Hart Fell when you're scared of heights (doggy style)

[emilynordmann]

I am 5 foot 2 on a good day and have a reasonably bad fear of heights - in case there are any other scared hobbits out there, I thought it would be useful to start writing walk reports with a specific focus on on things that were difficult/scared me as I don't often see my experience in the walk reports!

The weather forecast for hill further North was snowy and windy, whereas down South it was sunny and windy, so we opted for Hart Fell. The short version of this walk report is steep-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-WHAT-THE-HELL-fine-fine-fine. The first section is as steep as described but more importantly, I think would be very, very difficult if at all wet as even in dry conditions it was a muddy, and in places slippy initial ascent.

The majority of the walk was uneventful. It's not our favourite area for views but the ridge is fairly dramatic. When you get the chance, do take the opportunity to appreciate the view of Saddle Yoke, cause if you're like me, when you see it up close, you're not going to love it. Descending down Under Saddle Yoke I kept trying to tell myself it wasn't going to be as bad as it looked, which is normally the case, and I am aiming for some psychological growth.

Reader, it was worse than my broken little mind had imagined. I might have been ok if it hadn't been windy. It wasn't gale force but a consistent ~25mph with 32ish gusts. It's probably the narrowest, sharpest ridge we've done so far (I appreciate this reveals we haven't done many), and the drop to both sides sent my head spinning. With the wind, it all got too much and I ended up on my hands and knees and crawled up to the top like, as my wife took great pleasure in telling me, a dog. The only reason there's not a photograph montage with her laughing in the background is that I happened to have both phones. Once I dropped to the floor it was fine, I did wonder what the other side was going to be like and had visions of trying to crawl face-first down the same on the descent but thankfully it opens up at the summit and I was able to stand up and see my wife's face trying not to crack.

So tl:dr, if you are particularly scared of heights, maybe wait for a completely calm day. And make sure you've got your knees covered.

[AHillTooFar]

Saddle yoke at times I went down on my rear end as it really was steep for me, not Foinaven in sutherland steep, but bad enough. I think there was a small fence down the slope a bit and I thought if I did go down one side to aim for that one.

I think this is it in profile correct?



Steep slope to death.

[Phil the Hill]

I've got over any fear of heights, but still had to crawl to the summit of Saddle Yoke when it was a bit windy, to avoid being blown over by gusts. The rest of the horseshoe route was fine. Maybe there's something about the shape of the hills at that particular spot that funnels the wind?