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Winter Skiddaw and a complete faff on Dodd

Winter Skiddaw and a complete faff on Dodd


Postby Broggy1 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 12:41 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Carl Side, Dodd, Latrigg, Long Side, Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw, Skiddaw Little Man, Ullock Pike

Hewitts included on this walk: Long Side, Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw, Skiddaw Little Man

Date walked: 26/01/2018

Time taken: 5.05

Distance: 23.9 km

Ascent: 1805m

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A superlative day off work on Skiddaw.

Fresh overnight snow on the high fells and an early start meant I was the first person on the summit. Light winds and remarkably warm when the sun came out.

The addition of Dodd ended up lasting much longer than I thought due to forestry work and restrictions and unclear instructions. Hence why I've made this report live to warn anyone wanting to add Dodd on to a Skiddaw day at the moment.

1 Skiddaw early morning - fresh dump.JPG
Skiddaw in the morning. Looks a terrific day and there's some obvious fresh snow on the tops!


2 Latrigg.JPG
Latrigg ahead - plenty of mud on the lower paths...


3 NW Fells.JPG
North Western Fells


4 Derwent water and beyond from Latrigg.JPG
Derwent Water and beyond from Latrigg


5 Heading for Lonscale Fell looking back - snowline.JPG
Looking back from the ascent of Lonscale Fell as I reach the snow line


6 Blen from Lonscale.JPG
White Blencathra from Lonscale Fell


7 Little Man and Skiddaw.JPG
Little Man and Skiddaw ahead


8 SLM.JPG
View from Little Man


9 Skiddaw ahead.JPG
Snowy Skiddaw ahead - no prints and looks like I'm going to be the one to blaze the trail to the top


10 Summit Ridge.JPG
Summit ridge - the snow is soft but not too deep to delay progress much


11 Trig.JPG
Trig Point


12 Longside Edge.JPG
Looking down at Longside Edge


13 Descending to Carl Side Col.JPG
Descending to Carl Side col. The initial, steep bit of this was tricky today. The snow was too soft for crampons but despite not using an ice axe....I probably should have done.


14 Skiddaw descent from Long Side.JPG
Looking at the descent from Skiddaw from Long Side.


15 Long Side from U PIke.JPG
Long Side from Ullock Pike


16 Heading for Carl side.JPG
Heading for Carl Side. The sun was really out now and I was losing layers rapidly.


17 Skiddaw from Carl Side.JPG
Skiddaw from Carl Side - descent path from Skiddaw clear.


18 Carsleddam and beyond.JPG
Carsleddam and beyond


19 NW Fells over White stones.JPG
North Western Fells again over White Stones


20 Heading for Dodd.JPG
Heading for Dodd


21 Dodd summit.JPG
Dodd summit


22 Faff of getting off Dodd.JPG
Getting to Dodd had been easy enough from White Stones to Long Doors. Getting off was another matter.

Lot's of "go no further" and "keep out" signs and no real alternatives as I ended up doing a full circle of the hill, dropping almost back to the road before finding obstacles in the form of fallen trees and eventually deciding to climb back to Long Doors and join the Millbeck path down from Skiddaw...costing me a few miles and plenty of unneeded ascent.

I'd basically done a full loop before I saw this map stapled to a fence. There's currently only one way to and from Dodd's summit but anyone adding it on from Carl Side will be unaware.


23 Descending to Millbeck.JPG
Back on track now and descending to Millbeck


24 Back to Skiddaw and a thawe has kicked in.JPG
Looking back to Skiddaw and it may not be that clear from this picture bit a big thaw had set in
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Broggy1
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 1170
Munros:111   Corbetts:19
Fionas:5   Donalds:20+7
Sub 2000:8   Hewitts:274
Wainwrights:214   Islands:1
Joined: Jul 22, 2013

Re: Winter Skiddaw and a complete faff on Dodd

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:24 pm

That looks a glorious day to be out and you've taken some fine pics to show it off. You certainly made the most of it with a very extensive walk, in fact even more extensive that you wanted! I often find forestry land to be a pain, never seems to quite agree with the map.
User avatar
johnkaysleftleg
Hill Bagger
 
Posts: 3339
Munros:25   Corbetts:11
Fionas:11   Donalds:3
Sub 2000:7   Hewitts:172
Wainwrights:214   Islands:8
Joined: Jan 28, 2009
Location: County Durham

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