After meeting the large Birthday group at Seathwaite Farm we made our way to the Stockley Bridge. We climbed by Taylor Gill Force and up to Styhead Pass. At the pass we took the opportunity to admire the views and have a welcomed break. The cloud was currently sitting on top of Scafell Pike, but clearing on all the other surrounding fells. From the pass we joined the Corridor route which traversed up the fellside to a misty Lingmell Col.

Everyone climbed well up the steep final ascent, and soon enough we were on a a very busy summit. After a nice round of ‘Happy Birthday’ for Andy we had some lunch. Fortunately the mist did clear for a few seconds to unveil the fab view the summit has to offer.

After our lunch we descended the steep slope to Broad Crag col, and then climbed over Broad Crag, Ill Crag and down Calf Cove to the top of Grains Gill. Now well under the cloud we enjoyed fantastic views, especially north towards Derwent Water as we descended back to the farm.

Starting from Seathwaite Farm we followed the good track to the Stockley Bridge, from which we climbed by Taylorgill Force. The weather forecast had stated there would be ’10% chance of cloud free summits’, however at this time the cloud was clearing and the sun was even beaming through from time to time. After about an hour and a half we were standing at Styhead Pass. We stopped for a brief snack stop here before starting our ascent up the eastern flank of Great Gable.

This track has a good path, but it has many false summits which is always fun when climbing mountains! Everyone climbed well and when we got to the summit we were rewarded with amazing views in all directions. We stopped just off of the summit out of the wind and enjoyed our lunches with amazing views over Wastwater, and over towards the Scafell Massif.

We descended from the summit across the boulders into Windy Gap, from which a short  climb  brought us up onto the summit of Green Gable. We stopped just for a few minutes to admire Gable Crag and the view down over Haystacks. We continued to the north and up to the summi of Base Brown. We retraced our steps a little way and descended into Gillercomb on a good track, which we followed back down past the lovely Sourmilk Gill and back to the farm.

The forecast was looking grim, however at 10am as we were about to set off, it actually looked quite good! The clouds were sitting on the tops of the higher fells, but our objective was sitting nice and clear!

We took the good path across the southern end of the lake to to where the Scarth Gap path climbs steeply up the fellside. The group were already deep in conversation so before we all knew it we were high above the lake on the easier section of the path. We continued on upwards to a slightly winder Scarth gap where we had fab views of Pillar Rock in the mist.

We made our way up Haystacks steep north ridge, and picked the easiest walking and scrambling lines. Soon enough we were on the fine summit soaking up the views. After a snack on the summit we walked east across the plateau, past Inonimate To the top of one of the descent paths.

We opted to descend to the Warnscale Bottom hut for lunch as it will provide some warmth and shelter for a while. The hut was great, and we could have stayed in there for a lot longer! We descended from the hut via the good path back to Gatesgarth.

We left Seathwaite Farm and enjoyed the morning warmth and sunshine as we made our way to the Stockley Bridge.  We climbed by Taylor Gill Force and up to Styhead Pass where we had a little stop to enjoy the views, at which point the tops of the highest fells were out of the cloud.  From the pass we joined the Corridor route which traversed up the fellside, and on which we gained great views down into Wasdale.

As we were half way up the Corridor route a layer of cloud rolled in and the top of Scafell Pike was swallowed up in this. Soon enough we were at Lingmell Col and making our way up towards the summit. As we reached the summit plateau the mist cleared to revealed some great views.

We descended by Broad Crag Col to Esk Hause, and then back to the farm via Grains Gill.

So far we had had a few snow flurries, but nothing too bad, the Slab was pretty greasy today, so we followed the rocky path to the side of the Slab emerging near the summit of Bowfell.

As we reached the summit of Bowfell the latest snow flurry cleared giving us some wonderful views to the Scafell range.

From Bowfell we descended to Ore Gap, stopping in some shelter fr our lunches before climbing to the summit of Esk Pike, descending over Esk Hause to Angle Tarn, by now in warm sunshine as we climbed to the summit of Rossett Pike and the good views of the Great Slab.

