HAYSTACKS-KIRK FELL-THE GABLES VIA BLACK SAIL - THE LAKES

[susanmyatt]

Another glorious weekend forecast and another 5am wake up and visit to the Lakes, this time parking up at the National Trust car park at Honister slate mines. A beautiful day and quite warm,this could get a little tiring

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Our first target for the day was Haystacks so it was upwards from the car park and along by the old drum house.

Old drum house with Pillar behind

It's not long before we could see our well worn route onto Haystacks

Route up Haystacks

We were offered one of my favourite views, into the majestic valley with Buttermere and Crummock Water

Towards Buttermere

We walked down to Blackbeck Tarn with Green Crag to our right and were soon on the path upwards to Haystacks, stopping for that great photo opportunity

Mellbreak and Grasmoor behind

Getting near to the summit we caught our breath at the lovely Inominate Tarn, last time I was here it was also a glorious day but there were a few bugs about.

Inominate Tarn

Last push and we were onto the summit

Haystacks top

It was now the time for a massive height loss as we first descended to Scarth Gap and then down into the Ennerdale Valley and the Black Sail Youth Hostel.

Down, down deeper and down

Oh, the poor knees

Big height loss to Black Sail

What a relief, cuppa time !

We had a quick look down Ennerdale

Ennerdale Valley

Now it was time for the serious climb to Kirk Fell,our first target after crossing the River Liza was the top of the Black Sail Pass where we were two weeks ago on the way to Pillar, it was tough going

Climb to Black Sail Pass

Headless man or rabbit hole ?

This climbing lark is hard work

We arrived at the flat top of Kirk Fell and were glad to let our calf muscles relax

Kirk Fell summit with Great Gable behind

Wastwater from Kirk Fell

We visited the other cairn on Kirk Fell before descending down Rib End to Beck Head and a view of our next quarry.

View from Beck Head of Gable

This was also steep going and this photo to Wastwater shows it

Ascent of Gable

Time for a drink and to take in the views

Carl with Kirk Fell descent in view

Ennerdale-High Stile range-Haystacks-Grasmoor

There was still some snow for the youngsters to play in !!!

Last remnants of the snow

We then made the top and what views

Great Gable summit

We made our way down to Windy Gap and up to Green Gable

Down to Windy Gap and GG descent

Views to Allen Crags, PikeO'Stickle,Bowfell, Great End

We made our way off Green Gable and veered off to Moses Trod to pick up the tramway again and back to the cars. None of us had a drop left to drink, a tough walk in warm conditions but as always great fun, time to rest the knees,till next time, love Sue

[mountain coward]

That's some walk there Sue! An interesting route and a very hard day! Some great photos there of the routes up and down - I remember not finding Kirk Fell Crags all that bad to ascend the second time we went up them. The first time I was scared of them and it was misty so we inadvisedly followed some guys up Red Gully round the corner from them - that was horrific! Loose and awful. At one point Richard set a huge boulder crashing off down the scree towards the Black Sail Pass shrouded in mist below... we kept quiet and waited to see if there were any screams as it crushed anyone but there weren't - so either it was quick or it missed!

[colgregg]

Wow Sue what a day you had. My Newlands walk (report) finished sunny but you had it all the way. Lucky you. What you did was a true tester. Crossing Ennerdale and losing / regaining such height is a test of resolve, indeed. Mind you it looked like one of those days you would never want to end. I don't know about you but on days like that I could walk the fells forever!!!

[susanmyatt]

A very tough day but always enjoyable, wouldn't it be great if we didn't get too tired and could just walk from morning to night, perhaps some of our members can It's hard work carrying enough liquid when conditions are so warmnever mind the other things we collect in our backpacks, always try to trim down the pack in summer but it never seems any lighter

[monty]

Hi Susan,
Nice report there. I love the contrast of the path up Haystacks and Innominate tarn to the craggy ascents and scrambles of Kirk Fall and Westwater. Looks a bit scary in places


Nice bit of Quo there

[susanmyatt]

Hi Monty, my husband writes the posts so he is responsible for the quirky titles and photo captions, he was right it did seem to go down for ages. I love Haystacks, first completed it with my husband from Gatescarth we climbed up Fleetwith Pike then joined the same route from the tarn but came off from Scarth Gap and back down across the valley, it was a hot glorious day and the photos were great. The climb to Kirk Fell was hard work but the rewards of the views to Wastwater, Below are three from Haystacks walk in 2008

Ascent of Fleetwith Pike

Fleetwith summit with the ultimate view to Buttermere

Crossing to Haystacks

[Ethel]

Ok so just done your walk - it looked so great.

I'm going to hold you responsible for the surgery required on my knees!!!! Kidding, but on the third climb/fall between Rib End and Great Gable I was seriously finding the knees a problem! Any advice?

Terrific route - I did get a complete white out on top of Kirkfell for about an hour - thank goodness for the old fence posts to follow or it was gonna get messy! But when it cleared and I could see across to Gable then it was all cool as custard again...loved it. Oh yeh, the only problem was having to get up it.....That was actually the easiest part of the day I thought, plus the most rewarding.

Did anyone else think that the really easy path from the carpark up to the Drum House felt like the N face of the Eiger on the way back down....?

[susanmyatt]

Well done Ethel, it really is a big rise and fall walk, certainly down to Black Sail and then up to Kirk Fell. The knees always hurt on the descents, the only advice if you already use poles is grin and bear it, we all suffer Our group leader, Mr.C. never lets us off lightly so if you copy any more gang walks then expect the worse, thanks for the post, Sue