Patterdale, Deepdale, Grisedale Tarn, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn, Cumbria.
[ 21.3 km] Tue 02 Dec 2008

Yesterday’s weather report was for reasonable weather today, clearing later and bad on Wednesday. So I brought my walk forward a day. There was quite a bit of rain overnight but when I got to Ullswater there was a lot of compacted snow on the roads making driving difficult. When I got to Patterdale the roads were covered in ice making walking difficult as well. I set off south along the A592 until I reached the turn off for Greenbank Farm. I headed along the track but the going underfoot wasn’t any better on the frozen snow. As I passed by the farm buildings I was surprised to see a farm trailer full of the corpses of dead sheep. They looked like they’d been there for quite a while.

A brief glimpse of sunshine but it didn't last.

It’s a good job the weather is cold. My first objective was Deepdale Hause and I was hoping the cloud level would remain high enough to see it. I thought the weather may clear a bit but it began to deteriorate steadily. The path was quite steep as I climbed adjacent to the waterfalls at the head of Deepdale. The whole area was snow covered and patches of ice underneath made extra care essential. I reached the sheepfold is Sleet Cove and stopped for a coffee. I was glad to be able to see the summit of Deepdale Hause but there was no sign of a path in the deep snow. I strapped the ice studs to my boots and set off with ice axe in hand.

It was quite tricky getting to the top as the snow was too variable to kick proper steps. Over the top I took the diagonal path down to Grisedale Tarn. I found some shelter from the wind behind a large rock and stopped for lunch. The cloud wasn’t much higher than I was and as I climbed Dollywaggon Pike I was soon in it. The path to Nethermost Pike wasn’t as straightforward as I’d hoped. The snow was blowing drifts everywhere and it was more a case of ploughing through it than walking on it. As I climbed to the wind shelter near the summit of Helvellyn I saw someone sheltering behind it but I pressed on to the summit trig point.

Helvellyn summit trig point.

There was no view so I continued to Lower Man where I made sure I got the correct path as it’s very easy to start descending towards Thirlmere and not the northerly ridge down to the north. Over Whiteside Bank I descended to the next branch which is the main descent down Glenridding Common. The first part of the path was totally obscured by snow and the white out conditions made it uncomfortable. Eventually the valley opened up below and I was able to see my way ahead. Even when I eventually reached Glenridding I’d not seen anybody to say hello to. I walked back to Patterdale along the road. I’d lost track of time and only realised how long I’d been out when I noticed it was going dark. I reached the car about 3:45pm after being on the go for over 7 hours in difficult snow conditions.