Walkhighlands

Helvellyn with Richard T and Derrick M.
We initially planned to do Helvellyn via Striding Edge and back down Swirral Edge, but cloud on the summit made the descent onto Swirral a bit too risky, so we went on and did White Side and Raise, returning to Glenridding for a pint and some home made chips! Mmmmm!
Pics of the summit (Helvellyn Trig Point)

And of the descent into Glenridding when the cloud finally cleared!

Shame about the cloud on the summit but glad to see you got some views later on . Swirral Edge can be tricky in the cloud, wet or wind but the difficulties are short lived, and in bad conditions i‘ve always thought Striding Edge the more difficult of the two.

I always thought that the descent of Swirrel Edge, (look for the very large cairn that marks the start) the easier of the two edges. As canisp says, Striding Edge is the more difficult to descend only because the start is more difficult to find and is more sustained

There now seems to be paths forming which makes for the traverse of both easier for those of a nervous disposition

I was there yesterday and had a great day out in similar conditions - good report

Thanks guys! I think we could actually see the path down to swirral, but as I've never done swirral we decided to not risk it as the path disappeared into the cloud and from where we were stood with the wind it seemed too great a risk. Will definately try it next time I'm up there and hopefully take in catstye cam too - there's something magical I think about mountains with that stereotypical triangular pointed summit!

canisp wrote:Shame about the cloud on the summit but glad to see you got some views later on . Swirral Edge can be tricky in the cloud, wet or wind but the difficulties are short lived, and in bad conditions i‘ve always thought Striding Edge the more difficult of the two.

I've only ever gone up Striding but have gone up and down Swirral and find it far more difficult than Striding as Striding is more or less flat along the ridge whereas Swirral is a bit more like rock-climbing as it's craggy and steep. Having said that, I don't normally use the side paths on Swirral and I go up the crag in the middle - reason? 'cos it's sound whereas the side paths are prone to collapse. When I did this round with a group, one of the group was on a section of path over Red Tarn on Swirral Edge when the path collapsed and he slid half way down to the tarn. Me and Richard had been negotiating our way down the solid rock middle so had a good vantage point to watch and see if he stopped!