Sphinx Rock to Pillar Rock - Photo Gallery

The weather is looking very good, blue sky and no distant bank of cloud above the Lake District. The view from the Birker Fell road is as good as I have ever seen it and the classic view of the mountains surrounding Wast Water is as classic as it gets. When I got to the green at Wasdale Head at 9 o'clock there were more minibuses than I have ever seen in one place before, there will be even less solitude than usual on Scafell Pike today.

From Wasdale Head I walked across the fields past St. Olaf's church and turned left onto the track leading to Burnthwaite and continued along the start of Moses Trod path by the side of Lingmell Beck. There was a constant buzz of helicopters flying backwards and forwards along the valley collecting bags of boulders for path reconstruction, the warning to avoid the path probably encouraged more visitors.

You cross a substantial footbridge over the wide bed of Gable Beck and at this time of year it contains little more that a trickle of water, you can see Great Gable filling the left hand side of the valley ahead. Turn half left after crossing the bridge where Gavel Neese, Gable's Nose, rises steeply ahead, no problem with navigation here. At first the path is steep and green, like walking on a lawn and showing very little signs of erosion and as you gain height the small patches of erosion have been repaired.

The gradient is consistently steep and the walk is a bit of a slog until you reach a point where the path has been fully reconstructed. After that just before the gradient eases and the path veers to the left towards Beck Head it becomes stony underfoot. However, straight ahead up the ridge is the start of the real climb, scree has been eroded to gravel to make an awkward slippery struggle up to Moses Finger. I am always amazed that this six foot tall upright boulder has remained in place on this steep eroded slope since Wainwright wrote about it nearly forty years ago.

The going gets a bit easier after you pass Moses Finger, there is rough grass and larger but still moveable rocks to help get up the steep slope. The path is easily lost, deliberately in my case as the climb up grass is easier than the slippery stones. Keep climbing and a cairn will come into view, head for it if you see it but going upwards will bring you to a narrow grassy path, the South Traverse.

This is very steep ground and the likelihood of a path here is remote but turn right on to the South Traverse and follow it as it slants upwards across the steep bouldery grass and scree. At one point the anticipation, or do I mean apprehension, is raised as it takes you directly upwards to the left scrambling up steep ground over and between boulders. After twenty feet or so the path turns right again on a less vertical route, although it becomes lost in places as you cross scree which is not stable enough to feel comfortable, especially when you do wander off the path.

There is a point where I always lose the path on scree until I realise that it has climbed again and after clambering upwards over grass between boulders you reach the top of the lip overlooking Little Hell Gate. You would be forgiven for worrying about what Great Hell Gate might be like as you follow the faint path across the widest scree slope a walker will encounter in the Lake District.

Looking up the Gate the scree seems to go on forever, and it feels like it if you choose that route to the summit. Looking downwards it is a long steep way down and today the rocks at the bottom as a result of natural erosion are being harvested by helicopters to repair the effects of man made erosion. Having crossed the scree the going suddenly changes from a rough and rugged walk to rock that has to be climbed. The handholds and footholds are good on dry rock but legs need to be stretched and heads have to ignore how far down it is below.

The path again reverts to grass between boulders for a short time and then begins to descend towards Arrowhead Gully. Now is the time to climb, straight upwards you will find a way on grass between boulders, the surroundings have changed suddenly to rock and lots of it. There is less grass to walk on and the climbing is over boulders, this is the start of the Sphinx Ridge and looking upwards you can see the chin of the Sphinx. I suppose I could have clambered over to Sphinx Rock itself but the exposure here needs more bravery than I have.

I settled for sitting level with the face of the Sphinx about six feet away from me with Wast Water as the background for its almost human profile. To my left was Napes Needle dwarfed by the steep crags all around it, as small as it is it can only be for climbers.

Now the ground is the steepest that I choose to climb up and is about as much as I could cope with without the security of a rope and a helmet. It is steep rock and there is plenty of exposure, the holds are good especially now that I have learned where to find them and how to use them, I only had to use my knee once. The way is up a rough gully through steep rock, it is an exciting and dangerous place that needs care and concentration.

After you get to the top of the gully you can rest and take in the view from a small ledge before starting the rest of the climb, still as steep but now a bouldery ridge. The gradient eases and it seems as though the fun is over but there is a final steep rocky section before you reach the grass ledge at the confluence of several ridges. This is a wonderful place, quiet but spectacular, surrounded by ruggedness but itself peaceful and garden like.

