Langdale Pikes for Wetter or Worse - Photo Gallery

I had planned an ambitious route around some of the scrambles in the Langdales Pikes but when I arrived at the Stickle Ghyll car park it was was raining even harder than it had done whilst I was driving to the Lake District. That plan is tucked away for a drier day and I had to quickly improvise, get up high and hope the weather improves.

At the far end of the Stickle Ghyll car park is an information centre, walk past that and through one gate then another, across an enclosed area and through another gate. You can either go straight ahead alongside Stickle Ghyll on the popular route to Stickle Tarn or turn left as I did in the direction of Mickleden. You go uphill on a rough path for a short while until you come to a kissing gate in a stone wall; go through the gate, turn right and follow the wall upwards.

After a hundred yards or so you have to cross a wooden stile and the bottom of Dungeon Ghyll is immediately to your left. You can drop down and cross the stream to follow a path on its opposite side, the notice on the gate recommends that route to avoid the exposed path higher up. However, accustomed as I am to exposed routes I chose to stay on the right hand side of the stream and followed the good reconstructed path steeply uphill.

As I climbed higher is became apparent that this is the best route for views when climbing to Harrison Stickle, shame about the weather though. With it raining rather than being misty there was quite good visibility at times but it was far too wet to risk taking the camera out of its protective clothing.

There were tantalising views up the gully of Dungeon Ghyll, the route I would liked to have taken, a wild and rugged place and with so much rain the waterfalls looked spectacular. The constructed path was good to walk up but once again the stones were set so that they sloped downwards, very neat but not helpful if you have to descend in wet conditions.

The top end of the path is still under construction and after I scrambled up the rough path, around the bags full of stones brought in to make up the path, I got to a green ridge. The little summit of Pike How was too close to ignore, the view from this place must be fantastic in good weather and even now the view up Dungeon Ghyll is well worth the effort.

From here the gradient is much easier walking over grass towards Harrison Stickle whose crags dominate the view even though they are shrouded in mist. Any hopes I have of an improvement in the weather are dashed as the rain falls even harder and a fresh breeze drives the rain against me. As I got higher it became misty too but there was no respite from the wind and rain.

The final section of the path clings to the steep sides of Harrison Stickle, high above the upper ravine of Dungeon Ghyll. You need to take care on some sections of the path especially in wet conditions like today but it really isn't hard, just don't look how far down it is unless you stop and hold on first. The highest of the waterfalls is arguably the best of all in a wild and rocky setting with plenty of water in it today.

Once you get past Dungeon Ghyll there is a much flatter area, plenty of scope for getting lost in the misty conditions. However if you just follow the path round to the right you wll soon find a faint path slanting uphill on the right. Follow the path, faint at first but it soon becomes more obvious, for an interesting climb on a rocky route that takes you almost to the summit of Harrison Stickle.

The path ends at a small grassy area, in good weather the summit is obvious but in the mist I know I have to carry on ahead onto a rocky crown to find the summit cairn. There are brief glimpses of Stickle Tarn below and Pavey Ark to the north where I am going next. There are many ways off the summit, some trickier than others, but in these conditions I play safe and take the less steep path heading directly towards Pavey Ark.

After a short descent to a small col the path follows an interesting, undulating ridge, the path is easy to follow in good weather but some footpaths tend to lose themselves when it is wet. If you follow the contour and keep heading north you can't really get lost, the ground is flat and wet but then you come to an area that is extremely wet and muddy, Pavey Ark is close at hand.

Pavey Ark also has a rocky crown that must be climbed to find the summit, there are the remains of a stone wall all around the summit area so you know you are in the right place if you see it. At the summit there is no cairn, no view and the wind is strong and cold, the second half of my plan and the first alternative to it are quickly discarded.

As I sat and planned a revised route I was getting quite cold, the weather was definitely getting worse even though it had stopped raining for now. I had to put on my hat as well as put my hood up and change my gloves, claims of waterproof are meaningless on wet days like this. What better place to head for on a cold wet misty day than Thunacar Knott, probably the fell with least distinguishing marks in the whole of the Lake District.

From the summit of Pavey Ark you find your way down across the wall to the muddy area, the path bearing left is to Harrison Stickle, the less obvious path bearing right is the one to take for Thunacar Knott. A compass will be useful even in good conditions, you have to make detours around the wettest of the ground losing the path and your bearing in the process.

You will eventually reach a more distinct path running along what passes for a ridge, turn right along the path, you will pass a tarn and reach a stonier area with at least a couple of cairns. One of these is the summit I think but it isn't easy to say which is the higher and in the wet and windy conditions it isn't worth getting my map out.

The wind has definitely stepped up a gear and on my walk over wet pathless ground in the direction of Pike o' Stickle the hail is really stinging my face. No path for most of the way but the occasional glimpses of Pike o' Stickle are the best navigational aid for me. Eventually I found a faint path that led me to the bottom of the pike itself.

It looks like Pike o' Stickle has been visited by the footpath fairy, a good reconstructed path half way up to the summit but I'm glad it stops there, the ascent would lose some of its charm if there was a stairway all the way up. My favourite route up is to keep going straight ahead until you reach a steep drop, clamber up on to a rock slab on your left and you will find a gully heading up to the summit.

I haven't done this route when it was this wet before and I was extremely aware of the exposure as I climbed on to the slab and also aware of how slippery the rocks were as I was climbing the gully. For once I have Pike o' Stickle all to myself, and by the looks of it quite a large slice of the Langdale Pikes is all mine too. I didn't hang around on the summit, the mist racing past on either side of me giving an indication of the strength of the wind.

I found a different way down, in fact I find a different way down every time I come off Pike o' Stickle. As I reached the col at the top of the gully separating the pike from the ascent of Loft Crag the wind was tremendously strong, what an updraught.

The climb up the ridge towards Loft Crag was getting increasingly difficult, some of the gusts forced me to stop in my tracks, it is quite an exposed ridge so it was not really a surprise to be buffeted. There is a rocky crown to this fell too, solid rock to climb up to a fine summit, getting down the other side was a less elegant affair. In the wind and rain I always like to keep five points of contact with the hill and the steep descent over wet bare rock needed all of those points of contact.

By now the wind was at its strongest, I was glad I didn't have any high ridges to cross, just the descent down to Thorn Crag on an obvious path. At least there was something of a view from there and it stopped raining, I did walk over towards Dungeon Ghyll to see if it was visible but it was not. I started to descend following the ravine of the ghyll but the bouldery grass became rather too steep and too wet, I had to climb back up to find a faint path which in turn found the much more obvious regular path.

The path took me all the way back down to the bottom of Dungeon Ghyll where I had started, all I had to do was get across the swollen stream. There were plenty of stepping stones, under the water but not slippery, and once across the stream there is a short walk back to the car park.

Andy Wallace 3rd April 2004