Scafell Pike

Sty Head Tarn at 430m was below the snow level yesterday, here we had our first view of our objective, snow covered Scafell Pike 978m centre, flanked by Great End and Broad Crag on the left and by Lingmell on the right.

Great Gable forms a dramatic backdrop with Sty Head Tarn just visible far below as we climb towards Lingmell on the Corridor Route. The path was increasingly icy and we donned out Kahtoola minispikes at this point which sped progress and ensured a safe footing.

Lingmell looms ahead dramatically, her SE ridge sweeps down towards the col between herself and Scafell Pike. We're at about 700m here and conditions on the Corridor Route as we gain height are becoming increasingly wintery, though visibility is still good.

Approaching Lingmell Col 740m with the tarn at Sty Head still visible in the distance far below. We took a break here, but noticed cloud moving in quickly from the west so we lost little time before setting out on the last push for the summit.

Cloud is moving in quickly driven by the wind which is increasing to near gale force . The shapely summit of Lingmell is to the NW in this view from the upper slopes of Scafell Pike.

I took this picture of Scafell over to the SW just before the cloud enveloped us and blotted out the view, the wind was howling and the wind chill was outrageous so we didn't prolong our stay at the inhospitable summit but beat a hasty retreat to safer ground. We arrived back at Seathwaite, our starting point, at 4' o clock after a 7 hour day... 4 hours out and 3 back, I thought it good going in the conditions.

On May 1st Pete is marking the start of his 2012 programme of guided walks with a rare outing to Scafell itself, over Slight Side from Eskdale, you'll need to give him a ring on 017687 71302 to get details of the adventure.

There will be an Easter programme of KR Guided Walks and further outings between Easter and May 1st, when the programme proper starts, so watch the Blog and Website for details.