“Out in the desert
the lonely sentry stood
thinking
of
and a possible
Christmas Pud.........”.
With Christmas Pud, coughs, and snuffles neeeding to be shaken off, and rumours of White Stuff on the hills, our little Snow Patrol – possibly (ahem) boasting the odd ounce or two of well-toned tummy muscle - set off from Glenridding for the oft-trodden classic ridges of Helvellyn.
By the first rocks of
Striding Edge, the
snow was thick enough and hard enough to get the crampons on. There was rather more mist than was
strictly convenient, but little wind, so we could amble steadily along
the familiar
top rocks of the ridge, gawping at the fearsome drops either side,
indulge a
bit of ropework practice for Brian T at the step down, and clamber up a
groove
towards Helvellyn summit.
Taking in a
leisurely lunch (Brian H insisted on the full 10 minutes)
we made our
way through the throng and strolled along behind the cornice line to
locate the
top of Swirral Edge for our return descent. After an initial steep-ish
bit, Swirral
levels out, and here Andy & Steve
could reminisce about assisting, after
witnessing a severe fall from the east face in December '99. Wierdly, at this point came a crackling
of
radios, a shout to stand clear, and two Park Rangers came running past
and
dived off right towards the base of the East Face, where from high
above we
could see a knot of people around another casualty. The
casualty had fallen from Striding Edge about 800 feet down to Red Tarn .
Swirral gently levelled
off, and with
glints of blue sky ahead, we cruised along the ridge and up again to
the summit
of Catstycam. Some
nice snowy slopes encouraged more
indulgence of glissading down to the snowline, and then an hours
pleasant walk
down to the pub.
A grand day out for our team of Steve, Brian H, Brian T, Andrew & Richard K.
Sadly however we saw the helicopter going in and it turned out later that the casualty had died.
Two days after the lecture at Ripon, so we can remember again Mr. Whymper's words and “Look well to each step........”