UKC

Has anybody been on Kinder is the downfall in knick yet?.How are the conditions generally.


Cheers Mac.

In reply to mac7120: Bump!

In reply to mac7120:

Dunno what condition the Downfall is in, but Kinder was plastered with snow this morning. I had nearly 4 inches of the stuff on the roof of my car. I live just a couple of miles away from Kinder.

In reply to mac7120: Thanks Darren,i'm hoping that the downfall might have enough ice on it for a route or two andif not i can make a snow man!



Cheers Mac.

In reply to mac7120:
Was up walking on Kinder today, I didn't see the fall but all the gully's I crossed were completely frozen, it is pretty cold up there. Good luck with the snowman as all the snow is loose powder!

In reply to StevePr: nowhere has been wet enough. it's been dry and cold, but you need wet, then cold.

In reply to Aiden Wright:
Yeah. Thats what I reckoned. Anyone who can prove me wrong with a good report/photos would be most appreciated! Was toying with the idea of a night time ascent before the thaw sets in this weekend.

NMM

In reply to Northern Mountain Monkey: conditions are rubbish up there, nowt doable

In reply to maybe_si: I would disagree. We, and several other teams, climbed it on Sunday. OK, it wasn't complete toe to top but with a bit of weaving and traversing it was totally climbable with thick ice all the way. With temperatures as they have been last night I'd definitely go there as it will have only got better (assuming it's not been hacked to peices). We started more steeply on the left which made it just about a IV. So, be optomistic and get up there!

Dave S

In reply to mac7120: No promises, but I'm pretty sure that with the cold and snow which we've had over the last few days it'll be do-able: seen it well-formed in much less "obvious" conditions. I live in the area & have been out for several very cold walks on the tops in frost, rime and snow for several days now, and am told by several people that all the streams on Kinder are frozen. Why, oh why, has it gone like this just after OH and climbing partner's gone back to blinking work?!

In reply to Aiden Wright: Now that there is some snow if that thaws a little in some high pressure daytime sunshine followed by an overnight freeze then there may be enough melt enough to give the wet you need for your equation.

In reply to JimmAwelon:
Fingers crossed on conditions, planning on going for a mad raid on the Downfall tomorrow evening!

In reply to mac7120: there is definetly some ice around the peaks, i have managed to find a 30ft section of ice that looks climbable, going to try and get on it in the next few days and its only 10 mins from the road! but not telling where it is till i have done it! anyone done anything other than the downfall this week in the peaks?

shining clough just to the south of woodhead pass was full of ice today went up tourside clough as i remembered wrong there used to be a 5m pitch near the top, lots of water running in the clough

In reply to andy wa: I know that the ridge on Back Tor was done last night at grade II/III on well frozen turf and snow cover, 2 good pitches

In reply to mac7120: nearly every one has not been up there and telling what condition its in!!!!!!!!!! my mates went up on sunday and climbed it even if it was a bit scrappy. I am going up at 4 am so race you all up there !!!!!!!!

In reply to sheffieldchris:
Cheers for the post. Think I am going to head up there for a play on thursday night. Did you wander over to the black cloughs too? Any ice on the fall to the E of Shining clough crag?

NMM

In reply to mac7120:

what about mam tor?

In reply to mac7120:

Apparently the downfall was climbed on New Year's Day, and according to someone else they knocked down was little had formed, but that's all second hand information!

In reply to Hamish Dunn: Mam Tor is always in!

In reply to Removed User:
The place was packed last night, at least 15 people climbing and milling around the base of the fall and we passed 5 more approaching at the top...

Me & Hardonicus couldn't be arsed to wait an hour for our turn so we high-tailed out of there but found a smaller ice fall all to ourselves!

In reply to Alex Thompson:

Yep was there last night too - very busy - we waited 2 hrs just to get on route! Did anyone get any pics? Mine we mainly of mist! If you could post them up somewhere it would be appreciated

Cheers

JP

In reply to JP:
I took a few photos, but not sure about the quality will try to post them this evening.

In reply to Alex Thompson:

It was in fine fettle when I was up there last Friday but we didn't have any rope or gear. I'm praying that this cold weather holds out until Saturday morning when I can next get up there.

It was in fine form last night. 22cm screws up to the hilt where it mattered. Hooks all the way. With chilcare duties delaying our arrival meant there were no queues when we roped up at 10pm last night. I can't believe it will go that quickly - the ice was over 1m thick in places but saying that it was only 5cm on a few crucial places.... Posted 2 pics on my profile.

Waterfall Farm Swallet near Eyam was good on Tuesday night. A fun 5/6 top roped to right of main (unformed) fall. This may have gone by now as it's only about 300m ASL.

Ephemeral Peak ice routes - fantastic - just wish it was this cold more often.

In reply to All:

Anybody know what it was like up there last night (Thursday)?

In reply to Altitude Addict: Last night was very quiet at kinder with only ourselves and another party climbing, the main ice fall of kinder direct hasn't touched down yet and the lower part looks fairly unclimbable.

However the traverse from right to left was in just in condition with the upper part being a bit bare. It looked like it had seen alot of usage in the last couple of days and was thawing pretty quickly.

The most bizarre thing of the evening though was the slow appearance of a large number of headtorches from out of the mist, at first it looked like a couple of teams coming to climb but in fact it was about 20-30 members of the local fell running club- absolute nutters if you ask me

Hope it helps Chris

In reply to chrisclimber_1986: We'll take that as a compliment!

In reply to chrisclimber_1986:

Thawing? Noooooooo!

In reply to Altitude Addict:

I did it last night, it was in ok nick, not thawing that fast and the ice is fat in many places. There is a good 3/4 route up a range of steep pillars separated by ledges. The main problem is that the ledges are hacked up and it is hard to get a good placement on them, the steep sections are quite good at the moment. The true direct hasn't touched down but a more direct route than the grade 2 one is possible and fun right now.

In reply to chrisclimber_1986:


Oi! You were the ones standing around freezing your knackers off in the dark whilst we were keeping toasty warm on a wee jaunt round the plateau and back to Hayfield for a few pints. Nutters indeed.

I found myself back up there 12 hrs and a few ales later (very early this morning) following a mate up the RHS icefall at a very pleasant II/III although somewhat more water was coming down than I'd seen on Thurs night.

With the hard freeze that's out there at the moment (well in New Mills so we're just down the road) the LHS direct route (III/IV) should be much better by Sat morning so anyone who's missed the downfall should get in there before the warm weather arrives. I know of two pairs off up there tonight and another three pairs heading up tomorrow so expect queues!

Shining Clough and Wildboar Clough have also seen traffic last night according to some old (reliable) bloke in the pub earlier.

The best approach is around the reservoir - the Sandy Heys path is very icy at the moment and quick tricky in the dark. Unless you're wearing fell shoes

In reply to mac7120: i doubt people would tell you the truth seeing as they want to smash it up themselves