Steeple Trek - Photo Gallery

It was a bright and sunny morning and this week it didn't cloud over as I got to Wasdale. I had intended to do my traditional end of Wasdale season walk - a double ascent of Scafell, but because the weather was so good and the hills looked so good I changed my mind. I decided to walk one of my favourite ridges, I haven't seen much of Mosedale this year and it will probably be next year before I get here again.

I parked the car on the green at Wasdale Head and made the thirty minute walk back to Overbeck bridge, it was a nice sunny day and I was wearing shorts but there was a nip in the air and it felt quite cool at times. I walked through the little car park to the footpath leading to the ascent of Yewbarrow, it is the obvious path that you can see all the way as you drive into Wasdale. It can be warm work climbing up the steep green slope but I had to put my jacket on, there was quite a wicked breeze that couldn't be ignored. You get to a ladder stile that you use to cross the wall, I have often looked straight up the ridge and wondered but I think Bell Rib might be too much of an obstacle.

After you cross the wall there is a path heading up the valley and where it splits into two take the higher, right hand, branch and the path will take you towards Dropping Crag before it changes direction and gets steeper. Going steeply uphill now by the side of a stone-filled gully you can see what an interesting looking rock Dropping Crag is. At the top of the stony gully you have a choice, you can cross to the other side of the gully where you will see a short length of stone wall and find a path that avoids a rocky scramble. Alternatively you can choose the rocky scramble, be careful to pick the right route up each pitch or you can end up on greasy rock without much to hold on to.

At the top of the rocky section you can veer off to the left to take the eroded, but reasonably easy and very obvious path to Great Door. Alternatively you can keep going straight up a small eroded gully, or at least walk up the heathery ridge beside it, where at the top you reach the real Surprise View. There is a ledge, half a metre wide at most, and as your head gets above it there is a dramatic and sudden view of Wast water a long way down. Once you climb up onto the ledge there is a scramble to the right that would take you up on to the very end of Bell Rib. I didn't make the scramble as I haven't done before, the exposure is considerable on both sides and I am not sure about the hand holds, nor am I sure about how I would get down again but one day I will do it.

To the left is a faint path that takes you over a couple of rock outcrops that would be worrying if you were on the Wasdale side of them but they are straightforward when all you can see is the green descent to Overbeck. This path takes you to Great Door, the notch in the skyline you can see from the road below is quite a spectacular gorge between vertical rock faces. After that you are still only half way to the summit, at first there is a steep but interesting path to a cairn that might be mistaken for the summit but which only marks the southern end of the summit ridge. Only now does the summit come into view and the length and breadth of the summit plateau are a surprise the first time you see it.

The view from Yewbarrow on a clear day is just wonderful, from Pillar to Great Gable and Kirk Fell to Lingmell, Scafell Pike and Scafell with Mickledore and Scafell's huge west buttress being well seen. The walk along the ridge is more like a walk across moorland, there is plenty of room to bypass the boggy sections, you go up a slight rise to reach the summit and the large cairn makes it obvious that you are there. There is still quite a lot more of Yewbarrow, a broad shallow depression before rising up again to the cairn at the northern end of the ridge that signals the start of the really interesting bit of this interesting hill.

The descent is steep, if you look down there is nothing in between you and Dore Head as the ground falls away suddenly. Generally there is only one way down Stirrup Crag but the first rock step has two variations, as I remember going around to the right is slightly easier. I remembered that after going around to the left, a more direct route downwards requiring some inelegant moves and long leg stretches. There are more rocks to get down that need some thoughtful moves but not as much stretching, a delightful climb is a slightly awkward descent. When the rocky section ends there is a steep path, slippery loose stones are the main problem rather than hard rocks.

Dore Head is a fine place to be but there are no quick ways home from here in spite of the apparent direct descent to Wasdale Head, I would rather go up and over Yewbarrow than descend the scree from Dore Head. Red Pike lies ahead and the path upwards is fairly obvious on grass but with enough variety and occasional rock outcrops so as not to be tedious. The final steep climb up grass takes you to the ridge, you have to double back a little to reach the summit cairn, if you are really keen you can walk further along the crest of the stony ridge to find the chair made out of stones. That sharp breeze has increased in strength and is really quite cold so although I'm still wearing shorts I need to put some gloves on.

