CONISTON TO KESWICK MOUNTAIN MARATHON
A CHALLENGE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE!
1 - Coniston Old Man
1. Coniston Old Man
We set off before sun up, from the village and in torchlight, though our route was fairly well delineated as we walked up to the Walna Scar car park and on up the track. I found this a tough start at that time in the morning with the road from the village on a 1 in 4 incline and with heavy packs, we were out of breath before the route began. We approached the top in heavy mist and cool temperatures, not much to be seen but the greys of early morning in the rocks and scenery. Considering our load, we made good time and light being scarce we left our summit photo and marched straight on without stop.
2 - Swirl How
3 - Crinkle Crags
4. Bowfell
5. Esk Pike
4- Bowfell
5 - Esk Pike
6. Scafell Pike
7. Great Gable
2. Swirl How
With a cool breeze behind us we motored on via Brim Fell and Great How Crags and then over to Swirl How, 45 minutes after leaving Old Man summit. Nothing much to be seen in the half light of early morning, we took a quick photo with banner, then descended to Great Cars, taking a photo of the aircraft crash site, barely visable in the misty morning light. We then followed the track down to Three Shire Stone.
3. Next stop Crinkle Crags via Red Tarn. Route finding no problem as we knew the route well, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves scrambling onto Crinkle Crags, finding ourselves faced with The Bad Step at the second crinkle. Given the strengthening wind and the weight of our rucksacks we decided to climb up the left hand side of the Bad Step onto the summit being the second of the crinkles. At this point wayfinding can be difficult for anyone unfamiliar with the area as it requires a sharp right hand turn from the back of the second summit to the third , in mist this can seem as though you are going in completely the wrong direction but following a compass bearing and trusting it, we found ourselves within a short time on the summit of the third crinkle and relieved that we had gone the right way. Natural instinct is to keep straight on from the second crinkle which only ends up in a steep descent instead of going across the tops, so trusting the compass at this point is essential, especially in mist. The rest of the Crinkle Crag summits were fairly straight forward and within half an hour we found ourselves at three tarns.
4. Bow Fell
Three tarns is between Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell and our next objective was a steep ascent to Bow Fell itself, the tops were still shrouded in mist, fortunately we knew the way and after a steep climb and a scramble over a boulder field we found ourselves on the summit of Bow Fell and quick stop for another photo.
There are several routes off Bow Fell summit, none of which are initially easy due to the boulders constituting the summit. Fortunately Sion instinctively knew the right direction due to previous experience, so that saved us wrestling with the map in strong winds.
5. Esk Pike
Our next stop Esk Pike, this was a relatively easy route to follow with a well worn track, although it involved one or two rocky descents. The ascent to the summit was relatively easy after what we had done so far. This took about 45 minutes from Bow Fell to Esk Pike, then another photo opportunity, though the strength of the wind made it difficult on the summit itself. Steep rocky descent to Esk Haws, where we saw our first signs of life, which consisted of people coming from Stockley Bridge onroute to Scafell Pike.
6. Scafell Pike
The route was well defined, though a long trudge, which suddenly turned into a seriously steep boulder field for quite some distance, in the vicinity of Great End.
Mist was down, visibility was about 20 meters fortunately we knew the way across the boulder field. We met a group of people from Wales, also doing the same route, but who were unsure of the direction to take over the boulder field. We suggested they follow us( on the basis of if we all got lost as least they had some sandwiches), seriously we did know the way and soon found the route up a very steep ascent which eventually led us to the summit of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. The views from the top of the mountain where fantastic, providing you had a good imagination, as the mist was thick at the summit as our photograph shows. (We knew it was the summit because every way was down from there on). Wendy was extremely happy to reach the top as she had never been up this mountain before, was impressed with the sheer steepness of the climb and pleased to get to the highest point in England. It was also a very rare occasion as the only people up there were the group of Welsh people who climbed up with us, normally you can’t see the view for the crowds.
