Dowsed and blizzarded - no photos today Gallery from the archives
After a couple of good weekends weather the forecast isn't good, it was wet overnight but dry this morning and stayed dry all the way to Coniston village. It looks horrible on the tops and there were a few raindrops being blown over as I started walking but by the time my calf muscles started to complain about the first part of the climb up the tarmac on Walna Scar road it was raining properly. By the time I reached the gate where the tarmac ends I had to put on waterproof trousers and rucksack cover, it was not going to stop raining soon.
Walna Scar road is an easy walk most of the way, there are some rougher sections and there is a bit of a climb on the final section up to the pass. The wind had been getting stronger all the time and I could see some snow through the mist on the flanks of Dow Crag. I had planned to walk across the scree below the crags and maybe attempt to climb up through the crags but I'm not going to do that today. At the top of the pass, shortly after passing a substantial one-man sized stone shelter, I turned right to find the unclear start of the path to Brown Pike; the path soon became obvious.
As I had reached the Pass the wind was noticeably stronger, the higher I got the stronger it became and as I reached the cairn at the top of Brown Pike I had to pack my rucksack cover away, it wouldn't stay on in this wind. By this time the rain had turned to snow, or rather a mix of sleet and icy particles, driven by the wind and stinging the small amount of my face that was still exposed. The ground became covered by snow as the precipitation changed again making it more difficult to see the path. With the slippery surface I really didn't want to stay go too close to the edge in this wind where the ground falls steeply away.
There was no visibility and I was keeping my head down to stop the snow being blown into my face but I could tell when I got to the big cairn on the summit of Buck Pike and then when I was climbing towards Dow Crag. The ground was much more rugged and rocky and there was nothing to see over the edge, it was quite nerve-wracking walking over the snow covered rocks in the strong wind. I reached the final rock tower at the top of Dow Crag but on this occasion I declined the opportunity to scramble up to the exposed top rocks. The alternative route is a careful scramble down over snow covered rocks to a bouldery wilderness with no visibility and no landmarks.
Featurless bouldery ground, no visibility and appalling conditions, this is one of those experiences that you don't want to become any more exhilarating. It would be easy to get lost today and it is certainly a bad day to get lost. I know where I am and anyway navigating is straightforward in places like this; I just headed in the direction of the cliff edge, as long I don't fall off I can follow the edge down to the col.
As it happened I came across the path anyway; although it tended to disappear in places where the snow was deeper I managed to follow it reasonably well. The wind almost too strong for me to walk, I made difficult progress over slippery snow covered rocks and I was keen to keep away from the edge. The snow and ice was being thrown at me horizontally and I seriously thought about turning back but it would probably be no easier that carrying on.
My hands had become cold because my gloves were wet through and I really wanted to get out of the wind and change them but there was no relief from it. Eventually I got some shelter behind a boulder but the snow was blowing everywhere, filling my rucksack and my fresh dry gloves with wet snow. I eventually changed my gloves, my hands must have been colder that I thought because I got the hot aches straight away.
It seemed to take a long time to get down to the col but I got there eventually. It was a good job I knew where I was going because the snow covering and poor visibility at this flat featureless place would have made it easy to get lost. There was a welcome respite from the wind but its absence meant the snow lay more deeply to hide the path. The start of the path up to Coniston Old Man is awkward to find but after the initial eroded rocky section it becomes much broader and is obvious even in these conditions. As I got higher the wind hit me again, these are real blizzard conditions, there is no visibility and the snow looks like it is flowing over the ground.
I got to the summit of Coniston Old Man and there was noone there, I was there all by myself and there were no footprints, I was the first to get there today. I didn't hang around and I decided to descend to Coniston from here rather than walk along the ridge of Brim Fell in the blizzard. Shortly afterwards I started to meet people coming up from Coniston and after a steep descent over snow covered rocks I started to see footprints showing the way down. It was sheltered from the wind on this side of the hill, reasonable walking conditions here but how many of the brave souls coming this way up would get to Dow Crag?
I had to change my outer gloves again they were already wet through, I also had to change my inner gloves, the combination of wind and wet snow is really too much for the regular definition of waterproof. It was fairly good snow to start with but it got wetter the further down I got and the footsteps in wet snow have left a slushy slippery surface on the path that is really awkward to get down.
The lower I got the wetter it got, snow turning to rain, the water run-off finding the footpath a good way to get downhill and it was still pouring down with rain when I got back to the car.
Andy Wallace 9th April 2005