The summit ridge of Red Pike is almost as smooth and as flat as a lawn, I like to keep close to the edge of the precipice rather than follow the path a little off the ridge. There are fantastic views of Great Gable although it's a bit hazy and looking down to the valley and across Black Combe at the head of the valley to Black Crag. Following the edge is also the best way to navigate in mist, you can't go wrong as long as you don't fall into the valley. After the second of the viewpoint cairns you start to descend over rougher ground until you reach a cairn with no apparent purpose.

At the cairn the path carries on to miss Scoat Fell, if you want to reach the summit of it you have to either take a compass bearing from here or head for the middle of the slightly curved skyline. Walking over pathless grass you will pass or come close to a spring, the first running water I have seen since leaving Overbeck and the last until Black Sail Pass. Then you come to a boulder field, Scoat Fell is curiously full of hop-able boulders on its upper sections unlike any of the surrounding hills .The boulder hopping continues all the way to the wall that runs along the summit, exactly along the summit as it happens and the cairn is built on top of the wall. Looking back, the symmetry in the outlines of Red Pike and Scafell is fascinating.

Turn left to walk alongside the wall and you will find an eroded section where you can cross over it. Continue walking eastwards by the side of the wall, you can see the rocky peak of Steeple from here, when you reach a cluster of cairns a path goes down a shoulder on the right in the direction of Steeple. Steeple is a little gem, a mini mountain with mini ridges to cross to get to it and then a pleasant rocky scramble to its summit. From here you can see the full length of Ennerdale Water, the bulk of Pillar and the shattered rock of the coves of Scoat Fell. It's a bit too fresh in the wind to be comfortable so I headed back to Scoat Fell, this time heading west, hopping over the biggest of the boulders before reaching the end of the wall.

Still heading west you get to another lawn giving the impression of a big green lump of a hill but if you peek over the edge you can see that this is a ridge with impressively steep rocky walls. The rocks come to the surface on the intermediate summit of Black Crag, intermediate it may be but it is as good a summit as most. The bouldery descent is the place most likely to get lost in mist on this ridge, the signs of the path going down are easy to miss but as long as you head in the direction of Pillar the boulders are easy enough to get down. The wind by now is strong enough to be a nuisance, I'm getting the feeling of being battered and with blowing across me it makes walking feel more strenuous.

Then you get to Wind Gap, living up to its name, with the prospect of climbing Pillar ahead of you. Apart from the wind the climb is quite alright, you can choose a more direct route if you like handling rock. When I saw the fellrunners coming down I was glad I hadn't chosen fellrunning as my sport, Pillar is a long way from anywhere to have to run home. Eventually you reach the wide summit of Pillar, the sun was getting low in the sky and giving that special evening light look to Great Gable, Great End and the Scafells. There are no obvious paths at the summit and to find your way off Pillar look in the direction of Great Gable and you will see the top of an old metal fence post, head for it and you will find the path.

After the initial rocky descent you will find yourself on another lawn before you start a more interesting descent. Where the path splits you can take either path but I think the left hand branch is slightly more interesting. After passing the cairn that marks the start of the High Level route the path goes below the ridge of Looking Stead on its way to Black Sail Pass. There is another apparently useless cairn where a faint path in the grass branches off to the right, I always believed it just to be a steep short cut to the pass and have never bothered with it before.

I thought I would see where the path went, it's not often the visibility is this good to explore here. After heading towards the pass for a short while it suddenly turned right and became much more obvious and eroded, this path wasn't going to Black Sail Pass it was heading directly towards the ford of Gatherstone Beck. This path isn't on the map but Wainwright has it marked as a short cut, it is reasonably graded with a couple of slightly eroded sections and one place where it has become part of a stream. The further down you get the less obvious it becomes until straight ahead the ground looks like a swamp. Looking down the the left at this point past an old bield you can see a substantial cairn, not as pointless as it would appear to be.

I headed down to the cairn and I was then on the main path back to Wasdale Head, there is still about forty five minutes walking to do. I got back to Wasdale Head at five thirty and it was dark by the time I got home, it's the end of my summer season for another year.

Andy Wallace 24th September 2005