Blog Posts in Category: Lake District

Walking in the Western Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Walking Short Link

At the beginning of July I headed up to the Lake District for a long birthday weekend, we spent the weekend with the Avon Mountaineering club in the beautiful but remote Duddon Valley before heading over to Eskdale on Sunday. On the first morning we woke up to a spectacular day, with almost wall to wall sunshine it doesn’t get much better in the Lake District. There was a reasonably cold wind, but this didn’t matter as we weren’t able to climb as Becky had broken her finger earlier in the week. We elected to walk the obvious circuit from the campsite which included most of the peaks around the Old Man of Conniston. The circuit was great, with a short walk up a track to a picturesk tarn before making an abrupt ascent up to the ridge which connects all of the peaks. Once we had gained most of the altitude the views were stunning in every direction. To the south west we could see down the Duddon valley and out to the sea, to the north we could see Scafell, Scafell Pike and Crinkle Crags and to the. Read the full article…

Lake District Classic Rock

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing Short Link

When I booked onto the Avon Mountaineering Club’s winter Lake District trip I was very optimistically hoping for some winter climbing to be in condition, optimistically hoping for some winter walking and just hoping for some good weather. Unfortunately winter had other ideas and there was barely any sign of winter in Scotland, let alone the Lake District. However, what I was not expecting was a forecast which involved a light breeze and a cloudless sky. This forecast led to George persuading Becky and me that we wanted to go rock climbing, on a mountain crag in the Lake District in January. Initially we were unconvinced, however we did eventually relent and agreed to head up to Gimmer to climb two classic rock routes. When we woke up we were presented with a cloudless sky, beautiful sunrise and a frosty ground. We sorted our gear out in the Old Dungeon Ghyll car park, and it did feel a bit strange packing to go rock climbing in the mountains with ice on the ground. We soon warmed up on the walk up to Gimmer before cooling down again when we headed into the. Read the full article…

Alpine Sharp Edge

Alastair BegleyLake District, Winter Climbing Short Link

Last weekend and the start of this week was characterised by heavy rain and cold conditions in Bristol, which meant that in the Lake District the mountains were developing their first significant winter coat of the season. As the week continued a high pressure system started to build, so Becky and I decided to take a day off work and head up to the Lake District for a long weekend. On Friday morning we left Bristol at 6am hoping for a clear run up the M5 and M6 in order to get to the Lake District in time to climb Blencathra via Sharp Edge and descent via Hall’s Fell ridge. Thankfully we made good time, and by 11am we were in a lay by near the start of the walk into Sharp Edge with cold and and crystal clear blue skies. The walk in was beautiful leaving the green sunlit valley and climbing up in the warm sun, we soon arrived at the first col and left the sunlight behind and the temperature plummeted, but we were treated to a fantastic view of Sharp Edge being illuminated by the sun.. Read the full article…

Rock Climbing in Langdale

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing Short Link

Having made multiple trips up to the Lake District with the hope of climbing only to be thwarted by bad weather and ending up at Shepards, it was great to finally have a weekend in the Lake District with decent weather and dry rock. Over the weekend I climbed with Becky and Andrew and come home having completed a decent haul of routes Day 1: Pavey Arc – Capella & Golden Slipper Having left bristol at an hour which should not exist we were enjoying a coffee and breakfast in Ambleside at 9am while looking at the unfortunately grey sky. Despite this we held our nerve and carried on with plan A, which was to climb a link up of two classic routes on Pavey Arc. Having spent too little time in the the mountains and too much time sat at work, the walk in came as a bit of a shock to the body. Thankfully after not too long we emerged at the tarn and were able to admire the crag. We were soon at the start of the route, and thankfully it looked like the route was mostly. Read the full article…

Classic climbing in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing Short Link

Both of the previous bank holiday weekends have involved good weather and very little traffic, both of these rare events had to come to an end at some point. On the journey up, while stationary in yet another traffic jam, I was pondering why I was bothering heading up to the Lakes for the weekend due to the awful forecast. After what seemed like a very long drive we eventually arrived at the campsite, and we arrived in between the showers which was great. Shepherds Crag The first day was supposed to have a weather window in the morning before the rain arrived, so I headed to Shepherds Crag with Rich to get some early climbing in. The first route we jumped on was The Bludgeon, a two pitch E1. Rich headed up the first pitch which has some straightforward but rather bold climbing, which wasn’t helped by the damp rock. Once I arrived at the belay I wasn’t feeling too psyched due to the start of the route being soaking wet litchen covered rock, which means it has no grip. After traversing away from the belay I ended up. Read the full article…

A Sunny Late May Bank Holiday in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend walking and scrambling in the Lake District with some friends from uni. It was a brilliant weekend with fantastic weather, over Saturday and Sunday we did the classic route of Helvellyn via Striding and Swirral edge, except with a twist. On Saturday we ascended Helvellyn via Striding Edge and then continued north along the ridge over White Side, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd and Clough Head. Once we reached the end we descended down to Dockray and a well earned pint in the sun. After an evening lounging in the sun and enjoying a BBQ we got up to another day of sunshine and headed up to the classic grade 3 scramble, Pinnacle Ridge up St. Sunday Crag. It was great fun and we even found the start without too much difficulty, I was surprised while climbing the ridge just how crampon scratched the rock was on a classic summer scramble. Once we were at the top I continued with Rich up to Fairfield, down to Grisedale Tarn and then up to Helvellyn including all the subsidiary peaks before descending down Swirral Edge before finishing on Catstycam.. Read the full article…

Rock climbing in Borrowdale

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing Short Link

On our bank holiday weekend in the Lake District we managed to do a surprising amount of climbing considering the amount of rain which was pouring down over the rest of the country. On Sunday when we drove up after the tents were setup we headed to Shepards Crag in Borrowdale where I lead the classic VS which was Adam. I found it fairly high end for VS due to some tricky climbing and also some runout section on easier climbing higher up the route. Having said this the climbing was fantastic, it was my first time on the rock type which is found on Borrowdale which is a kind of volcanic rock and thought it was fantastic. After this Dad lead Aaros which was my first E1, albiet seconding not leading, but was great to get some harder climbing under my belt as a second to improve my own climbing. After we finished our 6 hour mountain day on Monday and got back to the campsite, instead of relaxing and enjoying the sun we headed out to Quayfoot Buttress to climb Mandrake. Mandrake was a fantastic HVS which had. Read the full article…

Classic Scrambling in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Scrambling Short Link

For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend I was originally planning on heading to Pembroke to go sea cliff climbing with my parents however the weather had other ideas and due to a forecast of wind, cloud and rain we played a game of hunt the good weather. As in general the good weather was up north we headed up to the lake district to go scrambling and rock climbing there, but we were armed with guide books for Snowdonia, Yorkshire and the Peak District in case we had to chase the good weather around in the north. The best forecast of the week was on Monday so we went for a mountain scrambling day in the sun and headed up to Great Gable via Napes Needle. Here we did a modification to the classic grade 2*** route which involved ‘Threading the Needle’, scrambling up Eagles Nest Gully, Arrowhead ridge and finishing up Pinnacle Ridge on Westmorland crags. It was a fantastic day out and the weather was clearing throughout the entire day and after the first half an hour we spent the entire day in t-shirts in the sun. It was fantastic. Read the full article…