Seathwaite, Styhead, Great End, Esk Hause, Stockley Bridge, Cumbria. Fri 22 Dec 2006

Grey skies hung over the country and Heathrow Airport was almost paralysed by a bank of fog that had been lingering for ages. I drove to Seathwaite at the south end of Borrowdale to the same grey skies but at least it wasn’t raining. I’d decided to try the ascent of Great End from the NW buttress which isn’t shown on the map as a path but is mentioned in ‘Wainwright’ as a route. The temperature was surprisingly mild, around 6decC as I set off in the gloom. The light was so low I had to increase the sensitivity of my digital camera up to 400asa and even then had to use the tripod as hand held photography was out of the question. I walked between the farm buildings and along the track to Stockley Bridge. A lone walker was up ahead but as I approached he continued up Grains Gill while I turned right to make the steep climb up Styhead Gill. There was no wind and I soon had to take my windproof jacket off to keep cool on the climb. It was very pleasant and I still had some views but up ahead the cloud seemed to be hanging just above the level of Styhead Pass.

Great End summit with
Great Gable in the distance.

 I walked this way last week after several days of heavy rain but now things were relatively dry and the path wasn’t a river. I crossed the river by the wooden footbridge and before long arrived at Styhead Tarn. I was surprised that nobody was camping up here as it was almost the start of the Christmas holiday period. Up above I could see a couple of figures climbing the path to Sprinkling Tarn. I headed that way as well but stopped at the point where the path crosses the first stream. This is where I’d decided to start my climb of Great End. Only the first part of the climb was visible as the rest had vanished into cloud. I’d not climbed this route before and hoped that there weren’t any particular obstacles as a retreat could be difficult.

The map calls it ‘The Band’ not to confused with the other Band on the way up Bow Fell. It was steep but steady with the faint hint of a path. What view there was vanished in the cloud and I plodded ever upwards. I was surprised to find some nice flat grassy patches which would make a nice camp site, except for there being no water anywhere. At a second shelf I heard voices and saw two male walkers coming up behind. They had a map but were unsure of their exact whereabouts due to the mist. They’d set off for Sca Fell Pike via the Corridor Route and had missed the start of the climb. I explained that it was easy to miss but they were well on their way up Great End and could still make their Sca Fell Pike objective without any problems. They went on ahead and I followed behind by a slightly different route. As I climbed it seemed to get brighter and then I looked round and saw Great Gable summit poking out off the cloud. By the time I got to the summit stone windbreak I was in sunshine with a full panorama of cloud as far as the eye could see. Bow Fell and Sca Fell Pike summits were the only peaks poking through. I sat by a rock to have my sandwiches and was amazed to be sitting in full sunshine, no wind, no jacket and a temperature of 12degC., and one day after the shortest day. It was so unreal. This was the result of a classic temperature inversion which held the cloud layer down and gave clear skies above.

Esk Pike and Bow Fell.

Esk Pike and Bow Fell zooming in.

From Great End with Ill Crag and Scafell Pike in the distance.

A strange phenomenon on Great End.

Stockley Bridge.

The snow that was here last week had nearly all gone which made walking over the wet boulders more difficult than it would have been. When I set off down the cloud level started to rise and I was soon in reduced visibility again. Once on the main path down to Esk Hause the route finding was not a problem as the trail was well used and easy to follow. I took the left trail before reaching the stone shelter and descended down to the head of Grains Gill. It was an easy descent on the excellent trail down the valley. There was still no wind and I enjoyed my wander down the valley immensely. It was nice to see a family of walkers coming up as I approached Stockley Bridge. I got back to the car about 13:30.