Off the Beaten Track in a Wintry Lake District

Early on Saturday 18th March, we slept in only a bit but were on the road to the Lake District by 7.30am, not bad considering the bottle of wine consumed the night before.  Our goal was a weekend of high places, no people, good views, hands on rock and no epics…

We arrived in a snowy and sunny Borrowdale and pitched our tent ready for the evening in the campsite at Rosthwaite. Finally ready to set-off after some further breakfast we parked at Seathwaite Farm and headed up Sour Milk Gill, a Grade 1 scramble.  The rock was good and dry amongst the amazing ice sculptures formed by the waterfalls and was a fantastic way to the top of the gill.  At the top, we continued the scrambling by heading up Seathwaite Slabs, good rock again and a bit airy near the top.


Lunch and a bit of sledging on our orange bivvy bags followed, very funny and set us up for the rest of the weekend looking for suitable slopes!
 


We then headed across the fells and up to the top of Raven Crag, kicking steps in the excellent snow over the steep bits.  A high level walk up to Green Gable followed by a descent to Windy Gap left us with a short final haul up to Great Gable.
 



Very steep, wind blown slopes and lots of ice made for an entertaining ascent and following a quick photo call, we headed down to Styhead Tarn, half of which was done as a controlled (honest) bum-slide down a snowy gully – highly recommended!
 




After a good walk out along the valley, lots of pasta, a visit to the pub and a long sleep we were ready for more.  Sunday saw a beautiful day dawning and following a cooked brekkie we headed into the Langstrath Valley.  Our goal was Cam Crag, a Grade 2 scramble and it was amazing. Fabulous dry, grippy rock interspersed with snow drifts; we made it to the top and over the fells to Tarn at Leaves, more bivvy bag sledging on the way.  A minor epic on the descent had us kicking steps again as we descended through Intake Ridge and back to the car.

 




All in all, a fantastic weekend!

 
Tracey & Laura