Helvellyn with a view - Photo Gallery

The weather has actually exceeded the forecast for once, by the time I got to Glenridding the sky was already blue. I am continuing my boycott of the Lake District National Park car parks because of their ludicrous all day charges and left the car in a secret but legal side road. I walked up the Greenside Road past the hostel and the Skiing club but forgot to follow the Sticks Pass route so at the foot bridge I had to make my way up over steep grass to reach the path again.

Once on the track towards Sticks Pass the going is easy enough and warm enough to be without a jacket but not warm enough for just a tee shirt, lots of adding and removing layers by the time I got to the dam at Keppel Cove. I hate walking across the dam but I have to do it just to prove to myself that I can, it is scary and disorienting but a lot easier than the alternatives. As soon as you get in the shadow of Catstycam you need a jacket and gloves.

There are a couple of paths that start to head in the direction of Catstycam but there is only one direction that counts, up and plenty of it. There are a couple of eroded channels that could be paths, loose and steep but not presenting any difficulties other than the steepness. After the initial loose material you have to scramble over a few greasy rocks then a bit more loose material and you should find a reasonable path.

With it being so steep you get a good view of Keppel Cove and the dam and Whiteside is well illuminated, the shadow of Catstycam shows what an elegant shape it is. The final ascent is steep over grass with greasy rock outcrops but the horizon is the summit, all of a sudden you are at the summit. The weather is fantastic, the views go on forever and Helvellyn looks as challenging as ever. As I walked down from the summit of Catstycam a rescue helicopter flew over Helvellyn, back over my head the made a low level circuit just above Red Tarn before flying off.

There are ribbons of snow descending from the cornice just below the summit of Helvellyn, getting on and off the edges is going to be as interesting as I thought it would be. Following the path takes you below the start of Swirral Edge, for the time being anyway I kept to the ridge. Swirral Edge is different to other edges in that usually most people keep to the path below the edge, but today the path is full of hard snow so everybody is keeping to the rocky ridge.

Swirral Edge is a bit more sheltered than Striding Edge so there are many icy patches on the rocks, the real start of the edge is where the gradient becomes forty five degrees. On a dry, sunny day this is good fun, the icy patches are not quite so much fun and a number of people turn back half way up. I don't fancy the ridge but I hate to be beaten, the path may be iced up but I have some crampons and I'm not afraid to use them.

I made my way down the rocks to the path, with my crampons on it was a bit awkward at first over some of the rocks but then I reached the steep slope I was expecting. I am going to claim it was a fifty degree slope, whether it was or not it was very steep and not a single footprint in it as I front pointed my way up to the top over hard snow and water ice. The ridge walkers were having trouble with the last bit of hard snow up to the cairn but I was happy in my crampons.

On the summit plateau of Helvellyn the views were just immense and went on forever. There were very many people there, lots of ice axes but also many first timers. It was warm and sunny, difficult to leave that place on such a special day but I headed for the exit to Striding Edge still wearing crampons. At the Gough Memorial the snow starts again and there is a very short horizon where the drop over edge seems to be an impossible way down.

You have to walk a few yards before you can see that the descent is practical, it must be forty five degrees, a lovely scramble in the dry but not quite as straightforward with a covering of snow. The snow was becoming quite soft in the sun and having seen a lot of traffic, the crampons were some help but I probably would have coped with using the footsteps that were already there.

The snow ended and the scramble began, it is a challenging descent even before you get to Striding Edge. The start of the edge proper is a suitably intimidating scramble up twenty feet of rock, if you don't enjoy it you could be in for a nasty surprise. An unlikely looking climb up more rock brings you to the top of the edge, today's conditions are just perfect to walk along the crest.

I can't pretend to be the most confident or elegant of edge walkers but I kept to the top of the ridge all the way. By the time you get to Low Spying How at the end of the edge it all seems so much easier and it is a much broader ridge by then. Instead of dropping down to the path you should keep to the ridge down to Hole in the Wall, the view of Grisedale and St Sunday Crag is well worth the effort.

It got very warm as I walked along to the summit of Birkhouse Moor and I had to take my jacket off and enjoy the warmth for a few minutes at the summit. The path downwards is one of the mechanically made ones, it will end up looking like a path, very functional but nowhere near as pleasing as the reconstructed pitched paths.

There is a section of reconstructed path which although they look natural and attractive these new paths have their problems too, even though this is one of the least awkard of them. My right foot slipped an inch as I was descending, enough to make me lose my balance and fall head first down the path, I managed to break my fall with my left arm but ended up flat on my back with my legs higher than my head.

In that position, wearing a heavy pack I was unable to get up, stranded like an overturned tortoise I had to swivel my legs around before I could get to my feet again. It just goes to show the hill isn't climbed until you get down again.

Andy Wallace 29th January 2005