East Ridge of Stickle Pike marked on the left Jacks Rake to the right
I love being able to walk out of the back door of my accomodation straight onto the hill.....
So today we are going to do the Picco Harrison Integrale.
Starting from the road you get 1400ft of scrambling to the summit of Harrison Stickle, the highest point of the Langdales. Without hardly any descent en route.
A good contender for the best mountaineering day out in the Lakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fron the hut we approach the Langdale pikes via Lower Scout Crag very popular with outdoor school groups and today is no exception. Scramble up the descent route then up to Upper Scout Crag where the join the approach to the South Ridge of White Gill Crag a long grade 2 ** scramble.
We top out and contour round the head of White Ghyll, hearing voices we spy a couple of climbers below us on Route 1, a severe in White Ghyll crag, ironically the route we did on out last visit here.
Onward we traverse across to the crowds at Stickle Tarn to join the main stoned moterway up to Harrison Stickle for a couple of hundred metres. The East Ridge of Harrison Stickle now towers above us, in many ways its the mirror image of Jacks rake BUT its slightly harder and much quieter, across the way we can see the ants crawling all over Pavey Ark where we get our route to ourselves.
At a cairn we hanger Left and skirt the toe of the buttress falling from the summit.
Our route follows a series of grassy ramps until we are forced onto a rock ridge completely covered in rough volcanic nodules. This pleasant section with superb friction curves up to a grassy rake below a steep wall split by a left facing slanting gangway (the crux).
All to soon we reach the summit, our original intention was to go over to do the West Ridge of Pike o'stickle a grade 3** route but the weather is threatening so we cut our losses.
I hate the stoned footpath down to Stickle Tarn, in fact I hate most stoned paths, so we traverse across to Pavey Ark and descend Jacks Rake, late in the day with imminent
Once again Langdale provides another great sporting day out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The initial wall starting the East Ridge of White Ghyll Crag
Climbers visable on the Left in White Ghyll
High on East Ridge of Harrison Stickle