Author Topic: hello all advice required on winter 3 day  (Read 1456 times)

dubwoy

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hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« on: 17:49:32, 22/12/08 »
Hello, would anyone have info regarding the practicalities of walking from wasdale to wasdale head as described in tgo. We are planning on setting out on the 2nd of january 09, what acn we expect in terms of weather etc and equipment needed.
If this seems a bit too much, i(ve walked all over the world and would class myself as fairly experienced and a very proficient camper with good kit what would you suggest as 3 day alternatives,, ie borrowdale to wasdale to buttermere?
However ive never done wionter hikes in the uk and would appreciate any help you can suggest, thanks in advance.
Rich

KIDSTYPIKE

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Re: hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« Reply #1 on: 17:53:38, 22/12/08 »
Hello, would anyone have info regarding the practicalities of walking from wasdale to wasdale head as described in tgo. We are planning on setting out on the 2nd of january 09, what acn we expect in terms of weather etc and equipment needed.
If this seems a bit too much, i(ve walked all over the world and would class myself as fairly experienced and a very proficient camper with good kit what would you suggest as 3 day alternatives,, ie borrowdale to wasdale to buttermere?
However ive never done wionter hikes in the uk and would appreciate any help you can suggest, thanks in advance.
Rich

Could you clarify......are you talking about the walk from Wasdale (Shap Fells) to Wasdale Head?

Dave

mike knipe

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Re: hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« Reply #2 on: 18:07:40, 22/12/08 »
I walked from Wasdale to Wasdale in summertime a few years ago - camping at  Kikstone Pass and Angle Tarn. The second day was quite hard, I seem to remember. It wasn;t the TGO route, though, ours was very direct.
In summer, the route is pretty straightforward, but in winter, you'd like experience  either mild, wet and very windy weather/ potentially severe gales with cloud bases around 300 metres - possibly with snow/blizzard conditions on the high tops with temps at, say 6 to 10 degrees C   ...OR .... very settled, cold, frosty, icy weather, possibly with temperature inversions, with very light winds and temps around 1 0r 2 degrees daytime and down to minus 8 or 10 (potentially  minus 15 ish) at night.
UK weather tends to toggle between the two in winter.
You'd need good waterproof and warm kit and winter equipment, specially ice axes.
Daylight in early January would be from 8:15 am to about 3:45 pm, so you'd need good lighting recources.
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

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dubwoy

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Re: hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« Reply #3 on: 19:43:15, 22/12/08 »
 To Dave - Yes it is Shap fells to Wasdale.that i refer, i dont have ice axes, would this be a major problem and thus make it fool hardy, if so can you think of other options.
Mike thanks for your help much appreciated and if considering the above would you have any further info., i definately want to wild camp and feel very confident in my abilities in this dept, recently cycle from Alaska to Argentina so have camped all over the place in all conditions, essentially i want to experience the wild again in the UK.

mike knipe

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Re: hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« Reply #4 on: 21:35:32, 22/12/08 »
Have a look at  this website  http://v-g.me.uk/index.htm  - lots of good info and pictures of wild camping in the UK in summer and winter - of a similar standard to what you're proposing to do. If you're confident about this aspect,, and your experience sounds excellent, then go for it. The water is generally Ok by the way providing its well boiled - unless the water source is in spate when it carries extra bugs washed out of the soil.
You lack of winter walking gear is a problem if there's snow and ice (its likely but not guaranteed). the only way to resolve this is to stay off hard snow and ice!  This means having a low level alternative and a flexible approach to getting across the Park. This also a good idea in case the weather decides to batter the place with an Atlantic gale - which are impossible and dangerous to walk in at high levels. You can get daily weather updates by phoning the Lake Distriuct national park weatherline on 08700550575. This also gives fell top conditions in terms of ice and snow and will give a recommendation on whether or not winter gear (ice axe and crampons) is needed on a particular day.  Ring the number after 4:00 pm the day before and again after 8:30 am on the actual day.
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

See the blog!  www.northernpies.blogspot.com

tonyk

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Re: hello all advice required on winter 3 day
« Reply #5 on: 12:00:00, 23/12/08 »
 
Quote
recently cycle from Alaska to Argentina so have camped all over the place in all conditions

 Somehow I don't think you will have many problems. ;D

 Might be a bit damp and cold but there won't be any bears or bandits to worry about.

 

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