Alum Pot - Just a Few Photos

After a very lean year for caving during 2020 its been a real highlight of the last few weeks, as we have emerged from lockdown, to get back out caving with friends. Its always a joy to "lead" folk underground but the more relaxed atmosphere that accompanies a social time in the outdoors is always both welcome & enjoyable. Yesterday as the dry, sunny and settled weather continues Marion & I headed out to Alum Pot with: Andy -J, Maccy & Simon. It had been a while since Maccy had done any SRT and Simon was on ladders so a few pitches and a chance to soak up the sun down at "The Window" was the plan. The Yorkshire Dales was busy with walkers; bikers; and there were plenty of other cavers out too. We entered Lower Long Churn through the Diccan entrance and descended into Alum Pot in two separate parties via the Dolly Tubs pitches and on further down the pot hole.

Below is the story of the day in photos:

Mal

"Big-ish" Day in the Mountains

Yesterday was our second trip into the Lake District in order to climb mountains since the end of Lockdown 3.0 the fine Spring weather was forecast to continue so it all looked good! 

We often find ourselves in conversation with folk on the subject of a "Quality Mountain Day" and try as often as possible to make our days in the mountains fit the criteria of such. Mountain Training suggest a number of key features that a QMD should possess and some of those that we think are particularly relevant in our planning as a provider of this sort of day out are:

- the need to plan / design a day rather than simply copy what others have already put out there

- to journey / navigate away from well trod paths

- to create opportunities for ourselves or others to increase knowledge / practise skills

- to ensure safety

- to spend more than five hours on the journey

- to climb a substantial mountain

Yesterday's journey, in our opinion, fitted the bill quite well.

Our trips down to the Langdale are fewer & further between than those to the more northerly Lake District Fells simply because of the travel time involved. However, a good weather forecast; the opportunity for a relatively early start from home and the knowledge that mid-week in April would surely offer a less crowded space than what is likely to come in the summer holidays all contrived to motivate us!

The plan was to do a round taking in: Pike o Blisco; Cold Pike and Crinkle Crags with a bit of "off-piste" navigation and maybe a little steep ground work. As such we arrived at Sticklebarn at 09:30 and were on our way  about ten minutes later. There was a bit of a road walk down to the gate of Stool End and then a sharp left up the lane; uphill before leaving tarmac and following the path alongside Redacre Gill, it was a steady ascent crossing the gill before the ground gradually levelled out for a while and Pike of Blisco summit came into view. There were a few rocky steps to negotiate before finally gaining the summit at around 11:30, an hour and threequarters after setting off.

Despite the high cloud not having cleared to the extent that either the Met Office or mwis had forecast the summit views were excellent and the protection offered from full sun exposure welcome. We plotted a slightly off the beaten track route to Cold Pike by descending over a series of rocky steps to Red Tarn, this worked really well with the navigation being easy in these conditions and what would undoubtedly have been boggy ground being quite firm after the dry early Spring weather. Eventually the main path from the Wrynose Pass was intercepted and the summit of Cold Pike gained shortly afterwards.

Next up was the obvious route to Crinkle Crags, I've only been once before and they didn't disappoint on a second visit: high, rocky and with superb views. The traverse across them was the highlight of the day, even on this popular section the number of folk we saw only reached a total of ten! Viewed from the vantage point of Crinkle Crags Bowfell was an outstanding spectacle (see photo at beginning of this post). A brief stop at Three Tarns reminded me of a wild camp here some sixteen years ago when doing Mountain Leader Training, a great night with temperatures down to minus eleven degrees and a night navigation exercise on Bowfell and Esk Pike!

Our descent from Three Tarns was via "The Band" in ever clearing skies and brightening sunshine. It was good to be able to view everything we'd done through the day from this perspective. With only having done one previous day out in the high fells since the end of lockdown we were feeling pretty fatigued and flat ground for the last fifteen minutes or so back to the van was welcome.

We were out for just about eight hours and the total distance covered on this route was a little over 10 miles.

