Yesterday snow was forecast for high ground today. Late last night it was just windy but no snow. Before I went to sleep I zipped up the tent inner just in case. I'm glad I did because during the night there was a big dump of snow and it continued into the morning. The strong wind continued so there was a lot of drifting. Unzipping the inner revealed all my cooking stuff covered in a layer of snow that had blown under the tent outer. A large plastic bag of snow was by the tent door outside. I'd collected it for melting but it was now covered completely. I didn't need to dig it out as there was a good depth of fresh snow round the tent.

Morning snow and ice.

Snow for cooking.

I just unzipped the door, scooped some snow into the pan and popped it on the gas stove. My original planned schedule is now unachievable. It needed reasonable visibility and not much snow. The snow means I'll need to change my plans and there are a few options to get to Coniston. I listed intently to the radio weather forecast. I mentioned a severe weather warning due to snow for this area but their idea if severe is about 50mm. After giving some vague possibilities for today there wasn't a single mention of what the weather may do tomorrow. At the moment I'll have to stay put in the tent and hope the snow stops later. About 9am I heard voices some distance away, presumably hardy walkers on the main path up.

11am: I heard more voices approaching and assumed they'd be more walkers on the main path. This time they got even closer and I heard the comment "there's a tent" There was a lot of chatter and they came up to the tent while I kept quiet. There was some more chatter and they mover further up the hill. For some reason they didn't continue but hung around for quite a long time. Eventually they left and I didn't hear anyone else for the rest of the day. The light snow stopped and the wind dropped. The thick cloud continued all through the day. With no chance of better weather I stayed put all day, ready for another night.

Overnight dump of snow.