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We were down in the Lake District for New Year, not on holiday but working away at the never-ending maintenance and renovation of my wife’s inherited property. Having got a few jobs out of the way I took the opportunity to sneak off for a walk in the Western Fells on the 2nd of January. Not a part of the country I am familiar with, but with a little bit of online research and perusing of the OS map I came up with what appeared to be a good route for a relatively full winter day.
I was up at the car park at the end of the road near the pub by about 8:30am. After a few very wet days, the sudden cold clear night had left the roads a tad treacherous - they seem a bit slow to pour salt and grit on the roads down here – but I made it up in one piece. Just a few cars around at this time, some climbing guys getting their gear out of their van were the only people around.
- Wasdale Head in the early morning light
I got organised and made my way up the road past the pub only to realise the route actually goes through the pub grounds. Only a very minor error though. There is a track by the river behind the pub, and after a gate I headed straight on ignoring the bridge on the left which would be the return route. At the next gate another path heads left up Mosedale which would be the usual Pillar route. I continued straight on up the increasingly steep and grassy south ridge of Kirk Fell.
- Very Steep path up Kirk Fell
The path made a few mild zig zags to ease the pain, but it really is relentlessly steep with only a couple of places where the slope eases slightly over the first 600m or so of climbing. It was nice to find the path only lightly eroded which was surprising given the steepness and typical rainfall in these parts.
- View back down into Wasdale
Luckily, the ground was frozen but with no surface ice which made it easy to walk on. There were plenty patches of what looked like “frost beard” although it seemed to be forming on bare soil rather than on vegetation. Maybe some other phenomenon at play here.
- Frost Beard?
From about 500m elevation the terrain became increasing stoney with the path making its way through patches of scree and boulders until the slope eased from 700m where it was an easy walk over stones and grass with a very light covering of snow to the summit of Kirk Fell.
- Rocky upper part of Kirk Fell
Time for a well-earned cup of tea and a chance to take in the views which were most impressive in the morning sunshine.
- Great Gable from Kirk Fell
- View north from Kirk Fell
- Pillar Horseshoe from Kirk Fell
I then made a short detour northeast to visit Kirk Fell East Top which apparently is a Hewitt – whether it was worth the extra 10 minutes is debatable, but I thought I might as well tick it off.
- Kirk Fell and Pillar from Kirk Fell East Top
After that it was a case of retracing my steps to reconnect with the path heading down the north ridge of Kirk Fell in the general direction of Pillar. The path makes its way down through Kirk Fell Crags which were more scrambly than I had expected. There were a couple of spots that needed down-climbing facing the rock. Easy enough, not exposed, and fortunately very little ice to complicate things. Once off the crags the route continued down to meet the path coming up from Mosedale over the Black Sail Pass. I hadn’t met anyone on Kirk Fell, but now a few folk appeared making their way up Pillar.
I continued up the east ridge of Pillar with some major crags coming in on my right. I had initially planned to take a path that winds below the northern cliffs into Hind Cove and then Pillar Cove before taking a mildly scrambling route up the north ridge between Pillar and Pillar Rock. I left the ridge briefly on this path dropping a few metres into Green Cove when I realised that this might not be a good idea given the amount of ice around on this side of the hill. I am sure it could have been negotiated safely, but progress would be slow. It was also cold in the shadows down there, and a shame to miss out on the winter sun. With this in mind, I retraced my steps back up onto the east ridge.
After a short and steepish section through boulders, the ridge levelled out and all that remained was a gradual climb up to the flat summit of Pillar, marked by a trig point and a couple of stone cairns and shelter rings.
- Summit of Pillar
- View northwest from Pillar - Ennerdale Water, Workington, Windmills and Scotland
I had another break here and took a wander to the north side of the summit plateau to get a look at Pillar Rock.
- Pillar Rock
It would make a good scramble in summer combined with the approach on the path below the northern cliffs, in quite a serious setting.
- Cliffs on north side of Pillar
From the top of Pillar, I headed southwest down into Wind Gap, then climbed up and over the minor top at 828m and on to Scoat Fell.
- On Scoat Fell
The highest point is on Little Scoat Fell, somewhere along a large east-west stone wall. Scoat Fell itself is rather featureless, but there is a rocky ridge running to the north with the lower but quite prominent outcrop of Steeple, which is classed as a separate Wainright peak, with fine views down into Ennerdale.
- Steeple from ridge between Pillar and Scoat Fell
- Scoat Fell from Steeple
I made an out and back detour to visit this lofty perch over rocky and slightly rougher terrain, although not quite a scramble.
Once back on Scoat Fell I headed southeast down the broad ridge, then climbed up the much better-defined northeast ridge of Red Pike with some quite serious cliffs on my left overlooking Black Comb, which is the uppermost part of Mosedale. Lots of people were out and about on this section of the fell.
- Red Pike
From Red Pike it was just a steady drop southeast down to Dore Head. From here there is a choice of routes:– carry straight on climbing up through crags onto Yewbarrow before dropping down to the road on the west wide of Wast Water; take a right turn and follow a path to the west of Yewbarrow, which most people appeared to be doing: or take a left and drop down into Mosedale via the Dorehead Screes. This last option was my planned route, and I decided to stick with it despite the screes looking none too inviting from above. The screes drop steeply for about 300m vertical with some runs of fine gravel and sand plus sections of larger rocks. Today the sandy stuff was frozen solid and although there was thankfully no surface ice, the grip was a bit inconsistent with none of the usual digging in and sliding that you expect, making it more difficult than usual to descend whilst remaining upright. I stuck to the grassy edge of the scree chute where I could which was frozen but grippy or used sections of larger sized unfrozen scree which was easier to balance on. It was a fairly punishing descent, but I made it down without falling over.
- Looking back up the Dorehead Screes
From the base of the screes I picked up the path heading back to Wasdale Head beside Mosedale Beck. The first mud of the day was encountered here, but the path was not too bad, and it was a pleasant stroll back with the surrounding hills looking quite striking in the late (well mid) afternoon sun. After crossing the quaint little stone bridge behind the hotel, it was just a short walk back to the car. I resisted the temptation to call in at the pub for a pint – I still can’t get over how you are never far from a nice pub in the Lake District – and headed back on still icy roads in daylight.
- The Pub at Wasdale Head
