This map was created using GPS Visualizer's do-it-yourself geographic utilities.
Please wait while the map data loads...
Date: 26/05/2015
From: Wasdale Head
Parking: Wasdale Head
Start Point: Brackenclose
Region: Western Fells
Route length: 6.7 miles (7.8 km)
Time taken: 03:40
Average speed: 1.8 mph
Ascent: 985m
Descent: 990m
Wainwrights on this walk:
Scafell (964m), Slight Side (762m)
Other Summits: Symonds Knott (959m)
Other points of interest: Lord's Rake, West Wall Traverse, Deep Gill
It appears that my previous post on Lord's Rake is far and away from the most popular, certainly if the stats are to be believed. Indeed, before I did it the first time I spent many hours trawling over posts and photographs to see what the deal was. We were back to tackle Lord's Rake once again, this time with a much better forecast but also a slightly different agenda - the West Wall Traverse. More about that in detail later.
The chockstone mentioned in this post has since collapsed.
At the end of three days of fine fell walking, we decided to top it off by visiting the best of the Scafell range, Scafell itself. Not to be confused with the higher Scafell Pike, Scafell is only marginally smaller but is infinitely more interesting and challenging to climb, largely thanks to the wall of rock that bars the way from Mickledore, that being Broad Stand. In fact, there are only a few routes accessible to regular walkers from Wasdale; one of which is the famous Lord's Rake.
We left the campsite with an improving forecast ahead of us which is always a bonus; fingers crossed we would time our arrival at the summit with the break in the weather than had been promised to us by the men and women of the Met Office. All seemed fine as we made our way past Brackenclose and joined the path following Lingmell Gill, that was until we rounded the corner and saw the hundreds of people who had the same idea as us, most of them bound for Scafell Pike. Despite this it was pleasing to see many children out making the climb, most of them looking like they were enjoying it as well (though this may be due to the fact that we were near the bottom). We joined the conga line to make the slow trudge up towards Brown Tongue.
Being a popular route, the path is sturdy and robust though the National Trust were out in force today, giving it some firming up in places where the stones had started to go awry. After leapfrogging a few large groups we reached the foot of Brown Tongue where the path steepens and the booted masses continue on, us included.
Eventually, we reached a parting in the path where it splits at Hollow Stones, forming two routes to the upper echelons of the Pikes, one leading towards Lingmell Col and the other bound for Mickledore and our route to the foot of Lord's Rake. We left the path to the bemused looks of others, scrabbling up the fan of scree that emanates from the dark crags above. It's a tough little climb but nothing in comparison to rake above.
We reached the foot of Lord's Rake and, with it being clear, it seemed longer but more welcoming than the last time I stood in this spot. As a brief reminder, there's a memorial carved into the stone wall to a quartet of climbers who lost their lives in 1903. The circumstances of their death are unknown, they were found roped together in scree, three of the group having already perished. The fourth passed away during the descent to Wasdale.
Time to enter the rake. I've heard and experienced the fact that keeping to either side of the gully is the best bet, given the fact that you can use good hand holds on the walls. It is steep, around 45 degrees or so, and filled with loose scree and boulders from previous rock falls. We took it slow and steady, making sure every foot placement was firm and each hand hold was secure. Other than the looseness of the scree underfoot, it is a straightforward climb.
We reached the infamous chockstone at the top of the gully, an immense pinnacle of rock that detached itself from the opposing wall in 2001 and came to rest across the top of gully, perching itself in a seemingly precarious position. Lord's Rake continues on past the stone requiring the walker to either climb over or gingerly slide under the fallen rock (which is much easier but a bit disconcerting).
At the chockstone, it was our time to leave Lord's Rake through a cleft in the wall to the left (if looking up the rake). The cleft passes a briefly exposed section where the rock has fallen away before joining a very pleasant shelf that climbs up the mountainside. This is the West Wall Traverse. It's a superb route and gives you the feeling that you are within the very mountain itself, rather than climbing on or around it. The traverse leads into the upper sections of Deep Gill, inaccessible from Hollow Stones below thanks to a series of vertical pitches but perfectly climbable from the traverse.
Deep Gill is nearly identical to Lord's Rake, the only real differences being a slightly narrower gully and no looming boulder above. Again, slow and steady was the order of the day as a few of the hand holds in the wall threatened to give way.
A final narrow gully leads out of Deep Gill, requiring a slightly awkward thrust past some smoothed rocks to reach the good hand holds again. After that it's out of the gloom and onto Scafell. It's an odd sensation emerging from Deep Gill, one that's difficult to describe. The plateau is the exact opposite of Deep Gill; open, green, dry, bright accompanied by the sensation that you've just completed a proper route through the depths of the mountain as opposed to plodding up a path straight to the summit. And what a summit Scafell has.
Views are fairly uninterrupted in all directions. There's Eskdale far below to the east with the great ring of mountains that encircles it and Scafell Pike to the north with the hundreds of people we'd left now milling around on the summit platform. Did I say that Scafell was largely deserted? It often is, even on the busiest of days. To the west is Wasdale and the great Mosedale Horseshoe the expansive view across to the Irish Sea (Sellafield included).
Despite the fine weather, a brisk wind was enough to prompt us to seek shelter for a lunch stop before we started southwards along the high ridge that falls from Scafell's summit. This ridge forms the western wall of Eskdale and has a fine view across the valley to Esk Pike, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags. Long Green, the summit of Cam Spout Crag possible has the best view of the lot. Another 500m south is the small summit of Slight Side.
