Some weeks ago Tim and I had arranged to walk Great Gable from the top of Honister Pass but as the weekend approached it was becoming clear the forecast wouldn't be on our side with rain, low cloud and high winds on the cards.
The east of the park had a better forecast so we came up with this plan B cracker, Fairfield from Grasmere, it's the kinda route we could chop and change if things weren't going our way which we drastically had to do less than 60 yards from Fairfield summit but I'll get to that later in the report.
Today proved it's not all about making the summit within the depths of Autumn where the valleys are in complete contrast to the mountain today, Summer felt a longtime ago and the transition between Autumn and Winter was looking right at us. We had it all thrown at us from rain, low cloud and some of the strongest winds Tim and I had endured. I have personal experience of what strong winds can do to a full grown man when a few years ago I was picked up and thrown fifteen feet, today, we weren't taking any chances. |