Despite a continuous run of dry and sunny weather which Lakeland has been experiencing as of late todays walk hinged on a rather uncertain forecast which should see plenty of sunny spells mixed in cloud which would linger around the summits even adding that the highest of which could protrude above the cloud.
Today is of course a Sunday and as such I try to limit my mileage both on and off the fell. Initially I had planned a walk on the Coniston Fells before being reminded of the lure of the Hall's Fell ridge after driving past Blencathra last weekend on route to Braithwaite when I suddenly thought "it's been a while" OK I admit it's only been seven months but for such a fine traverse that can feel more like ten years.
With a green light forecast I packed my winter kit which included Ice Axe and Crampons both of which I still hadn't put to use so far but it's still very early days as far as Winter walking goes. The heavy snow that had fallen prior to last weekend is less substantial and is in thaw but this varied leaving Blencathra Buttresses with only patchy snow below 800' above this height snow drifted and accumulated but was still avoidable although extra care had to be taken when negotiating the craggy outcrops.
This wasn't the case for the descent via Blease Fell where the snow depth was up to two feet from the summit to around 500' all of which meant for now anyway, the Ice Axe and Crampons just came along for the ride but what really made this walk that extra special was the cloud dramatics which was more than the reward for sunny spells that never really materialised. |