Nether, Keppel & Dolly - Photo Gallery
I realised recently that I hadn't visited Helvellyn's edges for quite a while, I should go and take advantage of the good weather while it lasts. Of course it was drizzling as I drove up to the Lake District, although it had stopped by the time I got to Glenridding; I set off in tee shirt and shorts hoping rather than expecting that the mist would clear from the hills. I walked up the Greenside Road, it was warm and I was perspiring but that was due to the humidity rather than direct heat from the sun which wasn't going to burn off the mist.
The road as far as the Greenside Mine Area is good enough for cars to get to the various public and private hostels that have sprung up where the mine buildings would have been. After about a mile the road ends at the last of the buildings but a reasonable track takes over; follow the signpost for Whiteside Bank as opposed to Sticks Pass. There is another mile or so to walk on the track by the side of Glenridding Beck; very few walkers take this route but very many are on the opposite side of the beck eventually climbing the zigzag path towards Red Tarn and Striding Edge.
Where the path branches at a cairn don't take the higher, more obvious route; keep going ahead and you will soon see the breached dam at the foot of Catstycam's steep north-west ridge. Shortly after passing the dam the track becomes a green footpath and you get to a sheepfold that was probably just above the waterline of the dam where the banks burst and created a small, steep gully at the mouth of Keppel Cove. It isn't a pretty corner but it is interesting nevertheless.
As I reached the sheepfold the drizzle started to reassert itself and I spent a few minutes wondering which route to take. My plan was to climb up the corrie wall of Keppel Cove; I hadn't been there before and the map suggested that there may be crags with a way through that I might not be able to find in mist. I put my jacket on as the drizzle started again and decided that seeing that I had got that far I may as well carry on into the cove and see how far I could go. I skirted around the left hand side of the large, flat reedy area at the bottom of the cove and walked through the long wet grass towards the stream flowing down the middle of it.
I crossed on to the other side of the stream because there seemed to be signs of a footpath and it looked a bit steep higher up on the side that I was on. There was no path of course and I was walking through long wet grass but it wasn't too steep; the steepness on both sides disappeared up into the mist. It felt like I had to bear left but I was just moving away from the steep sides as the easier graded area became narrower. There was shorter grass and an easier gradient for a while; then stonier ground took over for a while before it changed again to lush grass and bilberry at the steepest part of the climb to the top.
In this hidden, untouched corrie you could believe that nobody else had ever been there; except for the discarded map and broken rucksack strap I found halfway up. By the time I had made the strenuous climb up to the top of the corrie I was in thick mist rather than drizzle; lush, untouched vegetation was suddenly replaced by a broad gravel-like footpath with many cairns. In spite of the size of the path and the number of cairns there were no people; I turned left to walk along the path and soon reached the unremarkable summit of Whiteside Bank. As I carried on along the big path with its many substantial cairns it felt very surreal, almost dream-like in the thick mist – how can you feel unsure of where you are on such an obvious path?
I've been here before in mist so I was fairly confident that I was in the right place but it was a relief to reach the rougher and more eroded path going up to Helvellyn Lower Man. It is another plain summit with a big cairn and I was keen to carry on just to make sure that the steep drop into Brown Cove was where it should be. It was there of course and I knew all along where I was; it was quite strange though to suddenly see several other walkers coming in the other direction as though they had been waiting for me. The wide path misses out the highest part of the Helvellyn summit plateau as it heads directly to the cross-shaped shelter near the summit but I followed the edge of the crags higher and to the left of the path.
After walking across the rough, flat plateau you reach the cairn marking the top of Swirral Edge and further on is the triangulation column above the steepest part of Red Tarn's corrie. You carry on to reach the untidy summit cairn before descending a little to the shelter which was being used as a bike shed; did the bikes have to be inside the shelter? I had planned to walk Striding and Swirral Edges before carrying on but I decided to come back later hoping the weather was better for taking photographs.
