UKC

Hi, anybody got any condition reports for East face, Helvellyn. Face condition in general, no particular route, temps and snow volume if any, pref somebody who has been up to red tarn in the last couple of days. Before certain people jump of your chairs and go on about unfrozen turf and alpine plants,Iv,e got the guide book and that would be why I am asking. I know from certain Mountain Rescue Team reports it has been snowing, but to what degree, in what area and how long for, I do not know.

Cheers,

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

Some reports from the weekend here:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=525862

Conditions from the summit yesterday here:

http://www.lakedistrictweatherline.co.uk/

In reply to Exile: Cheers for that, many thanks, just as i thought too early for the face I think, but if you dont ask ...........

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

This photo was from the summit today:

http://www.lakedistrictweatherline.co.uk/__data/assets/image/0005/292748/IM...

And here's the face from yesterday:

http://www.lakedistrictweatherline.co.uk/__data/assets/image/0005/292361/IM...

Given i was climbing frozen turf on Dollywaggon North on Sunday I think the buttresses could be good, but I'd give the gully lines a miss.

In reply to Exile: Many thanks, was thinking of looking at Wall and Ramp, to the left of Gully 2,looks like there,s enough snow on the ground, what was the consolidation like. The Patterdale MRT report said that there had been a period of thaw and refreezing. So I am thinking and I agree that we would be good on a mixed route. Too early for the Gully route,s.

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

The turf on both the routes we did was bomber, although another team on the crag backed off a route because of unfrozen / aerated turf. I think the more exposed the turf has been the better it will be, (not rocket science I know!) this seems to have been the case on Helvellyn on Sunday too where it looks like Viking Buttress / Blade Runner were ok but turf under the snow in gully lines was poor. I'd go with a few options in mind and see what you find. I'd be suprised if there wasn't something to climb, but I suspect the steeper the route the better your chances will be.

In reply to Exile: Yeah I'd agree - all the routes we tried that were not in really sheltered groove lines had bomber turf and good conditions. The route I backed off on Dollywagon North had unfrozen turf in the back of a deep groove, every other line we touched was good. Based on that I'd agree that the buttresses on Red tarn will probably be good.

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

The below link sends you to the ski club near helvellyn. Click on the web cam section.

Gives you some idea

In reply to LakesWinter: Many thanks for the information, nice to have a genuine informative discussion. Not always the case, especially when The Lakes Winter Conditions are the topic of conversation. We,ll go and make a decision up there, but prob go for a mixed route, based on the info.

Cheers

In reply to Shaun Spavin: I've just put some images up on my website from the summit of Fairfield that I took on Sun. 2nd.
www.escape2thewild.co.uk ....they're in the News and in the Lakes tabs
I guess conditions will have improved now, things were a bit thin for climbing on Sun, with about 1 inch of frozen crust then powder underneth.

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

Would be good if you could post what you find on here please Shaun - would help those of us not lucky enough to be able to climb mid week to form a picture of what might be in next weekend.

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

Gully no.1 was fine Sunday on Red Tarn face but i reckon the gullies might be quite avalanche prone at the moment, we have had lots of rain in Kendal at low temps and i recon it have put a lot of fresh snow down high up lying on the crust from Sunday. The weatherline pics seem to confirm this.

In reply to Shaun Spavin:

Hi folks, anyone been up to red tarn recently or around that area? As far as I'm aware there's a lot of windslab and unconsolidated powder around at the moment on the east faces but happy to be told differently.

In reply to becoming-stranger: we were up on Wednesday. The loose accumulation of snow on the upper slopes wasn't dangerous but really hard going. Temperatures on the increase over weekend so i'd stay away and wait till after tues when the temps are reported to drop again. Conditions were gods on the buttresses but poor in sheltered areas

In reply to Shaun Spavin: check this out
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=530292

In reply to David Cowley:
The temps are set to drop again during sunday afternoon and in to the night
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/nw/keswick_forecast_weather.html

In reply to CurlyStevo: Have you got a form of tourettes where you have to post links to weather or other websites every hour , its infuriating...

In reply to becoming-stranger: Climbing conditions were good there on wednesday, plenty of ice about, but its snowed more since then. Skiing was awesome down the Red Tarn face of Catseye cam.

In reply to Gael Force: Do you really have to insult someone trying to be helpful? You don't have to follow the links.

In reply to Gael Force: would want to go out on hill with you if get upset with aposting in a forum lol

In reply to gritrash0: http://www.facebook.com/pages/i-hate-tossers/131075080251756