Ill Bell to Thornthwaite Crag - Photo Gallery

It seems like the proper winter will soon disappear as the weather gets a bit warmer, but I was hoping to still find some snow on the ridges. I parked at Troutbeck Bridge and walked up the Garburn Road, it is getting very eroded in places, to Garburn Pass where there was still plenty of snow. The start of the path is obvious enough but soon becomes difficult to follow, I don't understand how the footsteps in the snow just came to an end. It was easy enough once I found the reconstructed path and the swamp that it crosses was frozen enough to not really need a path anyway. When you reach the intake wall, you don't even have to climb the big ladder stile any more, a newly installed kissing gate gets you to the other side. There is then a constant, rising path; the harder snow made it difficult for my feet to grip on the steeper section and it was just a bit more strenuous before reaching level ground.

The level ground feels like a summit plateau and the rock outcrop looks like a summit but there is still a way to go; the snow was getting deeper and it was beginning to still feel like winter. After a steady rising walk up through the snow I reached the real summit plateau with a cairn at each end, the further one being the obvious summit. As I started to descend towards Ill Bell I decided that it was time to get dressed for the conditions; I walked to a rock outcrop closer to the edge, where I had a good view of Kentmere Reservoir. I also had a good view of the snow cornice that had formed on the Kentmere side of the ridge; it's unusual in the Lake District to see one big enough to break off before it melts.

It got colder and it was obviously still winter on the ridge, so I wrapped up well, put my crampons on and got my ice-axe out. I probably could have managed without crampons on the ascent of Ill Bell but I felt happier with them on whilst descending; the hard, unyielding snow provided a smooth slippery slope. It had become misty by the time I reached the unmistakeable cairn-adorned summit of Ill Bell, but while I was concentrating on getting safely down the other side, the mist cleared, and Froswick looked attractive in its winter coat. Froswick is slightly smaller than Ill Bell and very similar in structure; it too didn't need crampons to get to its small summit, but the descent was smoother and steeper, just what crampons are made for.

As the gradient eases the way across the snow was very unclear, the many boots that must have walked over the snow had made very little impression on it. In poor visibility it would have been easy to follow the easy slope thinking you were heading towards the col, but it only leads to dangerously steep ground; after climbing a slight rise I could see the real descent. From there I could see the ascent towards Thornthwaite Crag, it looked like a wall running up by the side of the path but as I got closer to it I realised it was the path. The newly constructed path is higher than the ground either side and was completely free of snow for a long way uphill, and it provided a good enough walking surface without crampons.

Just before I reached the crest of the first rise, the snow took control and the path quickly became completely hidden by the snow. As the ground started to rise again, the hard snow made it hard to decide which way to go; there were lots of footprints but they were not very deep, and the mist was well and truly down. I was mainly following footsteps, but I also kept an eye on my compass; just as I was beginning to think the wall I could see might be leading me astray, I reached the obvious summit of Thornthwaite Crag.

I had intended to descend to Threshthwaite Mouth, I was expecting a good challenge; as it happened with it being so misty and with all evidence of any routes covered by the plain hard snow I had to change my mind. I know the slopes thereabouts are rugged, steep and a long way down to the valley; those were not the conditions in which to find I had picked the wrong way down. I walked back up to the summit of Thornthwaite Crag and retraced where my steps would have been if I could see them in the snow. I got down to the Froswick col, but rather than climb back uphill I decided to descend to Trout Beck.

The were a few footsteps in softer snow heading downwards but I didn't have any trouble following a wide groove, more obvious I suppose because it was filled with snow. I followed the footsteps in the snow, down the Scot Rake path to the valley of Trout Beck; after staying on my feet on the snowy ridge the wet grass got the better of me a couple of times. When I got to a wall corner as I reached the valley, I went through a gate and walked by the side of a wall across the valley to a smelly sheep fold. The fold provides the only way of getting through the wall and on to Troutbeck Tongue.

It's a longer walk than you think, but no less boggy than it usually is, in spite of the weather; the snow actually makes it harder, it is soft and wet, hiding the swamp but not cold enough to freeze the ground. After a long trudge, I reached the summit and then followed a path down the steep grass; the slope getting the better of me here too, lanting my ice-axe didn't stop me from having a good slide.

At the bottom of the grassy slope a good track leads to a gate, where a signpost for Troutbeck shows you the way across a field; at the far corner of the field, a stile stands alone, long abandoned by the fence it once helped to cross to get to the road. The tarmac road eventually leads to a dirt track, which in turn takes you back to the Troutbeck road; I turned left and it was a half mile walk back to the car park.

© Andy Wallace 14th February 2009