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WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES


Postby susanmyatt » Sun Apr 11, 2010 4:24 pm

Wainwrights included on this walk: Pillar, Red Pike (Wasdale), Scoat Fell, Yewbarrow

Hewitts included on this walk: Pillar, Red Pike (Wasdale), Scoat Fell, Yewbarrow, Yewbarrow North Top

Date walked: 10/04/2010

Time taken: 8

Distance: 14 km

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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.

wasdale.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

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.
IMG_3135.jpg
Pillar from the car
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Heading up the valley, quiet!
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Very rocky
It was very hot as we pressed on but despite this we always have time for a girly pose :lol:
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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
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No Kirk Fell today
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Ennerdale valley
We were heading along the Climbers Traverse to Robinson's Cairn.
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On the traverse, back towards the big uns
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The superb Ennerdale
We were at Robinson's cairn but were a little gobsmacked to see the loss of height and route ahead.
IMG_3166.jpg
Robinson's Cairn
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Oh Dear !
Alan finds it quite funny as he shows the girls the way ahead
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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.
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Above Pillar Rock (a Birkett)
As we climbed onto Pillar we could clearly see the Scafells to one direction and Ennerdale to the other
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The Scafells
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Pillar summit 892m
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Ennerdale
It was time to push on across Wind Gap
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Towards Wind Gap
We reached Scoat Fell before turning towards Red Pike
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Red Pike summit 821m
From here it was down towards Dore Head and our final top of Yewbarrow
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Towards Yewbarrow
Once at Dore Head, an alternate way off to Wasdale Head, we could see the serious climb up Stirrup Crag. :(
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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.
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Down Stirrup Crag
We climbed onto the north of Yewbarrow and I was surprised how long it was
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Onto Yewbarrow
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Yewbarrow North Top
We walked along the top with some great scenes all around us
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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
IMG_3222.jpg
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 :D :D :D
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susanmyatt
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Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby mountain coward » Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:45 pm

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 :D - 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?
Looking Stead tarn.jpg
mountain coward
 

Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby susanmyatt » Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:04 pm

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.
IMG_3161.jpg
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.
IMG_3169.jpg
Scree meets Shamrock Traverse
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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.
IMG_3178.jpg
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 :D
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Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby mountain coward » Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:42 pm

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...
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Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby PauloUK77 » Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:29 pm

I really want to go to that part of the Lakes now I've looked at those pics.The conditions looked perfect too.
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Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby colgregg » Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:20 pm

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.
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Re: WASDALE 4 - PILLAR TO YEWBARROW - LAKES

Postby susanmyatt » Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:44 am

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 :D
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