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Slight Side and Scafell from Wha House Farm

Slight Side and Scafell from Wha House Farm


Postby gld73 » Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:52 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Scafell, Slight Side

Hewitts included on this walk: Scafell

Date walked: 25/03/2022

Time taken: 5

Distance: 13.5 km

Ascent: 900m

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Another fine day, so with MWIS saying the chance of clear summits was 'almost certain', I opted to go high - I'd been looking at the Scafells yesterday when doing Pillar and pals and decided it was time I went back up one of them for the first time in a long time.

Rather than head down Wasdale again, I had a look for other routes and saw that I could tick off a new Wainwright (Slight Side) en route to Scafell from the south. I've never approached from that side before, so off to Eskdale I went, parking in the small NT car park opposite the entrance to Wha House Farm. The woman from the farm came up for a nice chat as I was getting ready, so it was 11am by the time I actually set off.

The route map shown below is an approximate one - there were several times where the faint path I was following split, or even disappeared for bits, but on a clear day like today it didn't really matter, I just kept heading in the right direction and always found the path again. I imagine in the clag this wouldn't be a great route, but on a clear, sunny day like today, it was a fantastic route, really enjoyable and a much quieter option than routes starting from Wasdale. A real mix of terrain and great views of surrounding crags and hills; surprisingly for a Lake District walk, it reminded me a bit of some of the less trodden routes to munros or corbetts in the Highlands.

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Shortly after leaving the car park, the path goes through a couple of sheep folds

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It feels quite remote, but on a day like today, all I had to do was head for the big mountain peaking up in the distance, it didn't really matter which way I went round these little craggy bumps on the way

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One more craggy little bump to pass by before the more open grassy walk to Slight Side ahead

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I was on the path again by this time, this erratic is a good landmark before the path starts heading up, going up Slight Side

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The path is grassy on the lower slopes, then there's a steeper stony / scree path before it eases again and arrives at the rocky outcrops at the top. Scrambling time :)

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I went left at a small cleft but once on top, saw I should actually have gone to the right to get to the summit. It was an easy hop over, the rocks were lovely and grippy.

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Slight Side summit. It's really just a top of Scafell, ahead

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Harter Fell tended to dominate the view to the south

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Pano from near Slight Side's summit; Scafell is the mountain on the left, a relatively straightforward walk from here

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Whin Rigg and Illgill Head above Burnmoor tarn

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Scafell Pike and Bow Fell

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I left the summit of Slight Side to head onwards and upwards, Scafell's southern crags looked impressive

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A look back at Slight Side (middle of pic) - definitely a southern top of Scafell rather than a separate mountain

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Scafell summit

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...and again, but not looking into the sun this time!

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The Mosedale round of hills I did yesterday

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Spent about 15 mins wandering around the summit plateau enjoying the views and the weather. View over to Mosedale again, this time from beside Symonds Knott

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It always looks like it should be an easy saunter over to Scafell Pike from Scafell (but it isn't, so I didn't)

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Despite the perfect conditions, it was still March and not a weekend, so Scafell Pike summit looked relatively quiet

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I took roughly the same route back, going over Slight Side's top again, though as I got to the craggy, knobbly section towards the end of the walk, I inevitably took a slightly different line through it all, losing the path and so just continuing roughly south back towards the road (looking back north here)

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View over to Hardknott Pass, there is a tiny white dot of a vehicle on the road

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Harter Fell had looked pretty bleached out in the sun and haze for most of the day, but now with the sun heading off to the west, I got a good view of it

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Reaching the dry stone wall, I followed it back to the sheep folds and then it was just the short grassy walk down to the car park. Enjoyed this route much more than I expected, though no doubt the fine weather contributed strongly to that.
User avatar
gld73
 
Posts: 899
Munros:178   Corbetts:76
Fionas:69   Donalds:12
Sub 2000:94   Hewitts:60
Wainwrights:107   Islands:13
Joined: Aug 11, 2015
Location: Inverness

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