Whiteside and Hopegill Head, an afternoon in cloud

[gld73]

Not a great forecast, but not awful ... and with the rest of the family here now I had the afternoon free again and so took the opportunity to get out. I've never done Whiteside before, so for the third time in this couple of weeks down to see my parents I headed to the Loweswater / Crummock Water area as it's a short drive and I can be setting off on the walk half an hour after leaving the house, ideal for a short December afternoon.

Parked at the Lanthwaite parking area where there were 3 other cars, but never saw their occupants on the walk today. My main aim was just to get out and get Whiteside done, but I ended up doing Hopegill Head again too (done previously as part of the Coledale Round in rubbish conditions) as I decided to come back via Gasgale Gill to have a more gradual descent route. My approximate route:

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View of Whiteside (top in cloud) and Whin Ben from Lanthwaite car park

Heading up Whin Ben it was a nice view back to Mellbreak and Crummock Water while I was still below the cloud (Lanthwaite car park in the centre of the picture)

Just before I went into clag I did have a thought that maybe I should have just repeated some lower hills to stay in nicer conditions (Low Fell and Fellbarrow looking nice here to the NW of Whiteside)

Looking down to Gasgale Gill, the way I'd come back

Getting to the western top of Whiteside

From the western top, I followed the clear path along the ridge, going over every bump as visibility was too poor to see clearly which the highest would be. This was the view back along the ridge

Selfie at Hopegill Head summit

...and the unspoiled version

From Hopegill Head I took the path over Sand Hill to Coledale Hause, then started down the Gasgale Gill path here

The path down was on loose and eroded ground in places, it did take a bit of concentration rather than just being an easy saunter down the gill. Whiteside still in cloud.

Some nice waterfalls on Liza Beck on the way down

The cloud over Whiteside did seem to be lifting a bit as time went on

A few minutes later the ridge looked almost clear ...not that I was going to head back up to get the views now