only just a view of Napes Needle itself.

  Somehow I managed to draw blood, either on the way up through the needle or on the abseil down! 

 Sphinx Rock through the cloud and Sphinx Ridge behind it. There are various descriptions for getting onto the ridge, but in the past, in good weather I have tackled it direct from behind the Sphinx. Most guides have it as a grade 2 scramble, however today it proved really awkward and needed a bit of a cheat by pulling on some gear as we climbed up to the right of the slab into a notch in the first tower!? I can only guess I went left up the more exposed slab to the left the last time I did it? Obviously the more direct route is harder ,maybe Diff or V-Diff? 

 We did see a (very small!) brocken spectre further up the ridge though.

After the enjoyable scramble up Westmorland Crags, we were rewarded with a cloud inversion over Styhead and Wasdale, with the Scafell's in the distance.

Looking over to Langdale with Harrison Stickle and Pike of Stickle and Windermere behind.

Some of the locals down in Seathwaite.

Wet weather programme - Wasdale Head, 10th - 11th July 2010.

It was a case of damage limitation as myself and the Gunner set off from Seathwaite in the pouring rain. We were hoping the rain might stop later in the day, but we changed our plan of going up to Styhead Tarn and over Great Gable to going up Ruddy Gill from Stockley Bridge, detour past Sprinking Tarn, over to the stretcher box below Gable and straight down to Wasdale.
Even then we still got soaked and it was a relief when the rain finally eased so we could get the tents up.
Then it stareted raining again!
The tents; Coleman Epsilon 2 and Easycamp Star 100, both coped well with the almost constant rain. Unfortuneatly when you have such small tents, gettingwet kit dry isn't easy.

           

Luckily the Wasdale Head Inn is right next door to the campsite (not the National Trust site which is about 1km away), so we managed to get some gear dry as we sat and ate our meals in the bar. The food is simple but filling and served extremely quickly. The beer is nice too!

The following morning, the rain finally stopped about 10am and we were relatively dry aswell, so we set off for Brown Tongue and Hollow Stones. It was still quite windy though as we climbed the little path/chimney at the head of Hollow Stones which brings you out at Mickledore, before reaching Scafell Pike at 977m. The sun almost came out as we stopped for the last of our rations, before descending to the col between the Pike and Broad Crag, and then the path down to the Corridor Route and back to Seathwaite via Styhead Tarn.  

Lessons learnt; 

Take spare socks -  I hadn't planned on getting so wet

Wear gaiters - I hadn't planned on getting so wet

Take more plastic bags - I hadn't planned on getting so wet

Invest in a dry bag liner - yeah you guessed it

The slightest forecast of rain - Don't go out with a small, one man tent!   

Scafell Pike via Great End, Esk Pike and Bowfell, 22nd June 2010.

After a day lazing in the sun and doing nothing it was time to get out and get some miles in!  We headed for Hollow Stones via the path that leads straight from the campsite and cut across to the Corridor Route and the head of Piers Gill.

Looking up to Hollow Stones from the campsite. The small notch in the middle would be our eventual return route later.

After joining the Corridor Route and passing the head of Piers Gill, we descended on the path to a point where the path levels, about 200m above a natural rock gateway. This is the start point for the grade II scramble up Great End. Although there was still some early morning mist which spoilt the views briefly.

   

Nice grade II scrambling came in several tiers of crags, and as we got higher the views down to Styhead Tarn improved although we never quite saw the top of Great Gable.

After a cuppa on the summit of Great End, we crossed over to the main path to climb Esk Pike with views over to Langdale and the "Pikes".

From Esk Pike it was on to Bowfell with the "crinkles" beyond.

Bowfell's summit has great views right over the Great Slab and into Langdale. From here we retraced out steps back to Great End, but stayed on the main route for Scafell Pike via Broad Crag.

The summit of Scafell Pike comes into view as we cross over Broad Crag.

We finally get a glimpse of Great Gable and the head of Piers Gill from above.

Looking across to Scafell from Scafell Pike. Sadly we didn't have time to the grade III Broad Stand route to it's summit, seen centre left of the picture. Lord's Rake can also be seen in the centre.

We still had to descend to Hollow Stones anyway, so we got a closer look at the famous Broad Stand route and it's notorious sloping terraces. A rope is usually advised , even on this grade III route due to the potential of it going pear shaped!

   

We also got a good view into Lord's Rake with it's jammed, fallen block at the top.

A careful descent from the col down a steep scambly and loose path brought us back into the Hollow Stones area and back on the path to the campsite with views of Wastwater all the way!