Mal

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Photo Catch-Up

Things got quite busy towards the end of the school Easter holidays, so here's a very short photo catch up from: a day of "Silence & Solitude" canoeing on Ullswater; sport climbing in the North Pennines & a spot of Weardale caving. The April weather has been very kind, a predominantly northerly airstream has brought much cool but dry and sunny weather to the North West of England which has been much enjoyed. I'm sure Marion will want to say a bit more about some of these days but for now its just a few photos!

Mal

Bouldering With Grandchildren!

Over the past 12 months or so we've spent quite a bit of time at various bouldering venues across the North of England: Lake District; Yorkshire Dales; Northumberland etc (and at indoor walls  pre-lockdown). The simplicity of turning up with nothing much more than a crash pad; climbing shoes; a guide book & whatever other comforts might be required for the day has an appeal to it. We've seen others out with quite young children, so when a day looking after the grandkids coincided with some dry warm sunny weather we took the opportunity.

We are blessed to have Carrock Fell boulders just a short drive away - it seemed like an obvious venue choice. There were a few folk about but parking remained plentiful & we headed for the "warm up" area in the Central Group of boulders. Evvie is 10 and Iris 6, they both had a great time! The morning passed quickly with a mixture of scrambling about on the boulders; weasling between them & generally larking about!! Carrock's Gabbro can bite a little but it also provides outstanding traction even for small feet that aren't wearing climbing shoes.

There was much triumph and no mishaps!

We were sufficiently encouraged by the success of the morning to consider this as a potential venue & activity from a work perspective.

As little people began to tire (ever so slightly!) it was even possible to get a couple of climbs in ourselves with Maz breezing up Frustration Slab & me feeling quite pleased with myself with a first attempt success on White Streak at F6a+

Mal

Vaccination 2

In a similar vein to the recent post "Vaccination Day" this is more of a diary entry to commemorate a significant day & moment in time.

On Saturday 10th April 2021 both Marion & I received our second dose of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. It was organised via our GP surgery, we went into the vaccination room together and emerged no more than five minutes later - an incredibly efficient process with zero fuss & faff! For Marion the second dose came just five weeks after the first and for me just over four weeks.

In many ways we see science as now having played its part in building a new foundation for UK society to go on and build its "new normal". Our prayer for both ourselves and those we share this country with is that we carefully, considerately and intentionally go on seize the opportunities afforded to us to grasp an improved version of reality.

Wandope & Whiteless Pike - Lake District North Western Fells

It was February 2015 that we last wrote up a day out in the Lake District Fells on the blog! It feels like a very long time ago, similarly as a result of UK Lockdown 3.0 its over four months since we last ventured out together for a day in the mountains - so it was good to be back!

Details: 

Wandope & Whiteless Pike from Buttermere via Mill Beck

Marion, Charis & Me

Approx 5.75 miles

Bright sunshine; blue skies; keen northerly wind; no precipitation; great visibility

We set off quite early from the National Trust car park in Buttermere which was already moderately full before 09:00 am. The weather forecast for the day was a fine, dry and bright morning with the chance of snow and hail showers developing in the afternoon (they never materialised).

I'm not sure how well trod the Mill Beck valley is but unless the footpaths have recovered from last summers heavy footfall it has the look of a "path less travelled". We didn't see a soul until we reached the summit of Wandope. Anyway it was a pleasant steady ascent crossing Third Gill before starting a much steeper section at Addacomb Beck.

The ascent following the line of Addacomb Beck was a joy, the path fades in and out (its possibly much less apparent when the bracken is growing) and often has a bit of an off-piste feel about it, navigation is never a problem as firstly the beck and secondly the distinctive ridge feature that lead up to Wandope summit are easily followed handrails. We diverted into the magnificent Addacomb Hole - a beautiful high valley with a look of a place visited relatively infrequently. Its a fairly steep pull up the ridge to Wandope summit from which the views across the whole of the Lake District were superb, the summit itself though was not one of the more impressive in the area!

Our descent was via the main summit ridge, across Whiteless Edge (above Third Gill), with another sharp pull up on to Whiteless Pike for more outstanding views in all directions.

The way down from Whiteless Pike towards Buttermere is initially quite steep but levels out over Whiteless Breast and its a gentle finish back down into the village.

Mal