Slight Side, a simple outcrop on the Scafell's ridge, has a separate chapter in the pictorial guides, Wainwright going so far as to recommend it in his top six summits in the whole national park. It's a decision that's difficult to argue with as it really does has the most wonderful, uninterrupted view, as you can see in the photos below. I've said in some posts before that you only really get the best views of the larger fells from the smaller ones that surround it.
Turning back on ourselves, we started the trek back to Wasdale by following the contours on the steep, grassy slopes that characterise Scafell's western flanks. This was a bit more challenging than it sounds as the slope was awkward enough to make a lot of the walk uncomfortable and numerous scree fields needed to be negotiated with a bit of care. It would be a bit embarrassing to complete the West Wall Traverse and then come a cropper on a grassy slope. It took much longer than anticipated to reach the old Victorian tourist route; a small path that climbs the grassy slopes from Wasdale over Green How.
The path peters out after dropping over Green How but the destination is obvious enough. The slope steepens as it passes the head of Groove Gill and falls to a drystone wall above Wasdale Head Hall Farm. At the foot of the slope is the old corpse road that joined Wasdale Head to Boot and provides an easy stroll back to the car at Brackenclose.
This is a tremendous and exciting walk that really has a bit of everything bar and all-out rock climb. Tackling Lord's Rake and the West Wall Traverse is perhaps one of the best hours you can spend in the Lake District, topped off by a visit to one of the finest summits in the park. If you want to avoid the crowds, delve into the depths of Scafell.
At the end of three days of fine fell walking, we decided to top it off by visiting the best of the Scafell range, Scafell itself. Not to be confused with the higher Scafell Pike, Scafell is only marginally smaller but is infinitely more interesting and challenging to climb, largely thanks to the wall of rock that bars the way from Mickledore, that being Broad Stand. In fact, there are only a few routes accessible to regular walkers from Wasdale; one of which is the famous Lord's Rake.
We left the campsite with an improving forecast ahead of us which is always a bonus; fingers crossed we would time our arrival at the summit with the break in the weather than had been promised to us by the men and women of the Met Office. All seemed fine as we made our way past Brackenclose and joined the path following Lingmell Gill, that was until we rounded the corner and saw the hundreds of people who had the same idea as us, most of them bound for Scafell Pike. Despite this it was pleasing to see many children out making the climb, most of them looking like they were enjoying it as well (though this may be due to the fact that we were near the bottom). We joined the conga line to make the slow trudge up towards Brown Tongue.
 |
| Approaching Brackenclose |
 |
| Looking back to Wast Water |
 |
| The path at Lingmell Gill |
 |
| The queue of people heading up Brown Tongue |
 |
| Back of the line |
 |
| Lingmell Gill |
 |
| A stiffer climb this time up Brown Tongue |
 |
| Clouds swirl over Scafell |
 |
| Approaching the towering crags of Scafell |
 |
| Sun lights up the valley below |
 |
| Clouds and sun swirl around - Lord's Rake starts at the top of the scree fan to the left |
 |
| Climbing the scree |
 |
| Looking down upon the crowds from the scree leading to Lord's Rake |
 |
| The climbers memorial at the foot of Lord's Rake |
 |
| Pulpit Rock |
 |
| The main event; Lord's Rake |
 |
| Looking up Lord's Rake |
 |
| The chockstone at the top |
 |
| Sara negotiates her way up the scree |
 |
| An example of the angle of the slope |
 |
| Sara in Lord's Rake |
 |
| Approaching the chockstone at the top of the first section |
 |
| The chockstone. The West Wall Traverse disappears between the green rock and the grey rock to the left |
 |
| The chockstone from the foot of the West Wall Traverse |
Deep Gill is nearly identical to Lord's Rake, the only real differences being a slightly narrower gully and no looming boulder above. Again, slow and steady was the order of the day as a few of the hand holds in the wall threatened to give way.
 |
| Looking up the West Wall Traverse |
 |
| Peering over the edge of the West Wall Traverse |
 |
| Sara makes a last adjustment before the climb |
 |
| The West Wall Traverse climbs into Deep Gill |
 |
| Entering Deep Gill |
 |
| Looking up Deep Gill |
 |
| Looking down Deep Gill |
 |
| Approaching the top of Deep Gill |
 |
| Looking down Deep Gill at the point it emerges onto the summit |
 |
| Scafell |
 |
| The summit of Scafell with Scafell Pike in the background |
 |
| Scafell Pike in the clouds |
 |
| Long Green and Slight Side |
 |
| Esk Pike and Bowfell |
 |
| Eskdale |
 |
| Esk Pike, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags over Great Moss |
 |
| Close up of Scafell Pike |
 |
| Esk Pike in the sunshine |
 |
| Long Green |
 |
| Eskdale from Long Green |
 |
| Sara looking out from Long Green |
 |
| Panorama from Long Green; Scafell, Scafell Pike, Ill Crag, Esk Pike, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags |
 |
| Approaching Slight Side's summit |
 |
| Esk Pike |
 |
| Slight Side |
 |
| Eskdale panorama from Slight Side |
 |
| Eskdale |
 |
| Bowfell |
 |
| Burnmoor Tarn backed by Whin Rigg and Illgill Head |
 |
| Middle Fell |
 |
| The mysterious Dunnerdale Fells |
 |
| Burnmoor Tarn |
 |
| Looking back to Slight Side |
 |
| Illgill Head |
 |
| Descending towards Wasdale |
 |
| Yewbarrow |
 |
| Sellafield |
 |
| Wasdale Head backed by Kirk Fell |
 |
| The old corpse road |
 |
| A close-up of Great Gable |
No comments :
Post a Comment