I’ve entered the first month of unemployment & I guess you could say things have calmed down a little within the nervous system, with this, without a doubt the job search continues which can be monotonous & even a little soul destroying at times to say the least, only adding to this is the continual band of nasty weather fronts that the whole country is experiencing.

During the week I penned two walks within the Western Fells, walk one was Steeple from Bowness Knott (Ennerdale) from which I would take in as much as the ridge to Caw Fell as daylight would allow, in fact, during the early part of the week ‘walk two’ (Pillar from Wasdale Head) was going to be walked sometime in the near future.

I have a healthy fascination with the more desolate of the Lakeland Fells & a midweek summit of Caw Fell would more than have suited my needs I thought…that was until I noticed a weather window on Thursday which almost looked like the eye of the storm & almost certainly too good to be true, but true it stayed.

With this I scuttled my Caw Fells plans & switched my concentration back to Pillar, my route is a simplified version of the Mosedale Horseshoe, a walk not run routine where I would miss out on Kirk Fell & Yewbarrow, instead, today I could walk at my own pace over deep snow under blue skies.

I simply couldn’t ask for more out of a winters walk than I had today.

Wainwright Guidebook Seven

-Pillar

Pillar, in fact, far from being a spire of slender proportions, is a rugged mass broadly based on half the length of Ennerdale, a series of craggy buttresses supporting the ridge high above this north west face; and the summit itself, far from being pointed, is wide and flat. The name of the fell therefore clearly derives from a conspicuous feature on the north face directly below the top, the most handsome crag in Lakeland, originally known as the Pillar Stone, and now as Pillar Rock.

I couldn’t help but jump out the car as I reached Wast Water.

The wind blew a cold chill down the lake as my hands started to feel the cold almost as soon as I left the car, a day for wrapping up but, those skies do look promising which can only lead to good things

Todays journey has taken me almost three hours after leaving Wigan around 05:00am but, despite this I am ready & raring to get my kit on.

Wasdale Head is deserted & has that ‘ghost town’ feel to it which is a little sad seeing as usually during the peak months this place resembles Covent Garden, this morning it’s just me & the Crows who are awaiting what the sunrise will bring.

As far as fell walking goes this view was for me the most iconic of the whole day, here I was treated to my route ahead under bright morning sunshine.

The frozen Tarn doesn’t really deserve any exploration, but it got one anyway.

When walking alone it is common to come across footprints across the fell tops, but here today I had just the one set to keep me company walking in the opposite direction no less. I guess I’m not alone when I say that somebody else’s footprints can almost make the lone walker feel as if he/she isn’t walking alone which can be of comfort at times.

Strange eh?

Here as I mentioned earlier a route can be followed by the old fence post which make excellent way points should the cloud come down.

The snow at this point although deep in drifted areas remains stable & pact enough to hold my weight & was just a delight to walk over every time I heard that reassuring crunch.

This, as dare close I get to the Snow Cornice before taking my shot of the iconic Pillar Rock.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of one summit occasion when it was so hot we lay down to do a little sun bathing, here my teeth start to hurt because of the sheer cold…think warms thoughts, think warm thoughts…

If I had one thing on my mind it was the descent from Pillar to Wind Gap,  my fears were laid to rest the crampons managed to stay in the pack although I did slide one or two times further than I would have liked to.

I never did like my heart in my chest anyway!

This I can say was my favourite, & most memorable part of the whole walk as I reassuringly crunched my way over to Scoat Fell with little or no effort.

Just fantastic winter fell walking now that all the hard work was behind me.

It was time for a re-fuel but I couldn’t decide to eat now or leave it a little later, by the time I reached Scoat Fell I was joined by the walker I photographed on Steeple, an elderly gent who lived just outside Ennerdale Bridge, we shared our routes & as it turned out he was walking the same route that I had opted out of hours earlier from Ennerdale – Steeple – Haycock – Caw Fell.

I couldn’t help but notice this gents Ice Axe with wooden shaft, I bet that could tell a few stories I thought to myself.

Anyway…I’ll leave you to have Scoat to yourself as I’m heading over to Steeple I say, with this he downs pack & takes out his sandwiches.

I must say I think I reserved the gruelling stomach churning descent until last, the path from the summit plateau is at best narrow in the best of weathers, today I had to contend with snow cornice so the traverse was done with some care making sure I stuck as far ‘into’ the rock as I could, thankfully my predecessor had cut foot holes together with a string of Ice Axe holes to give the paths position away as best he could.

Cheers O’l chap.

‘Like the hull of an upturned boat’ –A.W

My exit from the fells is via Overbeck seen flanking Yewbarrow, a valley I was much looking forward too as I hadn’t used it before.

What a wonderful way to round off what can only be described as a perfect winters walk in amongst the wonders of the western fells.

I now have just under a mile & half back to Wasdale Head which gave me some great reflection time…if only every winters walk could be done in such conditions all the way through to spring, I guess we can dream which is why this walk will go down as one of the best winter walks I’ve done through out my walking career.

Now, it’s time for that three hour drive home, I guess you cant have it all.