Sunburn in March - No photos today
I Parked the car at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Great Langdale, the sky is blue and the air is cold – a perfect combination.
Up the valley of Mickleden Beck to the fork in the path that gives me a choice of Stake Pass or Esk Hause. In the 45 minutes it has taken me to walk this far I have become warm with the sun shining on my back so I set off towards Stake Pass in my teeshirt.
At the point where the footpath crosses Stake Gill there is supposed to be a footpath on the left up towards Black Crags for Rossett Pike. I cross over some wet ground on the left and a faint path comes into view going directly up the fellside. Not much of a path, just a small width of flattened grass but I follow it anyway and soon come across a small cairn, further up the hill is another cairn but soon after that I’ve lost the path. I suspect that it goes off to the left and traverses the fell but I head towards a small crag directly upwards on the skyline, scrambling over steep grass through the rocks and then over grass I reach the crest of the ridge and then head towards Rossett Pike.
On the ridge it becomes obvious what a special day this is going to be, blue skies with not a cloud in sight, warm sun and cold air, I can see forever, Bowfell beyond Rossett Pike is rippled with snow. Over the undulating ridge eventually reaching the summit of Rossett Pike, an exceptional viewpoint with views of the whole of Mickleden, and also of other walkers down below climbing up the snow filled Rossett Gill.
Down to Angle Tarn and then up the popular path to the cross shaped shelter at the foot of Allen Crags, onwards to Esk Hause there are plenty of walkers heading towards Scafell Pike, more people than I had expected for a Wednesday morning in the middle of March. It suddenly gets cold at Esk Hause, within ten minutes of arriving there I have swapped teeshirt for full winter clothing.
My next target is Esk Pike, my four previous visits have been in misty conditions but today I can see what a fine mountain it is and the views all around are exceptional. The footpaths are partially covered in snow, the drifted snow occasionally giving way so that my leg disappears as far as my knee, the snow is hard but not icy.
From Esk Pike summit make my way down to Ore Gap ready for Bowfell as my next objective. Instead of following the path to Bowfell I make a beeline for the ridge starting at Hanging Knotts for the views downwards and make my way along the ridge to the summit of Bowfell. The view of Scafell and Scafell Pike at either side of Mickledore is perfect, and it stays with me as I walk the ridge.
More knee deep footprints on the way up to the summit of Bowfell, but the descent to Three Tarns is a little bit trickier, the steep, rocky path is covered in snow and care is required going down using the deep footprints. Near the bottom of the slope the snow is getting weaker having been in the sun all day and instead of one leg disappearing into the snow, both legs go at the same time – hauling myself out a couple of times is a bit awkward.
Having got to the bottom, Crinkle Crags are just the other side of Three Tarns and I can’t get this close without climbing them. The early stages of the climb cause some problems, with the snow on the path being in the shade all day turning to ice in the old footprints. The ridge of Crinkle Crags is its usual interesting self, rugged and undulating and still with superb views until eventually as I get to the end of the ridge at Red Tarn I am in the shadows as the sun falls behind the hills.
On the long walk back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel the Langdales Pikes are in full view illuminated by the setting sun. When I get back to the car it is nine hours after I set off and my forehead is quite pink after so long in the sun.
Andy Wallace 13th March 2002