Winter Mountaineering Course - Scotland


SCRAMBLING - CUMBRIA, SNOWDONIA, SCOTLAND

ROCK CLIMBING - CUMBRIA (Lakes) (1 to 4 days),
SNOWDONIA (3 to 5 days)

NAVIGATION Courses - CUMBRIA (Lakes) (1 or 2 days)

Saturday 30 January 2010

Climbing in the Lake District

It's turned colder again - yipee! A late change in schedule saw me able to cram in some personal climbing so I was up at 4.30 to drive to Patterdale for an early walk-in to Red Tarn on Helvellyn.
We arrived as the sun rose and were alone on the mountain, which gave us the pick of the routes. We climbed V Corner III - I added a bit of early "spice" too it by climbing a semi free-standing 3 meter icicle to gain a runnel near the crest - brilliant. I had to kick my crampons in carefully so what I was standing on didn't fall away. The V-Corner towards the top was excellent.
The first of the masses started ariving at 9.00 and we summitted as the walkers started gathering on the summit.
From the top we could see the cornices undercutting beside the trig point.
Striding Edge was starting to look busy (later it had a continuous line of people all along it).
We decended Swirral Edge, grabbed a warm drink, and then climber Gully I Buttress II as it was one of the few available lines.
Conditions look good for the start of the week but be early to avoid the masses.
My plans for the coming week include some night climbing before heading abroad for a few days.

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