There is a delightful little ridge with the start of the two Hell Gates cascading down either side and Westmoreland Crags directly ahead and the cairn of the same name visible on the skyline. I suppose I could have climbed directly up the crags but common sense prevailed and I followed the path around to the left before making the scramble over eroded grass and boulders to reach the Westmoreland cairn. This spot is another wonderful quiet place with its view over Wast Water, the walk to the summit ends in a crowd of people.

It's amazing how easy it is to find the right path in these conditions down the rocky ridge to Beck Head avoiding the steep scree variations that are too easy to find in bad weather. I never tire of this descent from Great Gable, a strenuous clamber over rock until you reach less steep ground. Don't turn right at the first cairn it only leads to a miserable descent on scree, go straight ahead towards what seems to be a ledge and the path down to Beck Head materialises on the left.

At Beck Head the path up Kirk Fell is as obvious as it could be, the path that you have just used to come down Great Gable is nowhere to be seen. The two tarns at Beck Head are completely dry, that is probably how they managed the build a fence right across one of them. Follow the fence as it keeps the interesting path company as you climb up Rib End, the fence takes you a cairn on a rock outcrop and then over to the North West top.

The fence changes direction a little, follow it as it passes the duplicate Kirkfell Tarn and climbs to the rocky summit cairn and shelter at the top of Kirk Fell. The path makes a right turn and you should follow it if you are going to Black Sail pass, the fence will take you there. From a distance Kirk Fell looks as though it has a broad flat top and so it is when you are there, the walking is easy until things suddenly go downhill.

The first obstacle, a six foot rock step could be a bit of a shock to the system but with a stretch of the legs you are over it. The descent is very steep and you can see Black Sail Pass immediately below, giving the intimidating impression that the descent is steeper than it is. Having said that it is an interesting descent down a steep rocky path, some of the slabs can be quite awkward in the wet, until you get to a steep stony path that changes to grass the closer you get to the pass.

Have I got time to climb Pillar as well today, maybe not but the weather is so good that I don't want to miss my chance of a clear view of it. The path starts very obviously, slanting upwards and missing the viewpoint of Looking Stead that I would have visited if I had more time. The gradient is quite easy at first then path become steeper and rockier, after a short climb you come across an unlikely looking cairn.

The purpose the cairn is to show the start of the High Level Route and there is a path going off to the right, the first thing that happens is a short but steep and awkward descent. The path is slightly up and down for a while until you get to what looks like another short descent and the obvious path but there is a higher variation. I think the higher variation is the real High Level Route but even Wainwright seems to show the more popular lower path.

I always prefer the higher route because it is so much more unlikely, in dry weather the narrow grassy ledge is no problem, I have been on this path in much more exhilarating conditions when the grass is wet. The two paths join again just before the short climb upwards to Robinson's Cairn, this is definitely the place you would choose for your memorial. Ennerdale is far below, Pillar Rock and other rocky turrets are high above, the Shamrock Traverse looks like a desperate ledge from here.

There is a rough path in the general direction of the Shamrock Traverse before there is a steep loose path up to the start of the traverse. When you get to the Shamrock Traverse it is a good wide path and you wonder what the fuss is about until you look at the steep drop. In the dry conditions it is no problem but when some of the slabs are wet there are a couple of quite worrying moments.

At the end of the traverse is the most awkward slab to cross but after that it is just hard work as long as you ignore the fact that a few feet away is a vertical drop of hundreds of feet. After climbing up slabby rock you get to a rise and suddenly you can see Pillar Rock, or I can today for the first time in several visits with a couple of climbers at the top to give scale to my photographs.

The path takes you almost to the foot of Pillar Rock before it goes steeply upwards, a badly eroded steep path that hurts your legs at this stage of a big walk. There are a couple of rock scrambles too, at this stage in the day I really can't be bothered doing the easy diversion, straight up is the only worthwhile option. Wow I have a view of Pillar Rock, I can't remember seeing it before, and the view from the summit is more extensive than I remember.

There is then an interesting descent to Wind Gap and probably the best view of Ennerdale Water in the Lake District. I have seen the descent from Wind Gap to Mosedale from a number of viewpoints and it has always looked like one of those horrible wide steep eroded rights of way that nobody in their right mind would use. It is no surprise then that this is a horrible steep eroded descent, I was just hoping it wasn't going to be quite as horrible as it was.

After thirty five horrible minutes there is another half an hour's worth of steep grass before you get to level ground and sure enough it is wet, only another half an hour to get back to Wasdale.

What a fantastic day; almost nine hours of sunny, strenuous and exhilarating in equal measure.

Andy Wallace 22nd May 2004