English 3000'ers: Sca Fell

With: on my own


Weather: fine, dry, a bit humid, very light winds & cloudy, although cloud base was above the summits (see below for more on weather)


Still enjoying a few days off at the moment so took the opportunity to fill in one of the "missing pieces" in the Lake District: I climbed Scafell Pike a few years ago and have been up Skiddaw & Helvellyn many times so Sca Fell was the only English 3000'er remaining.


I thought about going via Lord's Rake but reckoned  it'd be climbing with the hoardes (first weekend in August) so I picked a fairly conservative route:

I did wander about a bit exploring various options but essentially the route was: Brackenclose; Hollow Gill; Green How Path; Summit; Descent West towards Burnmoor Tarn; with deviation off to take in Maiden Castle Cairn; back to Brackenclose.


I was surprised (maybe everyone else was in Lord's Rake or on Scafell Pike?) because:


- didn't see anybody on the way up
- only about 8 people on the summit (of which three, quite independently, asked which mountain they were on!!)
- only saw two couples on the way down


Also, I expected to find "motorway" paths throughout the area - this was not the case.


A few pictures below & more on Facebook:

Sca Fell Summit

Not many folk here

They're all on Scafell Pike!!

Weather: last night the BBC forecasters were frantically hedging their bets with a prediction that anywhere in the North of England was set for potentially very heavy rain today. Meanwhile mwis (http://www.mwis.org.uk/) and the met office mountain forecast (www.metoffice.gov.uk) consistently forecast that the far west would be dry, with high cloud - they were spot on!