All that was left now was the descent by the new Rossett Gill path and down into the Mickleden Valley, following the track back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.

We had planned to climb Grasmoor End onto the summit of Grasmoor today, but the winds were quite strong and forecast to strengthen through the day so instead we decided to climb by Gasgale Gill to Coledale Hause.

We made good progress climbing alongside the gill, after a quick look at the new bridge, climbing to Coledale Hause, here we decided that we would climb directly to Hopegill Head and cross Whiteside before the winds got too strong.

After stopping for a short while behind the rocky summit of Hopegill Head for our lunches we were off again, traversing the Whiteside ridge.

As we descended over Whin Ben two jets passed us, repeatedly, four or five times flying towards Buttermere.

From the lovely little village of Grasmere we set out towards Steel Fell up the Easdale Road. We walked past the fields and farm houses to the start of the greenburn Valley track. From here we started our ascent of Steel Fell up its long grassy southern slope. We made great progress up the slope, and shortly before midday we were on its windy summit. From the summit of Steel Fell we enjoyed the amazing view down the full length of Thirlmere before descending down its western shoulder. We walked across the top end of the Greenburn Valley to the slightly smaller summit of Calf Crag. We found some shelter behind a rocky buttress to have a spot of lunch and enjoy the view.

Now at the apex of the route we were on our way back towards Grasmere. We walked along the wide grassy spur, around and over outcrops to our next summi of Gibson Knott. We left this summit, and after a short climb we were up onto the summit of Helm Crag. After soaking up the views one last time we descended off of Helm Crag back to the Easdale Road, and shortly after we were back in Grasmere.

We left a windswept Glenridding and made our way through the woods to to Lanty’s Tarn. We turned to the west from the tarn and ascended up the grassy spur. All of the group made great progress up this steep slope (especially as 4 of the group were from Holland where the highest hill is only about 300m high!). Soon enough we were on the summit of Birkhouse Moor enjoying fab views across to Helvellyn and the edges. We crossed the flatter ground and made our way to High Spying How.

The wind was gusting at a fair speed, however we were happy enough to go on the edge and maybe miss out some of the more exposed bits. Everyone scrambled exceptionally well along the ridge and not before long we were making our way up the exit ramp and onto a an even windier summit. We made quick progress into the shelter where we enjoyed some lunch.

We soon cooled down so got on our way. We descended the fine Swirral Edge and then re-ascended up to the conical summit of Catstycam. We descended from this summit to the east and joined the good track past Greenside Mine and then back into Glenridding.

We set off from the North Face Car Park at 10am and climbed the steep forest paths to meet the track above the trees, climbing the slopes towards the summit of Carn Mor Dearg, as we approached the summit the clouds came in and we were caught in a blizzard for a while, we stopped for our sandwiches just below the summit and by the time we were ready to move on the weather was fast improving.

We crossed the CMD Arete in good time, the winds were strong to start with but as we progressed along the ridge we were in the shelter of The Ben.

There were few views from the summit of Ben Nevis today, we didn’t stop for too long and were quickly descending the zigzags below and dropping off down over the heathery slopes back down to the forestry land and the North Face car park.

Starting from Seathwaite Farm we made our way to the Stockley Bridge. We climbed by Taylor Gill Force and up to Styhead Pass, during which we all stripped off the warm layers and enjoyed walking in our t-shirts. The cloud was sitting just above the summits, and offerend us great views all round. From the pass we joined the Corridor route which traversed up the fellside, and on which we gained great views down into Wasdale.

As we climbed higher the cloud did drop a little, and the top of Scafell Pike was covered from time to time, however we were hopeful it would be clear for our arrival. Soon enough we were at Lingmell Col and making our way up towards the summit. The summit was super busy as lots of people had wanted to take advantage of the fine weather. We bagged the summit and then found a little spot out of the wind to enjoy lunch.

After our lunch we descended the steep slope to Broad Crag col, and then climbed over Broad Crag, Ill Crag and down Calf Cove to the top of Grains Gill. All along this stretch we had fine views of the rest of the Lakes. We enjoyed the final descent alongside Grains Gill.