Monday 29 November 2010

Crampons weather

If you are thinking of venturing onto the hills then you should take crampons with you at the moment as the snow is laying ontop of ice. We went up onto Scafell Pike on Saturday and the ice was on the footpath going up the Corridor Route so we needed to use our Kahtoola's.  These, by the way are very good walkers crampons which are quick to fit and stay snugly in place. You can find them in most of the Keswick outdoors shops. They are ok for walking on the fells and if you are not contemplating any ice climbing then they are adequate. We even used ours in town last winter as our road had a thick sheet of ice on the pavements where the snow quickly compacted into a skating area. Don't forget a head torch too as we passed a group going up towards the top at a time of day when we were coming down knowing we had left ourselves plenty of time before dusk. They would almost certainly have to use head torches on their descent and it really is the case that getting onto the hills early rather than later is what you should plan for. Mind you on Saturday our biggest problem was getting the car to Seathwaite and then hoping we would be able to get back again! No photos on this trip folks as we did not have time to indulge given the goal and the conditions.

2 comments:

Tess said...

Hello Lynn and Pete - nice to see we've got snow again! I'm using spikes at present to get around town (much to the laughter of my work colleagues - though somehow I think I'll have the last laugh if they slip due to wearing wellies!). I've heard that it's lovely in Snowdonia, which is where I'm heading off soon, although unfortunately we won't have time to do any walking. Pity you folks never had chance to get photos, but when you're concentrating on where you're walking, I suppose it's the last thing you want to do. Hopefully those people you passed were well equiped, nowt worse than MRTs having to be called out due to people being stupid enough not to wear proper clothing!
Enjoy the weather whilst it lasts!!! Wonder if we'll have as white a Christmas as last year?

Lyn Armstrong said...

I think I might take the camera tomorrow Tess as we are going out in the white stuff again. Pete has a new pair of crampons and he is wanting to try them out. This set is a bit more heavy duty than his last Kahtoola's but not as difficult to walk in as his full on ice climbing type ones. I will try and get a photo of himself in them for the blog.