WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

[susanmyatt]

Hello to you all, what a weekend for weather. Like many we were up early on saturday and on our way for 6am to the western Lake District where we travelled to the famous Wasdale Head.

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There were quite a few cars parked up and as there were 3 girls out of 4 in our group we noticed the lack of females emerging from the vehicles. We were heading for Pillar and we could see our quarry from the parking area and we were soon over the river and on the way, despite many cars no one seemed to be going our way,the lure of the Scafells and Gable etc.

Pillar from the car

Heading up the valley, quiet!

Very rocky

It was very hot as we pressed on but despite this we always have time for a girly pose

Girls

We were heading up the Black Sail Pass and soon reached the turn off for Kirk Fell and our way to Looking Stead which gave us views into the glorious Ennerdale

No Kirk Fell today

Ennerdale valley

We were heading along the Climbers Traverse to Robinson's Cairn.

On the traverse, back towards the big uns

The superb Ennerdale

We were at Robinson's cairn but were a little gobsmacked to see the loss of height and route ahead.

Robinson's Cairn

Oh Dear !

Alan finds it quite funny as he shows the girls the way ahead

Upward ever upward

We now took the spectacular Shamrock Traverse to Pillar Rock where we had short breather before the final push to the top.

Above Pillar Rock (a Birkett)

As we climbed onto Pillar we could clearly see the Scafells to one direction and Ennerdale to the other

The Scafells

Pillar summit 892m

Ennerdale

It was time to push on across Wind Gap

Towards Wind Gap

We reached Scoat Fell before turning towards Red Pike

Red Pike summit 821m

From here it was down towards Dore Head and our final top of Yewbarrow

Towards Yewbarrow

Once at Dore Head, an alternate way off to Wasdale Head, we could see the serious climb up Stirrup Crag.

Stirrup Crag

We had a bite to eat here but I set off before the others as I was finding it a bit harder than they were.

Down Stirrup Crag

We climbed onto the north of Yewbarrow and I was surprised how long it was

Onto Yewbarrow

Yewbarrow North Top

We walked along the top with some great scenes all around us

Yewbarrow South summit 628m

The last leg certainly wasn't the easiest and tired legs didn't help, it was quite difficult descending Dropping Crag as we "slipped" our way down the scree to Overbeck Bridge

View half way down,back to Yewbarrow

It was a tiring walk on a hot day but hey, it was brilliant and we all pulled together, didn't get home until after 8.30pm. Thanks to Alan, Bridie and Jane for a great day

[mountain coward]

Wow, quite a challenging day with the Pillar High Level Traverse and Shamrock, and then Yewbarrow - we generally miss Yewbarrow out (depending on my mood) on the Mosedale Round and just go up Overbeck behind it.

How was the High Level Traverse? Was it easy to follow going that way? We tried to find it from above once in thick mist but, after descending a steep rib next to an equally steep gully (pretty challenging for me), we couldn't see where you would go next and knew we weren't on ground where you want to wander about! How awful is The Shamrock? I gather the path is a bit loose to say you're on a shelf - what's the drop off it like? Is it the one in your frontal photo (which doesn't look too bad)? Wish I'd come with you as, if me and Richard do it, of course I'll be the leader - not something which bolsters my confidence! It looks a pretty long way down off the route before the Shamrock - is it particularly exposed to Robinson's Cairn? And finally, to end my 20 questions - what's the route up to the summit after the Shamrock Traverse like for someone who doesn't like extreme steep ground and exposure?

You seem to suddenly be ploughing through the Wainwrights!

I have a very similar pic of the tarn on Looking Stead to yours - a beautiful tarn isn't it?

[susanmyatt]

Hi MC,to try and answer your questions,Mr. Conroy says it is difficult to pick up the traverse but about 30m after Looking Stead there is a small cairn that marks the way, once on it it is easy to follow, the next photo shows the track as we made our way to Robinson's.

Climbers traverse

He would say that Shamrock is ok in the dry but when wet or icy could be very dangerous, there is a smooth slab to go over which needs extra care and there is a big drop off.

Scree meets Shamrock Traverse

Underfoot as we climb

That is the Shamrock Traverse on the photo cutting across, but it isn't too exposed from Robinson's to Shamrock. After Shamrock to the summit he thinks it is a straightforward grade 1 scramble and not too exposed.

The last push to the summit

Hope that answers your questions MC,always look forward to feedback, when I walk with hubby we can take up to 200 photos, a bit less time with the gang but try and get the important shots although so tired and being wary off Yewbarrow I didn't get that superb view of Wastwater.It'ssometimes hard to decide what to put on, thanks to Paul we can show quite alot

[mountain coward]

Thanks for the extra pics and description. I've also found the Looking Stead end of the traverse before but not followed it. Going the other way, it didn't look obvious from where you descend from the summit - but we may not have been descending in the correct place. I think I took a look over the front straight down to Pillar rock and thought it looked horrific so looked further right for an easier way... which is when we found the gully with the rocky ridge to the left of it... But it was really claggy so we couldn't really see much and gave up...

Must have a go sometime...

[PauloUK77]

I really want to go to that part of the Lakes now I've looked at those pics.The conditions looked perfect too.

[colgregg]

The photos are brilliant, you certainly did a classic. I did this last year but not in such good weather (until the afternoon.) It was a long day too. I reckon I was out for 10 hours. Yewbarrow is a superb viewpoint on a sunny day it could make you linger for hours just lookin across wasdale and to Wastwater. I came off Yewbarrow the same way as you and later wrote that is was the worst decent of many I'd done in the Lakes.

[susanmyatt]

Yes it was hard work thelast descent especially on a hot day, we had all drunk our water by then,as MC said you could miss Yewbarrow but the spectacular views were worth the last effort, its such a beautiful area