Green and Great Gables - Photo Gallery

There were already plenty of cars parked near Seathwaite Farm when I arrived, I had to leave my car half a mile up the road. I walked through the farm buildings, crossed over the footbridge and climbed the wall using the shallow ladder stile to get to the reconstructed path going up by the side of Sour Milk Gill. There was no lying snow at this level, but there were regular icy patches, of varying sizes, to be avoided; especially on the scramble through rocks by the side of the impressive frozen waterfall.

It was warm work climbing up to Gillercombe, and several layers of clothing were removed by the crowd of people on the path; once I got into the shade, as I walked along the hanging valley, it rapidly cooled down again. There is a path but it became increasingly affected by ice, and the final zigzag upto Gillercombe Head was covered by hard frozen snow. I watched a couple of walkers struggle back down the path, after reaching a point at which they could get no further; it was time to put on my crampons.

Another couple of walkers came up behind me and stopped, probably to see how I got on when I got on to the path; it probably surprised them when I left the path, and walked straight up the steep snow slope. It would have been impossible without crampons, it was possible to walk up on my front points, but it was steep enough on the hard snow to make me wonder for a second if I should have stayed on the path. It meant I didn't hang around and I quickly got up to the ridge, it took the other walkers a lot longer to get up the path.

The snow on the ridge was fresher and powdery and not quite as good for walking in crampons, but I kept them on because I suspected that they would be needed later. The views were tremendous, there was a good contrast between the snow and the blue sky; the snow had retreated enough in parts to emphasise the ruggedness of the crags on Great End. By the time I reached the summit of Green Gable, the snow was deep enough to make walking in crampons unnecessary if not awkward. The view of Great Gable from there made the whole day worthwhile.

I felt more comfortable in crampons on the slippery descent to Windy Gap, and on the initial climb towards Great Gable up the snow-covered path. When I reached the scramble up the rocks, I was less sure that the crampons were doing me any good, and shortly after reaching the top of steepness I took them off. After a straightforward walk over snow-covered boulders, there was a steeper slope on which the snow had settled and become hard, I could have done with some help getting up the slope but it wasn't worryingly difficult.

The summit plateau of Great Gable was fantastic, shiny surface snow, brilliant sunshine and terrific views in every direction. I descended towards Styhead, there was deeper snow that had been disturbed and softened by many walking boots, it wasn't that difficult but I ended up on my backside a couple of times. It didn't get any easier until I was almost down at the stretcher box; I sat there by myself for a while enjoying the sunshine and the view of the hills.

The path by the side of Styhead Gill was the most difficult part of the day, the broad path down to the footbridge was treacherously icy, and not much better after crossing the gill. I hit the deck on another couple of occasions, at one time I ended up sitting on the icy path, I couldn't get up until I slid to the edge of the ice and swung my legs over until my feet found some grip on the grass.

As I got past Taylorgill Force, there was less ice but I had to take care in places all the way back to the car.

© Andy Wallace 30th January 2010