Author Topic: TR Halfway up Blencathra, not exactly what we planned Sat 2 Feb 19  (Read 2801 times)

forgotmyoldpassword

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Nice TR!  I was on Blencathra that morning - did Sharp Edge up, Hallsfell down.  Conditions were definitely quite poor when we arrived and it was looking like another zero visibility day on the summit (I've been up Blencathra a handful of times and it's always been awful).  Sharp was decent on the way up, high winds but conditions fine enough despite a tentative looking guy talking to us on the walk-in and dissuading us.  Last 100m was quite interesting with lots of loose powder and I wanted to stay off the rock due to the buffeting from the wind.. but it was fairly pleasant at the top though dug out the balaclava and goggles as it did become quite cold, mostly due to wind chill.  Halls was covered in people going up by the time we were heading down, but the views across the Lakes capped in snow were superb.  On the walk out to Scales we dropped down to a gully covered in ice and ended up setting an ice-axe belay with a sling for other hikers who didn't have spikes with them and getting a handful down safely.


Think you made the right call turning around, you wouldn't to be at the top if you're a small dog!  Hopefully the hip eases itself a little over the next few days, too.

Innominate Man

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This wasnt en excuse for beefy being spotted with his mucky hands fiddling with the back of a sheep, was it?  :o ;D


Phaa haa ... I just spluttered my lunch out !
Nice one pleb (did I tell you to say that ? .....  wish I had  ::) )
Only a hill but all of life to me, up there between the sunset and the sea. 
Geoffrey Winthrop Young

April

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Thanks all for your nice comments  O0

You weren't the only faller on Saturday, I slipped on the descent of Rossett Gill and ended up with feet one side of a snowy stream, and hands on the other.  Unfortunately someone was coming up, and they seemed to think I looked quite funny.

I probably would have found it funny too! I hope you are alright, I am on the mend, except for feeling a bit achy.

(thanks goodness your tablet survived the day!)

I am amazed it is ok it did smack off the ground!

@ Dovegirl, thank you I am feeling better now  :)

we sounded the retreat - sometimes it is the correct thing to do.

We were disappointed at the time but knew it was the only thing to do

Halls Fell Ridge looks breathtaking!  O0 :)

It does, we thought it was laughing at us  ;)

@ Ridge, I will remember last Saturday for a while!

I read an advert yesterday, for Altberg and the 'punch line' is " Look well to each step " - famous words of Edward Whymper.

 :) Mr Wainwright always used to say "Watch where you are putting your feet".  :)

I normally do, serves me right for using the tablet instead of the paper map, I find it easier using the map and wouldn't have had to fiddle with the tablet as much.

Good job on the woolly rescue. Being stuck in a river makes a change from having horns caught in a wire fence or stuck in a bog, several of those come to mind.

Yes, our other sheep rescues have involved fences  :)

..is Beefy ok after eating his lunch with mucky sheep hands... not contracted any bizarre virus or anything   :D

 ;D He ate with his sarnies with his hands sort of wrapped in cling film and his flapjack in foil. He crushed his crisps and poured them into his gob  ;D

Poor Squeaky, not designed for deep cold snow and poor you - hope the hip is ok now.

We are looked at winter mountaineering clothes for dogs. A bit pricey! My hip is on the mend, thanks  O0

Sorry, I should be flogged for typing that! (Innominate Man told me to............) ;D

You are both on the Should be Flogged list  ;)

the views across the Lakes capped in snow were superb. 

We were jealous of the people we saw in Threlkeld who had came down off Blencathra  :)

On the walk out to Scales we dropped down to a gully covered in ice and ended up setting an ice-axe belay with a sling for other hikers who didn't have spikes with them and getting a handful down safely.

Was that near Scaley Beck? The rocky descent and ascent there is problematic without ice. Good that you were there to help people without spikes  O0

Nice one pleb (did I tell you to say that ? .....  wish I had  ::) )

You are on the Should be Flogged list anyway  ;)
Hate will never win

April

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Well done on rescuing the sheep, without your's and Beffy's help, it probably wouldn't have survived.    O0

We are still polishing our haloes  ;)
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pdstsp

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I probably would have found it funny too! I hope you are alright, I am on the mend, except for feeling a bit achy.



Glad to hear you are on the mend, April - I suffered a bruised shin and a shattered ego  :) 

forgotmyoldpassword

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Was that near Scaley Beck? The rocky descent and ascent there is problematic without ice. Good that you were there to help people without spikes  O0


That was Doddick Gill that was clad in ice, Scaley seemed much better, though I did have the axe out for much of it just in case.  Was a little shocked to see some tourists clambering up Halls' without any spikes or even poles - they asked us on our way down whether we'd do it without and we didn't much fancy it and told them as much.  Though later in the day we saw a search and rescue helo flying over so hopefully it wasn't the same group  :)

April

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Was a little shocked to see some tourists clambering up Halls' without any spikes or even poles ... later in the day we saw a search and rescue helo flying over so hopefully it wasn't the same group  :)

 :o I hope they did take notice of your advice. I've done Halls Fell ridge a few times but I wouldn't want to do it in ice and snow, even with crampons and ice axe - beyond my comfort zone  :) I hope they got up and down safely.
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richardh1905

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I've done Halls Fell ridge a few times but I wouldn't want to do it in ice and snow, even with crampons and ice axe - beyond my comfort zone  :)



It's a good winter route, April; not too hard (depends upon conditions, of course), and my reward was an 800' sitting glissade down the back of the mountain!
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

April

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my reward was an 800' sitting glissade down the back of the mountain!

Was it an unexpected glissade?  :D

It's a good winter route; not too hard

I'm sure it is  :)

I'm not that good with heights, mix that with unsteady legs (due to dodgy spine) and no natural balance and it makes things more stressful than enjoyable, for me anyway. It is the best way up Blencathra, I prefer to do it when it's dry  :)
Hate will never win

 

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