Helvellyn / Catsycam (via Striding Edge and Swirral Edge) Walk (March 2012)
Mar 25th 2012
Helvellyn / Catstycam
Elevation: 950m, 890m
Listing: Eastern Fells (Lake District, England)
Starting Point: Patterdale
Date of Walk: Sunday 25th March 2012
Fine sunny weather today so a walk to Helvellyn via Striding Edge was in order. I’ve previously walked Helvellyn from Glenridding and Wythburn, so today I decided to head up from Patterdale for a change. The walk starts near the White Lion pub, heading towards Glenridding then turns left just after St. Patrick’s Church, heading parallel to Grisedale Beck, then turning right over a bridge. From there there’s a clear path all the way to the Hole in the Wall, near the start of Striding Edge.
Conditions were perfect today and the Edge was bone dry. Quite a few walkers had taken advantage of the excellent conditions today, and the Edge was quite busy. It’s always an exciting experience crossing Striding Edge, especially so in warm sunny weather. Heading off the edge onto Helvellyn summit, there were still a few stubborn patches of snow around, and the summit was very busy – lots of walkers out in the unseasonably warm weather. Visibility was not fantastic today due to a haze in the air, which meant that only nearby mountains were visible. So I made a quick stop for lunch and then headed back down via Swirral Edge. Although Swirral Edge doesn’t have as fearsome a reputation as Striding Edge, the initial climb down can be a little tricky – and in fact Swirral Edge has claimed more lives than Striding Edge in the last few years.
Most people would head straight back down to Red Tarn at this point, but as I was ahead of schedule, I decided to also summit Catstycam, then descended this straight to Red Tarn. It was very hot today and the temptation to soak my feet in the ice cold water was too great, and I gave in, losing my boots and socks and giving my feet a blissful long soak in the water.
From there it was back to the Hole in the Wall and back down to Patterdale. Fantastic day’s walking – Striding Edge is always fun, and if you’ve not yet tried it, be sure to give it a go.. it’s not as difficult as it looks!
Helvellyn / Nethermost Pike Walk (January 2012)
Jan 7th 2012
Helvellyn / Nethermost Pike
Elevation: 950m, 891m
Listing: Eastern Fells (Lake District, England)
Starting Point: Wythburn
Date of Walk: Saturday 7th January 2012
The weather was a bit nasty today but I wanted to try out my new Scarpa boots, and crampons & ice axe. It’s been amazingly mild this winter and most of the snow on the Lake District felltops has melted, with the exception of the higher mountains. Therefore I reasoned that Helvellyn would be a good choice, being the 3rd highest mountain in England.
High winds were forecast, and also, with the strong possibility of ice, I decided to give Striding Edge a miss and ascend from the western side of Helvellyn, starting my walk at Wythburn. I arrived just after 9am and was the only person in the car park.. not a good sign!
The walk started easily enough until I got high above Thirlmere and about halfway up to the top of Helvellyn, then the winds really picked up and were accompanied by hail and some flurries of snow. The mist then came down and took the views with it, however the Wythburn path is easy to follow, so this wasn’t really an issue.
The high wind and blasting hail/snow made what should have been a reasonably easy ascent very painful. I started to encounter snow around 750m, but only in patches, not enough to justify putting on crampons. As I approached the summit ridge, the snow became quite thick along Helvellyn’s east face, where a massive cornice had built up. By now it was difficult to stand up in the wind, so I had a snack, took some photos, then headed down. Just as I left the summit, the weather broke, revealing some excellent views – all the way to Ullswater.
I decided to head over to Nethermost Pike and bag this summit as well as it was only a short detour on my descent. After what turned out quite a nasty day weather wise, I was very pleased as I managed to bag 2 summits plus get some excellent photos as well!
Caldera Blanca Walk (December 2011)
Dec 5th 2011
Caldera Blanca
Elevation: 458m
Location: Lanzarote
Starting Point: Mancha Blanca, Lanzarote
Date of Walk: Monday 5th December 2011
On holiday in Lanzarote and couldn’t resist heading out for a long hike in the sunshine. Before the holiday I’d picked up a copy of the guidebook Walk! Lanzarote and there were quite a few interesting walks in there.
I really liked the look of the last walk in the book, which was a walk to an extinct volcano called Caldera Blanca (translated as White Crater). This involved a hike across a massive wasteland of lava rock, followed by a climb up the side of the volcano itself, then an almost complete circuit of the rim of the volcano.
I worked out the local bus timetables and 2 buses later (much cheaper than car hire and none of the stress) got ourselves to Mancha Blanca, which was the starting point for the walk. The volcano is visible from the town so you just proceed more or less straight west, coming across a small car park, and a signpost describing the walk. From there it’s a fairly simple trek across the awesome frozen rivers and waves of lava to the first crater, La Caldereta (324m high). We didn’t actually climb to the top of La Caldereta, but proceeded onto Caldera Blanca itself.
