Scafell Pike +2 from Borrowdale
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 3:42 amThe weather was a bit cloudy- the top was covered in mist but there were good views on the way up and down.
I took the path from Seathwaite up Grains Gill to Esk Hause. This was a straightforward climb and the path was easy to follow.
There's a short detour up to the top of Great End.Allegedly there's some kind of view from here, but I was just stumbling around in the fog trying to figure out where the summit was.According to Wainright there's an 'insignificant cairn' on the summit. Hopefully one of the piles of stones I went to was the right one.
From Great End to Scafell Pike was hard work due to the stony ground. The last bit going up to the summit is very steep and a little bit exposed.
The highest point in England was very busy today - you had to queue to get on the summit cairn.However this made it easy to find the path going down to Lingmell Col by following the crowd.
It was a fairly short climb up Lingmell to bag a third summit, with good views of Wastwater, Sellafield and the Isle of Man.
I then followed the Corridor Route down to Styhead Tarn.There's a slightly scary bit of this section where you have to climb about 20 feet up the side of a cliff.Normally I'd avoid anything like that but there wasn't any other way down.Fortunately it's an 'easy' scramble with lots of foot and hand holds.
I've got a dodgy ankle so the last couple of miles down to the car park were a bit painful and stonier than I wanted them to be.
I took the path from Seathwaite up Grains Gill to Esk Hause. This was a straightforward climb and the path was easy to follow.
There's a short detour up to the top of Great End.Allegedly there's some kind of view from here, but I was just stumbling around in the fog trying to figure out where the summit was.According to Wainright there's an 'insignificant cairn' on the summit. Hopefully one of the piles of stones I went to was the right one.
From Great End to Scafell Pike was hard work due to the stony ground. The last bit going up to the summit is very steep and a little bit exposed.
The highest point in England was very busy today - you had to queue to get on the summit cairn.However this made it easy to find the path going down to Lingmell Col by following the crowd.
It was a fairly short climb up Lingmell to bag a third summit, with good views of Wastwater, Sellafield and the Isle of Man.
I then followed the Corridor Route down to Styhead Tarn.There's a slightly scary bit of this section where you have to climb about 20 feet up the side of a cliff.Normally I'd avoid anything like that but there wasn't any other way down.Fortunately it's an 'easy' scramble with lots of foot and hand holds.
I've got a dodgy ankle so the last couple of miles down to the car park were a bit painful and stonier than I wanted them to be.
Have you tried walking poles to help that ankle out 
