Considering I was camped at 814m the night was very calm with hardly any wind. The sky was a bit hazy at sunrise but that made it a bit more colourful. I didn’t have a long day ahead so I took my time getting packed up and was on my way by 10am and firstly investigated a flat grassy area below. The SE ridge of Great Gable is quite interesting as there are many areas with flat areas to camp, unfortunately there is no water nearby. As I descended back to Styhead I saw many people climbing up from Seathwaite.

Sunrise from Great Gable

Sunrise over Skiddaw from Great Gable

Early morning light reaches the Langdales

The early morning sun reaches Wasdale

The size of the groups was incredible as they were each around 20 in number. It must be the sunny warm weather that has brought everybody out as I’ve never seen so many people in the vicinity of Styhead. I reached the first aid box where a large group was assembling and continued straight on to the Sprinkling Tarn path. This was also full of walkers. Shortly after the tarn the path splits and most people took the right fork towards Esk Hause. I took the left towards Angle Tarn and noticed there was still some snow in a gulley up ahead. Considerable amounts of snow were in the gulleys high on Great End. I passed the stone shelter and started my descent to Angle Tarn. There were quite a few fell runners coming up the path and they seemed to be running in pairs.

At Angle Tarn a large group of people were gathered and judging by the plastic cups of orange drink set up they were probably a feeding station for the runners. After the short climb to the top of Rossett Gill there were more people milling about. One man was setting up a large radio mast about 4m high, presumably for a radio communications system. Before the main descent I noticed some runners taking a minor path to the right.

Great Gable from Esk Hause

Crowds at Angle Tarn

I decided to try it as I was heading for a point near the base of Bowfell Buttress. They continued directly up towards Bow Fell while I kept more to the contour and skirted round the base of the mountain. Apart from a couple of loose scree sections it was fairly straightforward and I reached a small flat spot as planned. After putting the tent up I carried my water bag up to the spring near the base of the Great Slab.

It was clear, cold and very refreshing. Several other walkers were there to top up their bottles and take a drink as well. The large face of Bowfell Buttress had many climbers on it and they would be there for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. I returned to my tent and enjoyed the views and changing cloud patterns.

The Langdales from Camp 2 below Bowfell Buttress