UKC

Anyone on here gone up Lords Rake/West Wall Traverse solo in winter conditions? I’d love to do it and can’t for the life of me find anyone to go with! 
 

same with Custs Gully? Anyone been up there on their lonesome? 

I have not done lords rake but soloed cust lots of time,its steeper than youd think for grade 1, but if you comfotable with walking axe and crampons and can axe arrest then youl be fine, just pick good conditions when they come and go for it,its a nice way to the top of great end.

hi there! yeah definitely comfortable with them! are there any noticeable cruxes or is it quite an easy but steep snow slope? and does it cornice much on exit?

I suspect everyone's experience will be very dependent on conditions at this time of year.  I've soloed Cust's, but it was banked out and not much more than a snow plod.  Never had an issue with Lord's Rake and West Wall solo in either heavy snow or lean and thin, but that's just me.

The only real way to find out is to go and have a look for yourself.  Waiting for conditions that you think will suit you may be key.

T.

Custs can have an ice step in lean conditions. It's not usually too tricky. The first time I did it was with some crampons finger taped to a pair of walking boots as I didn't own b3 boots yet. It went ok so it can't have been that difficult.

That’s fair! Wow is Lords Rake / West Wall quite an easy incline or? I wasn’t at all worried about Lords Rake more West Wall part as I don’t know much about that part of the route!

that’s true - I’d been thinking of Custs Gully maybe tomorrow given the stretch of snowfall we’ve had currently, but not sure whether it’ll be really powdery at the moment(and I know the conditions are gonna be gone soon!)

I've done Cust's Gully quite a few times it either being well banked out or like others have said with a small step just before halfway - theres some good photos which shows the step in the galleries and I would expect to find this at the moment.

West Wall Traverse should be ok tomorrow and again not banked out. It has a short exposed section from memory where you are looking straight down into Deep Ghyll.

For many parties both routes as often used as descent but obviously easier if they are banked out.

Cheers! BTW I recognise your name do you climb often in the lakes(I think u may know one of my mates if you’re the same person🤣) 

definitely considering Custs - I’ll take a look over at the gallery to check out the step! seen many people on vids solo up there so maybe I should just get there and check out the conditions then go for it if I feel it’s all good💪🏻

Worth noting that people use Custs as a descent route, so you might get stuff coming down on you that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. 

In winter I've soloed it but with mates who were also soloing. We chucked Aussie Luke a rope down for the last 40 metres of Deep Gill where its slightly steeper and a long way up - it was his first time using crampons in the UK. He had happily soloed Lords Rake, West Wall Traverse and the lower part of Deep Gill after the junction with WWT. I did it totally on my own back in October - there was surprising amounts of ice in Deep Gill - although I didn't need tools or crampons, but just shows it is high and shady up there! In summer conditions it's a bit pants - great rock architecture but you're climbing up a scree shoot. Much better with hard snow.

If you are happy soloing grade I I don't imagine you'd find it difficult. 

Only you can make that decision. I have been up and down both routes solo many times but I am me, you are you.

It is never a good idea to give positive advice about soloing.

That’s totally sensible advice thank you! Think as a lot of people have said it’s best for me to just go out there, judge the conditions and see for myself💪🏻

Cheers for the feedback! Deffo happy on grade 1 ground as I’m basically always on my own🤣😭can imagine yeah if you’re new to crampons itd make everything harder😨heard about in summer and wouldn’t really wanna try it then wouldn’t be that interesting to me it seems, I was deffo worried about it for icing at the top of deep Ghyll tho, is this common or is it unlikely?

That’s fair warning thank you! 🤣