Round Mosedale from Dore Head - Photo Gallery
It was raining hard when I left home and I was expecting a wet day's walking but by the time I turned off the motorway the rain had stopped and the weather had reverted to dry and warm. I was half expecting the weather to change again before I reached Wasdale but on the road across Birker Fell I could see the Scafell group completely free of mist.
From Wasdale Head I set off along the path to Black Sail pass but soon after passing the pub there is a small stone footbridge that takes you onto the far side of Mosedale Beck. I crossed over the bridge and followed a footpath up the valley, through the woods where the beck has its scenic moments. After half an hour's walking I reached the start of the path up to Dore Head, I should have expected the initial steep climb up grass.
The climb up the grass puts pain into your calf muscles and I felt a sense of relief when I finally reached the scree. Not for long, every step up the scree was followed by a slide downwards of half of that step and it was a sense of greater relief when I reached firmer ground. At this point I was able to rest my legs on a small flat area without sliding downwards, the scree having been scoured from the surface and deposited on the loose path that I had just climbed.
At this point it became clear just how big the gully was, at least six feet deep and much wider higher up. Is this the original scree run that Wainwright thought used to be the best in the Lake District? For a short distance there is some grass on the right hand side of the slippery path that gives enough grip for your feet not to slide. When the firmer ground finishes you can cross to the left hand side where grass again helps to make better progress.
There is no relief in the steepness of the climb and as you get higher the grass on the side of the path is replaced by stones embedded in the grass. Using the stones as handholds requires caution because they are likely to come away in your hand. Even at the extreme left hand side of the path erosion has made the way upwards very slippery. The loose stones and grass are then replaced by more substantial boulders that I had to use to haul myself upwards and without which I would have made very slow and awkward progress.
Finally some relief near to Dore Head the gradient eases and the width of the gully is very obvious, the exposed rock is a beautiful blue colour. Well, I made it and it was every bit as difficult as I though it would be, no need to remind myself never to descend that way.
Having reached the foot of Yewbarrow I couldn't ignore it and I had to make the scramble over Stirrup Crag. This is an excellent little climb, well worth the effort of getting to the cairn at the northern end of Yewbarrow, enjoying the extensive views, and then scrambling back down.
On a clear day the way to Red Pike is obvious, just follow the path onwards and upwards eventually reaching the ridge where the summit cairn appears just over your left shoulder. My Red Pike jinx struck again just as I reached the cairn the mist came in and I was again denied the views into Mosedale whilst walking along the easy ridge.
At the col between Red Pike and Scoat Fell is a large cairn that marks the place where the path forks, the right hand branch enables you to bypass Scoat Fell. The left hand branch eventually reaches a crossroads with the Scoat Fell ridge path. It is quicker to leave the path as it bends around to the right and carry straight up the fell over easy grass and hop over white boulders until the summit wall is in view. Having visited the summit cairn on top of the wall follow the wall to the right. The wall ends at a boulder field comprised of much larger rocks than you would expect on Scoat Fell, make your way through them until the path reappears.
Continue walking in the direction of Pillar and you will cross the rocky top of Black Crag with its cairns and shelter that would do justice to a much larger fell. As long as you remember you are on a ridge you can't go wrong even in mist. There are steep drops either side that you can't see so keep between them and you eventually reach the obvious path at the start of the climb to Pillar.
This is another fine ascent, with plenty of opportunity to leave the path and scramble over clean, dry rock, eventually reaching the summit plateau. Pillar summit in mist is a curiously quiet place, you would expect some noise in a big place like that with cairns, shelters and an Ordnance Survey column.
From the summit shelter you can see another shelter about a hundred yards away on the horizon that could be mistaken for the top of Pillar Rock. Walk over to the shelter where a nearby cairn indicates the start of the path that descends to Pillar Rock. The path downwards is quite slippery, soil and shale exposed where boots have torn away the covering of grass. In clear weather the views are exhilarating, today there are no views but you can tell that there is steep ground all around.
Even in the mist Pillar Rock is obvious when you get close to it, appearing like a huge ghost out of the mist. In spite of the mist the rocks are clean and dry making the descent to the Shamrock Traverse much easier that usual, none of the dangerously slippery rocks to get across today. The awkward slab at the top of Shamrock Traverse is also dry today, most people have to hang on to the rock wall as they carefully move over the slab. It is far easier to stride over the gap nearer to the edge but when you get a bit further down you can see just how deep a gap you have jumped over.
The Shamrock Traverse is a wide avenue of grass and sometimes slippery rock and you can feel quite confident as long as you don't think about how far down it is over the edge. Then follows a reasonably easy scree path, I was just thinking that it wasn't too slippery when I slipped and just about managed not to fall the rest of the way down. Must remember not to walk down scree and think at the same time.
At the bottom of the scree begins a traverse over boulders until Robinson's cairn is reached at the start of the High Level Route. From the cairn you can see two paths in the distance, the lower path that most people take probably by mistake and the real High Level Route. It isn't usual to descend by this route so most people don't realise that they haven't done the real High Level Route.
The higher path is probably a hundred feet further up the fellside that the lower path but it is much more exhilarating especially with the mist clearing a bit. The path is narrow and perched high above Ennerdale, the walking is quite easy and the most difficult part occurs near the usual start of the path where a couple of small gullies have to be crossed. Where the two paths meet it is obvious looking backwards to see how most people take the more obvious and easier looking lower path. After the difficult looking initial climb out of the small gully the higher path is superior.
A final climb up an eroded path leads to the cairn on the main Pillar ridge footpath, looking backwards the sky is blue over Pillar Rock.
Easy walking then down to Black Sail Pass and a very pleasant one hour walk back to Wasdale in the late afternoon sunshine.
Andy Wallace 17th June 2003