NAVIGATION SKILLS COURSE

Another Navigation Skills course in June met with perfect weather as Craig, David and Jim met with some complex routefinding in the Silver Howe area of Langdale. This must be one of the most badly mapped parts of the Lake District with numerous errors relating to path positions, but it's also an excellent area for learning to Navigate. Day 2 was spent on Cold Pike and the Crinkles, providing training on a beautiful part of the higher fells. Navigation Skills courses run on the first and third weekends in every month.

SCAFELL PIKE - THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE

SCAFELL PIKE AT 3am - WAS IT WORTH IT??
Three Peaks challengers Penny Neal and her team from Superdrug arrived at Wasdale Head recently at 3am to walk Scafell as the second part of their Three Peaks Challenge. Still weather with temperature inversions meant a damp and misty start in the dark from Wasdale - no bad thing as at 3am the best tactic is simply to focus on the next footstep....We slogged our way up Brown Tongue, and as we traversed across below Pikes Crag we suddenly came out of the cloying mist and into the most magnificent sunrise. Soon, the cloud lay below us as we looked out towards Gable, Skiddaw and the higher Lakeland Peaks peeping out above the inversion. Was it worth it? - unquestionably - it was brilliant!

SCAFELL PIKE WALK

Nomenca asked for a walk to Scafell Pike for 30 members of their teams from across Britain. Having had previous experience of walking from Borrowdale, and the group having walked Snowdon and Ben Nevis before, we challenged them with one of the classic through walks from Mosedale through to the Great Moss in Eskdale, up to Mickledore and the summit, then back to Langdale. It was a great day with some cold but bright weather and even some snow showers on the tops. A tough walk though, with some welcome beer at the end at the Old Dungeon Ghyll.

TEAM BULD EVENT WITH LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY

Early May saw another team build event with Loughborough University, involving a range of outdoor activities and film making - each team had to make a film promoting the Lake District as 'The Adventure Capital' They were an excellent group as always and we had great fun watching the films!

NAVIGATION SKILLS WEEKEND

Denzil, Leanne and friends had a couple of cold days for their navigation skills course at the beginning of May, with sleet and hail on the fell tops for a while - ideal conditions for learning to navigate! Weekend courses run throughout the year - contact us for dates.

CLIMBING MIDDLEFELL BUTTRESS WITH JO AND MICK

A really nice day's climbing with a lovely couple, learning to lead climb and a refresher on abseil retreats. A perfect day!

SCAFELL PIKE WITH CREW FROM GERMAN TV ARD

John and Jack White, along with Paddy Cave and Dave Willis helped German TV Station ARD reporter and film crew to reach the summit of Scafell Pike recently. Walking in from Borrowdale, the Corridor route provided plenty of wintry conditions and some steep snow slopes in places, though fortunately the freezing level rose to 850m which made things easier. Pride of place went to a folding bike, which reporter Bjorn had taken with him throughout this travelogue, and which he insisted on carrying all the way to the summit - a good effort! Lots of snow high up on Scafell still.

WINTER SKILLS ON DOLLYWAGGON

Kevin, Jean, Michael and I had a great day out in the Dollywaggon Pike area last week, in Alpine-like conditions with blue skies and great snow. We covered all the basic ice axe and crampon skills and enjoyed some fantastic views. MORE SNOW FELL TODAY (SUNDAY) WITH MORE SNOW AND COLD WEATHER TO COME - WINTER CONDITIONS ARE EXCELLENT

Lakes Climbing Conditions

There is still alot of good condition available in the Lakes at present. Many high gullies and ice routes are in good condition, and will improve as the weather gets colder again during the week. There is alot of ice about that will be climbable for the next few days at least. Some easy angeled mixed routes and high mixed routes should also be possible. Climbed Botterills slab and Moss Gyhll on monday, the gullies of Great End on Thursday and a new mixed route on Scafell on friday, conditions where great for all venues as shown in the photos.

Winter Skills on Striding Edge, Snow, Ice and Sun!

Had a great day out with Sue and Bill Thornton on the Helvellyn Edges. Conditions were superb on the mountain, we covered various skills whilst completing the horseshoe.

Thanks to Sue and Bill for a great day!

Wind, Spindrift and Snow Holeing.

Had a great three days and two nights out last week in the Cairngorms with Andrew. He has plans of adventure racing in cold and windy places, so the Cairngorms was the perfect training ground! We were kept cool by 70 mph gusts throughout our three days, making the bivvy experience all the more entertaining and valuable as a learning experience for Andrew. The photos show Andrew as we were making our way up to Corie Cas from the closed snow gates. The scene is that there is no evidence of the road at this point as it was snowed out, we stumble over a drift and find a car, not expected. A great three days out in Scotland with brilliant winter scenery and conditions. Skis or snow shoes may be a good idea if anyone is heading into the Northern Corries.

Winter Skills Course, Great Conditions!

We just had a great winter skills weekend out on Raise and Helvellyn. Conditions were perfect for this sort of course with hard neve snow and a good covering. Some folks out on skis still on Raise though is getting patchy and fairly icy. Perfect climbing conditions in most high snow gullies, good ice in reliable spots also. Due to a dusting of snow on Saturday night and wind + freeze, the easy angled mixed routes were also looking good ie. Viking Buttress. All high winter crags should have something to offer currently, perhaps not steep mixed routes though. A temporary thaw is due tomorrow, followed by another freeze, so snow and ice should only get better. Photos taken by John Ealing show us out on the Sunday looking at some rope work on Striding Edge and enjoying the last light of the day before heading for Glenridding.

SNOW FOR MANX VISITORS!!

Isle of Man visitors Jane, Kirsty and Katie had led a snow-starved existence on the beautiful Isle of Man, so this visit to the Lake District offed a chance to make up for lost time. Severe gales and generally harsh conditions meant that Loughrigg was the best option, but this lowly fell still provided some severe winter conditions, lots of snow and a windswept and icy summit where we all had to hang on to the cairn to stay upright. A lot of fun, and we saw some beautiful ice formations on Grasmere too.

LANGDALE NEW YEARS DAY DAY WALK

A group from the Langdale Hotel enjoyed a fantastic New Year's Day walk with Highpoint guide John White, taking an 'off piste' route up to Copt Howe, then to Silver Howe and all points to High Close. Early sunshine gave some brilliant views, and snowfall towards the end of the walk added a truly wintry touch if one was ever needed! Snow conditions varied from icy crust to windslab, but walking was generally easy given the conditions.