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Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:04 pm
by Lobwan
Well the day started at 5am when me and my two friends, Craig(cnevster) and Simon, set off from Edinburgh in search of some fun in the lakes.

We arrived at Wasdale head at about 7:45am and set off walking at 8am.
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The plan was to first head up onto Sca Fell via Lords rake but as we got up there we found it to be filled with snow :(
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So with a quick change of plan we carried on up onto the shoulder between Sca Fell and Scafell Pike with a bit of a scramble up.
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We reached the shoulder at about 9am and had the choice to carry on to the summit of Scafell Pike which was clear of crowds beings early, but we decided to head down the other side of the shoulder and find a good scramble up onto Sca Fell.

I found a nice waterfall and proceeded to pioneer a scramble up it. It finally joined the main path near the top.
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View down the waterfall with Scafell Pike in the background.
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We got to the summit of Sca Fell about 10am just as some cloud cover rolled in so views where pretty limited.

After a quick bite to eat we set off back down the main path and back up onto the shoulder between Sca Fell and Scafell Pike. We got back to the shoulder about 11am and by this time the crowds where out in force all heading to the summit of Scafell Pike. We made good progress and got to the summit of Scafell pike pretty quickly.

We didn't hang about on Scafell pike for to long because it was so busy. So we set off and bagged Broad Crag and Ill Crag in quick succession.
View from Ill Crag
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While on Ill Crag there was a helicopter going about that landed on Scafell Pike.
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After the excitement of the helicopter we got on with the walk and headed over to Great End. We where hoping for some good views of Great Gable but there was a lot of cloud about by this time.
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We headed down off Great End and headed towards Sty Head. We got to Sty head for about 2pm and we got a bit of sun so decided to stop for a bit of lunch and a little rest before we headed up Great Gable.
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The climb up Great Gable was a relentless slog for little reward as it had clouded over again by the time we got to the top, so much for seeing the best view in England! But the cloud cleared as we where coming down Great Gable so snapped a quick shot.
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And one of the last hill of the day Kirk Fell
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We headed off to Kirk Fell and after a couple of 'false summits' we managed to find the real summit cairn in the clouds. It was about 4pm now and every one was starting to get a little tired. So we headed off Kirk Fell to the north and scrambled down some rocks and joined up with Black Sail Pass and headed back for Wasdale Head. The cloud cleared for a couple of shots on the way down.

We got back to the car at 5pm all exhausted ready for dinner and a couple of beers!
The weather was pretty good for the whole day just some cloud cover spoiling some of the views, but at least it stayed dry all day and we got patches of sun shine.


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Bonus Walk
As an added bonus for the weekend we headed over to Striding Edge on Helvellyn on Sunday.
Was a pretty wet and windy day with poor visibility so didn't take many photo's but here is one we did take.

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We didn't hang about for long because the wind chill on the ridge line was pretty cold.
Took about 4 hours for the following route.

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Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:36 am
by ChrisW
Fantastic walk, great report and some stunning pics too :D

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:21 am
by susanmyatt
Wonderful report with superb pics, love the lunch shot with the bright blue sky over Sty,well done lads :D

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 4:16 pm
by yokehead
Like your choice of route and terrain, and terrific photos! 8)

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:30 pm
by Derek T
Thanks for the report. I'm spending a weekend in Wasdale in May to bag Sca Fell, Ill Crag and Broad Crag to complete the English 3,000 footers. I've been looking at the maps trying to figure out a good route as I wanted to get a few others done on the same walk so I think I might use your route as it looks like a great day out.

I hope I'm as lucky with the weather as you were - those are some great pictures!

Derek

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:34 am
by cnevster
Derek T. wrote:Thanks for the report. I'm spending a weekend in Wasdale in May to bag Sca Fell, Ill Crag and Broad Crag to complete the English 3,000 footers. I've been looking at the maps trying to figure out a good route as I wanted to get a few others done on the same walk so I think I might use your route as it looks like a great day out.

I hope I'm as lucky with the weather as you were - those are some great pictures!

Derek


Derek I can throughly recommend this route, it's a really good day out. The only thing we would have changed was to ascend Scafell via the Lord's Rake rather than having to go up the shoulder and then drop down the other side. It did lead to an interesting scramble but I'm sure the Lord's Rake route would be just as good.

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:57 pm
by Crawler
was beautiful weather wasn't it - I wasn't too far away on some nearby hills. That gully up Scafell to Foxes Tarn is the normal route up - fun isn't it?

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:42 pm
by colgregg
I was over the way from you on the Sunday spending a thoroughly miserable few hours around Angle Tarn, High Street and Thornthwaite Crag in the driving wind and mist that hit you first. It was a welcome relief to be sat in the White Lion drying out at the end of the day. http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10581

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:57 am
by skuk007
Nice report and photos lobwan. Quite a long day there with a long drive to start off too.

Re: Lake District, Southern Fells - Scafell Pike + 6

PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:27 pm
by Lobwan
Thanks for all the comments guys :thumbup:

Was a really awesome walk and would highly recommend it!

Crawler wrote:was beautiful weather wasn't it - I wasn't too far away on some nearby hills. That gully up Scafell to Foxes Tarn is the normal route up - fun isn't it?


Yeah was a nice day. Didn't quiet manage to get my suntan on tho :lol:
We didn't come out at the Tarn we stuck to the right and continued the scramble up to pretty much the top of Scafell. Was great fun 8)