Global warming aided Langdale scrambler

[Pointless Parasite]

Who else took advantage of the warm weather to go walking in the Lakes? 15 degrees in February? Sun? No wind? Ridiculous! I realised this was an opportunity not to be missed and took a couple of days off work at short notice. I spent a few hours on Sunday climbing some very minor Wainwrights West of Grasmere, but my main goal was a circuit of Langdale, taking in some of the best hills in the Lake District.

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First up was Pavey Ark:

I'd thought about doing Jack's Rake previously, but had always imagined climbing it in snow and ice. I was a little put off by the apparent exposure, so had decided to climb Pavey Ark by the alternative route up Easy/East gully. While climbing up from Langdale I started to wonder if Jack's Rake might be a better option, especially with the dry weather conditions. In fact the starting points for Jack's Rake and Easy Gully are basically the same, so there was no harm in at least having a look.

The unlikely looking Jack's Rake route up Pavey Ark

By 'having a look', that meant climbing a little way up, then a bit further. There was an ititial steep section up damp rock (near the climbers in the photo below), but it was fairly straightforward, so I carried on upwards:

Past the point of no return, I kept climbing higher, expecting it to become dangerously exposed at some point, but it never happened.

Up and up:

The final section of the route after exiting the ledge:

The whole thing only took about 20 minutes

After climbing to the top of Pavey Ark I continued along to one of Wainwright's silly summits, Thunacar Knott, basically just the high point of Pavey Ark and hardly worthy of a seperate chapter.

Near the top of Thunacar I stopped to recreate a view familiar to many from the 1:25,000 OS map. All that's missing is the young kid jumping over the tarn:

Next up was Rosset PIke, a rather unremarkable hill that simply fills the gap between much better hills. There isn't a proper route from Rosset to Bowfell so I was left to pick my own way up through the crags and scree.

Bowfell was fine but the crowds were starting to arrive, so I didn't linger for long. On to Crinkle Crags. I'd climbed this years ago as a child, but have no idea what route we took then.

Eskdale always looks beautiful from the North on a sunny day:

Descending from Crinkle Crags, I knew I'd end up in the trap of the 'awkward step'. There are alternative routes that avoid it completely but I managed to find it just fine. Of all the 'awkward' or 'bad' steps I've encountered, this is the only one that lived up to its reputation. It really was awkward. I managed to climb down to the top of the big drop down and somehow managed to lower myself down by climbing up a little way. I needed something of a leap of faith in the end, but luckily I got my feet down safely on the scree below and walked out out the trap

Approaching Cold Pike, I crossed a large area of boggy ground, managing to avoid the dreaded 'bog boot'. I thought I was over the worst of it but after crossing over a dry area I suddenly had that feeling as if I was stood on a carpet floating on water

I panicked and ran forward, half expecting one foot to disapear into a deep bog, but thankfully managed to get safely across.

Summit of Cold Pike

By now I was getting worried about water. I'd only brought a single 750 ml bottle, despite the promise of warm weather. Up until now, the route had not crossed any streams at all, so there was no chance of a refill. There was a little stream in between Cold Pike and Pike o'Blico, but it didn't look particularly inviting. I drank the rest of my water, filled my bottle back up from the stream and put in a chlorine tablet. I hoped I wouldn't need to drink it.

It took scarcely 15 minutes to climb to the top of Pike o'Blisco, partly on a repaired footpath.

The descent from Pike o'Blisco was awkward. I kept losing the path and ended up passing through the big rock band near the summit through a series of difficult steps (though none as bad as the one on Crinkle).

Finally I made it down to easier ground and found a much better stream to fill up my water bottle. I joined the main road and followed it down to New Dungeon Gill with 45 minutes to spare before the last bus back to Ambleside. In all, I climbed 9 new Wainwrights on this trip, leaving me with 6 to go

[dav2930]

A cracking round PP, nice one! Jack's Rake is pretty good value for a grade 1 scramble, I think. As you say, it looks quite improbable when seen face-on, but turns out to be far less exposed than appearances suggest. Some nice photos there too