My Big Misty Grassy Moor - Photo Gallery

It was one degree centigrade and drizzling when I left home, if it got any colder as I travelled north I might not get to where I want to be. The temperature remained constant and it had stopped raining by the time I reached Braithwaite and parked on the road in the parking bays at the front of the school.

Walk up the Whinlatter Road, after half a mile at most is an old gravel pit now used as a car park. Go up the steps leading uphill at one end of the car park and a path then takes you to the broad green path that climbs steadily to the summit of Kinn. Once you reach the summit the walking is easy for a while as you make your way towards Grisedale Pike, the normally boggy ground is still quite frozen.

The mist is playing games today, moving quickly above and below, adding interest to the lower hills and valleys but looking ominous in the direction of Coledale Hause.

Then the climbing starts again, on grass at first up towards Sleet How but then becoming an icy path, although there was room on the path to avoid the ice. Just before you reach the top of Sleet How the steep east ridge of Grisedale Pike reveals itself. It is only partly revealed today because the top of the hill is covered by mist and I can see mist being blown across the ridge.

As you get to the top of Sleet How there is a short respite from climbing until you reach the start of the final climb to Grisedale Pike. At this stage the wind was strong and cold and I was getting wet, it was the missing link between mist and drizzle. The final climb is over eroded rocks, fine when dry and no problem in the wet but you have to bypass the icy patches today and keep your balance in the stronger gusts of wind.

The summit plateau is a bleak windy place at the best of times, today it is shrouded in mist, covered by a layer of icy snow and no place to hang around, the stone shelter just on the other side of the summit cairn will keep the wind off you. Navigation isn't a problem, just follow the wall except for where the path bears left to avoid a rock outcrop. Soon you will scramble up another rocky outcrop to reach the cairn of an unnamed subsidiary summit.

Continue to follow the path on the other side of the cairn and soon the path splits into two. The left hand branch will take you directly to Coledale Hause, I took the right hand branch along the edge of a snowy Hobcarton Crag. There is a short climb to reach the rocky summit of Hopegill Head, in this visibility it looked almost identical to the unnamed subsidiary, for a second I wondered where I was.

There are crags and ridges all around so it would be difficult to go in the wrong direction but, with the mist being so thick I took a compass bearing anyway to make sure I was going to get to Sand Hill. From its summit you descend over an eroded shale surface and the path can be lost in poor visibility. The featureless hillside would make it easy to feel disoriented before the muddy path reappears to reassure you and take you to Coledale Hause.

This is definitely not a place to be if you don't know the area and the ascent of the north west ridge should not be attempted in bad visibility. I know the area and the north west ridge but I was slightly daunted on the steep start of the ridge. The snow and mist merged together to further reduce the visibility and I had to kick steps into the ankle deep snow that covered the faint path in places.

Once the steepness ends you get on to my big misty hill, even on the odd occasion when the visibility is good the vast grassy plateau can be confusing. The navigation is straightforward, if you can't see the path you can follow the rim of Dove Crags and you will eventually find the large summit shelter but you probably won't find anybody else there.

From the shelter you head in the direction of Eel Crag, following an obvious cairned path westwards. With the visibility being so poor I decided I was going to head back to Coledale Hause and go back down to Braithwaite from there. As I got towards the bottom of the Grasmoor path, Eel Crag suddenly appeared free of mist and I had no choice but to carry on. I should have know that before I got to the summit the mist would have closed in again but I wasn't going to turn back.

The walk from Eel Crag summit to Sail is an interesting rocky ridge made even more interesting today because it is well covered in snow and ice. With care and without the use of ice axe or crampons I made my way over the ridge and made sure I visited the summit cairn of Sail, such as it is.

Snow had collected in the broad path on the descent to the col between Sail and Scar Crags, it was quite good snow so I was able to walk quickly over it, heels digging in as I went. Half way down I got below the mist and had a view for the first time since the other side of Grisedale Pike. I had intended taking the route via Barrow Door back to Braithwaite but Outerside was there and I had no choice but to climb it.

Firstly I had to get to Outerside and the narrow path going down to High Moss along the steep side of Scar Crags was also filled with snow and needed a lot of care to get down. I used my ice axe and had to kick steps into the snow as far away from the icy edge of the path as I could. The couple of walkers who passed me wearing crampons showed me what I should have done, don't be so lazy next time Andy.

Down at the flat normally wet High Moss there is a steep grassy climb to get to the fairly easy ridge of Outerside, I had forgotten that it changes its nature on the other side. The descent was steep and rocky in places and everywhere else there was a steep muddy path through the heather. I really didn't want to climb Stile End but found myself there anyway, the path just takes you there.

I still had to get to Barrow and it was beginning to get dark. I was walking through what used to be heather but now is just blackened earth. I remember seeing the hillside burning in April, it didn't look as though the heather had regrown at all. Barrow looks a rounded easy hill from Braithwaite but it is quite rugged in between the muddy footpaths until you get half way down to valley level.

With it going dark I followed the path I was on and ended up on the mine road alongside Coledale Beck, not where I intended but good enough.

Andy Wallace 3rd January 2004