The pathway is fairly well worn, apart from the bit between La Caldereta and Caldera Blanca – but regularly placed cairns among the lava flows guide your progress here. We arrived at a well worn pathway up the side of the volcano – reaching the top was a fairly simple matter. On reaching the crater rim, the view is spectacular – absolutely jaw-dropping and very different to that experienced on a regular mountain walk. You can see right to the bottom of the crater, and also have excellent views of Lanzarote itself.
The actual summit of the volcano is right around the other side of the crater rim, so we walked along the rim to get to the other side. The rim gets narrower and windier as you get nearer the summit – but it’s always wide enough that there is no danger of falling off – it’s not like Striding Edge or anything! Views from the summit were even better.
From there we continued around to the other side of the crater, and dropped down via a path on the opposite side to where we ascended. Then it was back around the bottom of the crater, through the lava wastelands again and back to La Mancha just in time to catch the bus home for a few well earned beers in the villa!
This is a brilliant walk, a very different experience to a regular mountain walk – if you’re ever in Lanzarote, please take the time to do it – it’s very cheap to bus up there, the weather is pretty much guaranteed to be sunny, and it can be done in a strong pair of sandals. Can’t wait to repeat this one!
Angletarn Pikes Walk (October 2011)
Oct 15th 2011
Angletarn Pikes
Elevation: 567m
Listing: Far Eastern Fells (Lake District, England)
Starting Point: Patterdale
Date of Walk: Saturday 15th October 2011
The weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny today so Angela and I headed up the Lake District to squeeze in a quick walk to Angletarn Pikes, one of my favourite fells.
We parked in Patterdale village and ascended by the usual path, crossing Goldrill Beck and heading up via the mountain pass of Boredale Hause. There were only a handful of people out today, the nearby Place Fell looked completely empty, which is unusual!
We started out by ascending up the side of the North summit of Angeltarn Pikes, which involves an easy scramble, and from there crossing directly to the South summit, again involving an easy scramble. The sudden view of Angle Tarn from the south summit never ceases to impress me – it’s an awesome sight when it suddenly appears in front of you.
We walked down to the beautiful Angle Tarn for some lunch, then headed around the side of the fell and back down into Patterdale. Really warm weather for October, and a great walk.
De L’Ofre, Na Franquesa, Sa Rateta Walk (October 2011)
Oct 3rd 2011
De L’Ofre, Na Franquesa, Sa Rateta
Elevation: 1090m, 1067m, 1113m
Listing: Serra de Tramuntana Mountains (Mallorca)
Starting Point: Cuber Reservoir (Mallorca)
Date of Walk: Monday 3rd October 2011
Change of scenery and change of country this time… off to the island of Mallorca, which has some fantastic mountains! I had been talking to one of the local mountain guides about doing a ridge walk – unfortunately I wasn’t able to book onto a oranised walk in time so I worked out the details myself and went alone (leaving my planned route behind at the hotel of course).
Originally I wanted to climb the highest mountain in Mallorca, Puig Major; but this is off-limits to tourists as there is a military base at the summit. So not wanting to get arrested, or even worse, shot, I changed my plans and set out to tackle 3 of the biggest mountains in Mallorca, De L’Ofre, Na Franquesa, and Sa Rateta. These 3 monsters, all over 1000m high, are interconnected by a ridge, which makes it possible to walk all 3 in succession, kind of like the Ill Bell ridge in the Lake District.
I hired a car a set off into the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range, a very scary drive with lots of steep drops and a considerable number of tight s-bends along the way. After arriving safely (just) at Cuber Reservoir, I loaded up with food and lots of water and started the walk.
The walk is circular and can be tackled from either direction, but I preferred to get the flat walking out of the way first so headed along the right hand side of Cuber Reservoir, aiming to do L’Ofre first. Route finding presented no difficulty as the trail is well marked until L’Ofre itself. Once on the slopes of L’Ofre however, you enter thick forest and navigation becomes a matter of looking for cairns in the forest… not easy!
I arrived successfully at the summit of De L’Ofre to stunning views of Cuber Reservoir and Mallorca in general, and headed along the ridge to the next mountain, Na Franquesa. A long but relatively simple walk takes you to the summit at 1067m high. Then I headed to the third and final peak, Sa Rateta. This one is not so easy to reach as there is no clear path, and a fair amount of descent is required before you can start scrambling back up again. Arrived at the summit to more stunning vews, and an amazing view over to Cuber Reservoir and Puig Major.
From here on my route went a bit pear-shaped – the idea was to continue along the ridge to a pathway which would take me to the opposite side of Cuber Reservoir, but the cairns are difficult to locate, and somewhere I took a wrong turn, and ended up having to do a fair amount of scrambling to descend down to the patway in the distance. After some tough scrambling I eventually spotted the path and had to climb back up to it through some pretty thick and spiny bushes! Lesson learned – if you’re in doubt, re-check the map and compass and back track if necessary!
After dusting myself off and removing the various spines stuck in my arms and legs, I had a nice easy walk back to the car, and a drive back to Puerto Pollensa.
This walk is absolutely stunning and if you are in the area, please try it, you won’t regret it. One of the finest walks I’ve ever done. But please either hire a local guide (about 30 Euros), or take a decent map and compass to ensure you don’t run into difficulty.
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