A trip to Blencathra on Thurs to see how conditions are shaping up showed that while there has been a nice dump of white powder it's not consolidated yet and the strong winds were blowing it around. The turf was still soft and still needs time to firm up, so we may have to be very selective about routes and be patient for a little thaw and a hard freeze. Great weekend forecast for a winter walk, or a ridge scramble though...
Thats sounds like a good plan......try going up Halls Fell ridge then descending down to Scales Tarn then back up Sharp Edge for a great Alpine day out ..enjoy
If you do Sharp Edge then traverse the summits you'll see some quite nice snow formations facing the A66, and you can even step down safely at certain points where there is good ground below to take a shot along the cornices.
A nocturnal ascent of Coniston Old Man on Thursday night revealed huge quantities of unconsolidated fresh snow (waist deep in places!) from Wednesday night's brief downpour. There's been some potential thaw & then more snow/hail/rain today (Friday/15) & it will be cold tonight. The deep snow won't be particularly safe & I doubt there's much/any ice buildup so please take care for all the usual reasons.
We've cleverly realised getting from the hostel in Keswick to helvellyn is only possible by going right round down the motorway and up from the south (I knew pooley bridge was closed but thought we could get down the a5091...whoops) so it's blencathra tomorrow. Looking at the suggested hall's fell ridge to start. Just looking into it now. Maybe do striding edge Sunday after a night in ambleside
Thanks, just getting more info from the traffic site but tricky to get it precise. Is it possible to get to patterdale or are we best going to thirlmere and up from that side?
As far as I know, the swirls how car park is currently a building site, you would have to walk in from the pub. As for patterdale, you won't have an issue have a good day out!
Ran up to Dow Crag early this morning just in time to catch an awesome sunrise at the foot of the crag. Rarely seen the snow so deep, hard going in places. Soloed Easy Gully which was banked out & ran round to CoM etc. Fine conditions for running if you can avoid soft/deep snow. Its now snowing again (16:15/Sat) & set to continue for a while yet.
Decided on Rampsgill head crag today with a lovely winter walk in with good snow cover. The crag is plastered with snow but on closer inspection the turf is not frozen and the powder snow not much use for climbing. The whole crag needs a good dose of freeze and thaw before it's worth another look.
We ran a course today on Raise and around Keppel Cove. Plenty of deep powder - great for skiing. Loads of really poorly bonded slab though in sheltered areas and on steep lee slopes (but not just todays lee slopes as we've had a variety of wind directions over the last week). Very easy to trigger slab breaking away on several aspects. Gullies aint the place to be until it consolidated. Snowing to valley level now but slightly warmer than this morn. https://www.facebook.com/LakelandAscents/