From the shelter there is another big path bearing off the the right towards Nethermost Pike; if you carry on straight ahead you will get to Striding Edge. In mist it would be easy, or at least I found it easy once to follow the big path on its way down to Thirlmere; after descending from Helvellyn you need to keep your eyes open for the path bearing left for Nethermost Pike. There is a higher path further left again if you want to reach the summit plateau and cairns; the faint path takes you to a cairn but then you are on your own to find the summit.
The plateau is a big flat area that is featureless at the best of times and needing care in mist; if you get lost you can follow the edge of the crags until you rejoin the main path. Usually you would want to avoid descending the east ridge if you want to rejoin the path but the ridge was the main reason for me being there. From the summit cairn I walked eastwards to the edge and followed it until I descended a grassy tongue to what looked like a rocky knoll. The rocky knoll is actually the top terminus of a steep rocky descent; this is Nethermost Pike's east ridge.
The top of the ridge is a cockscomb of rock that is too narrow to walk the crest at the best of times and certainly not when the rock is greasy; there are grassy footholds available between the rocks and plenty of pointed rock to hold on to. You have to step down onto grass in a couple of places and the mist cleared enough for me to see how steeply the ground fell away in the event of me not holding on properly. I also caught sight of Hard Tarn and what looked like a trodden way across scree to get to it. Once you get past the rocky cockscomb it is still just as steep but there is grass between boulders; there are no difficulties as such apart from the steepness but descending wet grass always needs care.
As you get closer to the bottom of the steepest part of the ridge it becomes more eroded and stony; sliding on the the stones then becomes the main problem. Suddenly you reach grass and the green ridge opens up on its way down between Nethermost Cove and Patterdale Common. What I wanted to do then was walk over to Hard Tarn but the obvious way across the scree I saw from the ridge isn't obvious at this level. I had to traverse the steep slope where there is grass between scree boulders but the rocks are greasy and some of them wobble; you have to take care stepping through. I couldn't see very far ahead and I kept expecting to come across an awkward rock step to descend but a way through kept appearing until I reached a big boulder that used to have a cairn on it.
The boulder overlooks Hard Tarn in its mini corrie; it also is a great place with crags and rock all around on one side and an unusual view of St Sunday Crag and Fairfield on the other. There is a rock wall at the back of Hard Tarn with another flat terrace above that I had to go and investigate; in the upper level nearer the corrie wall I half expected to find another tarn. There were small pools and grassed over rocks with the sound of running water underneath; obviously it is too well drained to hold a tarn. There was a large boulder there that has been made into shelter; a small wall of stones making a man-sized place to sit.
I walked down steeply; through boulders at first and then by the side of a small stream before traversing the steep grassy sides of Ruthwaite Cove. I could see Dollywaggon Pike ahead and I didn't want to lose too much height before starting to climb it again but the direct, steep and rocky route didn't look very promising. Having walked across the undulating grassy cove I got to the exact point where I had climbed down last December when I was trying to reverse the route I had just done. I knew I was in the right place but it was a strenuously steep all-fours scramble up grass between loose rocks followed by an even steeper climb up wet grass between boulders to reach the ridge called The Tongue.
The ridge contained a faint path heading up to a delightful, small green airy ridge; this is the first time I have been able to see it properly without being shrouded in mist. The top of the ridge is a steep rocky crest with an exposed green climb, although a path bypasses the exposed route; I reached the cairn just as the mist came in again. A simple walk over flat grass takes you to the summit of Dollywaggon Pike. At the summit I held a route planning meeting; the mist may be bad weather coming in and with tired legs I didn't want to descend Striding Edge if the rock was damp; the alternative is a long walk down Grisedale.
I chose the long walk down Grisedale starting with a descent of the new path from Dollywaggon Pike path to Grisedale Tarn; it is well made and safe to descend with large irregularly spaced rocks giving good footholds and good drainage. It takes two hours to get to Glenridding from the summit of Dollywaggon Pike if you don't hang around.
Andy Wallace 5th August 2006