6 - Scafell Pike
7 - Great Gable
7. Great Gable
The next mountain was Great Gable via the Corridor Route and Sty Head Tarn ( a very long way). Again there are several routes off Scafell Pike and in mist it is essential to find the correct route initially otherwise you could find yourself miles in the wrong direction. Previous knowledge of this mountain enabled us to find the correct route immediately. The descent from the summit to The Corridor Route via Piers Ghyll was a very attractive interesting route initially with some fantastic views of Great Gable, Wasdale and Borrowdale in the distance. After descending The Corrider Route a slight rock scramble in the vicinity of Piers Ghyll was a contrast to the initial beauty of the area. A long laborious gradual descent from Piers Ghyll to Sty Head Tarn became boring and demoralizing, along the route there are a couple of climbs, which although were moderate scrambles at this stage in our schedule proved difficult, being tired and with heavy packs, pulling ourselves up cliffy faces having to find hand and foot holds, although normally wouldn’t be a problem, our exhaustion made more difficult. The descent along The Corridor Route took us an hour and a half and was by far the most tedious and boring of the whole of our route. Upon reaching Sty Head Tarn we did some minor repairs to our feet and had a few minutes rest, appropriately next to a mountain rescue stretcher box (which enticed us to think seriously about calling them out to stretcher us home). From there it was a straight forward ascent to the summit of Great Gable via a conserved path which many years earlier I had actually helped to construct as part of a team that were repairing footpaths in the area. This took 45 minutes, and Wendy a bit longer. Another photo opportunity with the banner. From there we made an extremely serious and arduous rocky descent to Green Gable, this was by far the most difficult descent of our walk due to the nature of the rock formation and while only a third of the distance of the ascent, took us much longer coming down than going up (never again).
8 - Green Gable
8. Green Gable
Our most boring summit of the journey, it’s only asset was the view back to Great Gable shown on our photo, which from that aspect was awesome.
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Honister Hause via Brandreth
This took us along a high level route to the highest point of Honister Pass, the road from Borrowdale to Buttermere, although at the end we encountered a steep grassy descent, arduous for Wendy, developing a knee problem. At this point we visited the café situated in the mine workings area where we enjoyed the luxury of a hot cup of tea and a well earned rest in warm surroundings, we had now completed three quarters of our route, it was also at this point that we should have had our support vehicle meet us with fresh supplies, clothing etc. in order to complete our last section. This of course didn’t materialize however, we were contacted by a friend of ours who lived in Keswick who offered to come and pick us up from that point, which enabled us to rearrange the final section of our walk due to both health and safety reasons and lack of contact with radio support.
9 - Grisedale Pike
Our final section started from where we should have finished, at Braithwaite.
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9. Grisedale Pike
From Braithwaite to Grisedale Pike a long gradual steep ascent to the summit of Grisedale Pike with some fantastic views looking back across Keswick and Derwent Water. An interesting ridge walk, rewarded with interesting views all around, another photo on the summit of Grisedale Pike.
10 - Grasmoor
10. Grasmoor
A gradual descent to the col between Grisedale Pike and Grasmoor, some beautiful streams descending from the mountains made this a very pleasant section of our walk. A long gradual ascent to Grasmoor. The summit was basically uninteresting as a mountain in itself being more like a very high hill in characteristic. The beauty of Grasmoor is in it’s views of Buttermere, Crummock Water and many of the northern fells of the Lake District, however, this was not for us as again it was covered in cloud obscuring our views. Another photo and heading off to our next destination, Robinson.
11 - Robinson
12 - Dale Head
11. Robinson
Complete descent to ground level with some beautiful views of Buttermere and the Coledale valley on the other side and then a full ascent to Robinson where finally we had some views of Buttermere and Crummock Water as well as many of the mountains that we had previously climbed. Another photo at the summit!
12. Dale Head
Our final mountain, the descent from Robinson and the ascent to Dale Head was relatively easy compared to what we had done previously. Views were stunning, particularly of Cat Bells and the Derwent valley. There was a distinctive cairn on the top and we took another photo next to it. From there we decided to retrace our steps and finish our walk via an additional mountain we included Hindscarth. We chose this as the easiest way down and finally finishing at Braithwaite.
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This is a very basic resume of our walk, we can provide more detail if requested and additional photos will be posted. By far the most enjoyable aspect of our walk was our company with each other.
Braithwaite - The Finale!
Thanks to Julie Mc for her contribution and support and for this picture of a very misty Old Man summit x
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