Esk Pike & Bow Fell - Photo Gallery
For once the weather and the forecast matched each other, it was cold but the sky was blue when I got to the National Trust car park next to the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel. As I walked along the good footpath behind the hotel the sun was lighting up the hills, Tarn Crag and Thorn Crag either side of Stickle Ghyll were a bright rusty colour with Pavey Ark's arc peeping above the horizon.
Behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, Raven Crag up on the right was brightly illuminated by the sun and a large tree on the left had been broken off half way down by the recent storms. As you get around a bend and drop down to the valley of Mickleden itself you can see the jagged skyline that gives Crinkle Crags its name and Bowfell looking bold as it does from every direction.
As you walk up the valley Pike o' Stickle high up on the right hand side looks its very best, it looks good enough to climb from here. As you walk up the valley in this visibility Rossett Gill is very striking and Rossett Pike looks almost as important and imposing as Bowfell. Some of Bowfell's more interesting features are beginning to be shown, Bowfell Buttress looks remarkably prominent.
After you pass a stone sheepfold just before crossing a bouncy wooden platform of a footbridge you take the left hand and less obvious looking footpath in the direction of Rossett Gill. You are politely and gently introduced to the increasing gradient, soon the wide track is left behind and you are amongst mountains. The view behind beyond the valley is the unmistakable bulk of the Langdale Pikes.
You reach a point where you can get into Rossett Gill itself for a more interesting climb to Angle Tarn but today I opted for the reconstructed pony track obviously designed to protect the gill by keeping people out of it. As you get to an obvious bend in the path I had intended to head directly to the base of Cambridge Crag but this area of water slides is completely frozen. The way over grass and boulders is probably not as safe as I would like it to be so I followed the path up to Angle Tarn.
Angle Tarn looked very attractive, usually it is too dark to be photographed but it was illuminated just enough today. You descend to the outlet of the tarn and cross the outflow stream, stepping across stones onto the opposite bank where an obvious path takes you upwards. The sun is shining brightly, the visibility is as good as it gets with the air being so cold and it feels good to be walking.
Eventually you reach the cross shaped shelter at the foot of Allen Crags, this is not Esk Hause but is often called by that name. There is a view I don't recognise that I have never seen before, it takes a couple of seconds to realise it is Great Gable and Green Gable beyond Great End. From the shelter you turn left and walk upwards in the direction of Great End to get to the real Esk Hause. This is almost as confusing as the mist, you don't usually see all the hills so the view is unfamiliar.
From the wide grassy hause, Esk Pike is where it should be without really looking the part, you turn left before you reach the main profusion of cairns and pick up a grassy path. The grassy path quickly becomes rocky and rugged in the nature of Esk Pike, the bright views of Ill Crag behind contrasted to the frosted rocks on this shaded side of the hill. I can't remember being on Esk Pike when I could see it and the colours in the summit cairn seem brighter than usual and the views go on forever.
The summit plateau is a new sight for me, it's surprising how easy it is to keep to the path, then down a more familiar eroded path to Ore Gap, the redness of the earth at the col is striking, an unmistakable feature. From Ore Gap a line of cairns leads you across a boulder field in the general direction of Bowfell, the ground is too rocky to be worn into a path. After you pass a small craggy outcrop on your right a path materialises and you can follow the cairns to Bowfell.
If you follow the path you will get to the summit but you will not see just what a magnificent hill Bowfell is, especially today, I carried straight on towards the ridge. You can keep to grass between the boulders and outcrops, I even found a couple of small cairns so it isn't as obscure a route as you might think. There are places where the flattened grass is less obvious but keep heading up towards the skyline.
Eventually you reach the first cairn at the top of the ridge, the view of Mickledore separating the Scafells is a compelling view as you walk along. There are cairns at regular intervals but no real path as such until you reach the cairn at the top of Bowfell Buttress. The view of the Great Slab of Flat Crags shows just how great a slab it is, a short walk over to the top of Cambridge Crag and you can look back at the impressive top of Bowfell Buttress.
From here on a bright day there is no problem finding your way upto the summit of Bowfell and the view for once is simply incredible. It's downhill all the way from here, first you have to find your way off the summit boulders and I don't think I have used the same way twice. Then there is the wide eroded path down to Three Tarns, interesting enough at the best of times there are a couple of sections of hard snow to get down.
The snow is packed hard and looks impossible to walk down but it held me quite well but I did use the shallow foot steps that were available and walked down half sideways to make sure I got some grip. Down at Three Tarns there were certainly plenty of people around as there had been all day. One final obstacle before the going got easier was the iced up start to the path going down to The Band, you had to be careful but it wasn't too bad on the hard snow and avoiding the ice.
The sun was still shining on Pike o' Stickle but the light was fading and Pike o' Blisco was quite dark in the shade. The parking plan had failed again as I had to walk back from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel to where I had parked the car at the new hotel.
Andy Wallace 23rd January 2005