The rest of the pictures from yesterday..

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/ClimbingOnGoatCragWatendlath#


doing a few things around the flat today - hopefully back outside tomorrow and Monday....:-)

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Goat Crag in the afternoon sun

Some images from todays climbing with Luke. The original idea that we had was to go to Grey Crag in Buttermere - however by the time we left Luke's it was about 10 and we were both tired so elected to have day on Shepherds getting some mileage in. However we soon discovered that we were not alone in that thought....so we used our back up plan - Goat Crag. There are several Goat Crags in the Lakes. This one is nearly at the lovely hamlet of Watendlath and that is about all I'm going to say about it as I'd like to go there again - and we saw no-one at all day. This was probably just as well given the way that the climbing went. Luke and I were both suffering from not being out on rock too much - and I still have a massive aversion to trusting my own gear placements - although they actually are quite good!!!!

The Slab - Diff

It didn't seem like that on the first route, a lovely Diff slab that I duly ascended in nice style with two good runners. It's actually a route I soloed later in the day and is very pleasant indeed. After a bit to each I tried to do a Severe - a crack line that Luke had done on his previous visit to the crag. I will freely admit that crack climbing is not my forte at all - I am much happier on slabs and open walls. My footwork was actually ok; however I didn't seem able/willing to trust my gear placements (which we clearly good as Luke lowered off them after his attempt). The key move was a couple of high steps which seemed to be committing i.e not able to reverse; and without an obvious handhold. Looking down from the top (we had to abseil for the gear) the handhold is obvious - Luke did very well to lead this when he was last at the crag.

Luke had a gear at the other severe on the crag - which I say to was yet another crack and was probably undergraded too. An interesting sequence up a greasy pod with holds for the hands only on one side (which Luke decided to make interesting by arranging for all his runners to leap out when he was climbing it!!) brings one underneath a wide crack with an obvious jug out of the reach of all bar basketball players. He arranged so bombproof gear and set to work. On my attempt it proved really arkward; everything was there one just needed to re-arrange one's body in a variety of strange ways; two left feet would have been a distinct advantage for example!! Added to this it was seriously hot and the move was clearly a 'do or fall' and my cowardice came back to the fore - grrrrr...

It is noticeable that this crag does not have an awful lot of gear on some routes - there being a lovely E1 that I would have attempted (the reachy open face climbing being my kind of thing) were it not for the fact it was basically a solo with a revolting landing....the three climbs we did all had good gear it should be said....a very interesting crag though and a great day out. Learning to trust gear is my biggest weakness and one that I need to overcome if I am ever going to really progress in climbing again. I have not had a leader fall since my return to the sport in 2008....I have never really felt I was going to fall off on any of the routes I have done. As I noted earlier; the irony is that my gear placements are usually pretty good...quite why I have a distrust of camming devices I don't know as one did its job perfectly all those years ago on Right Unconquerable on Stanage. In the best interests of aversion therapy I will probably have to eschew some lovely open face climbs for some more cracks I expect. Back when I was going well I found Kipling Groove on Gimmer ( a hard HVS) much easier than the top pitch of Gimmer Crack ( VS)...just suits my style I guess.

Watendlath (next to the tarn)

Bouldering...

just had a nice hour playing on Carrock Fell - an hour is about all your skin can manage before it gets ripped to shreds by the rough rock!!

Went and explored the South and South Central areas today; parts of the mountain I had not been on before; largely because they have some pretty hard problems. They also have some more sensible ones; a couple of which I did and a couple more I looked at.

One of these; which is at my absolute limit at V3, seems to involve a ridiculously powerful first move and the rest is pretty easy - it's simply a case of 'are you strong enough'?, to which I must answer no - however it is something to work on.

The other one is a bit more interesting....shame it was the last problem I worked as it seems as if I could do it reasonably soon. Body-tension and how much one can use the right foot seem to be the key to it...something to work on. The holds are so sharp though...only two goes before too much skin was gone.

So; its back to work tomorrow for 3 days....however with Claire working the 4-midnight shift I'll be looking to do something after work most days....hopefully the weather will play ball.

Easter fell-run...

yet another amazing day in Cumbria, and Claire and I decided to go for a fell run to celebrate. A steep ascent of Bowscale Fell from Mungrisedale was followed by the traverse along its plateau to the col under Blencathra. From there we followed the River Glendermackin before climbing back up to the top of Mousethwaite Combe and thence over Souther Fell. The final descent to Mungrisedale dropped us off at the Mill Inn for a sandwich and a beer before staggering the last 500m to the car.

I would guess the total distance to be around 6 1/2 miles...not bad for a third day out on the trot. Not sure what tomorrow will bring  - however can't let this weather go to waste.

Backpacking in the Howgill Fells...

This is the view from just out of Ravenstonedale which is a village on the edge of the Howgills. Claire and I had parked in the village and shouldered our packs with the intention of doing a good circuit. We walked along the dead end road for a couple of miles - in lovely weather - before we started into the mountains.

Our first objective was Kensgriff, which has a lovely ridge and fell ponies grazing on it (as can be seen from the picture below). The pull up onto the ridge was heavy going with full packs and in the heat. Once the ridge was crested the majority of the

Howgills became visible; as can be seen on the picasa site ; links in earlier blogs. From the summit; we had a banana and country slice to fortify ourselves; along with some water before commencing the slog up Yarlside.

Yarlside is a mountain that is arguably the most prominent of all the Howgill Fells, despite not being the highest. This is probably because it's not on the main spine of the hills but a little away apart from the Calf/Calders plateau (which is where we were headed).

Summiting Yarlside we descended towards Bowderdale Head where we got a lovely view of Cautley Spout. The path which goes across the top of it before ascending the top of Cautley Crag to Great Dummacks appealed to us both and after lunch this is what we decided to do.

The ascent, in the heat of the day, was hard going; however the views (as usual) were superb. Once past Cautley Spout the volume of people dropped down to zero (as it'd been for most of the rest of the day - we saw one guy on Yarlside and that was it!)

The traffic increased as we climbed to Calders before traversing to the summit of the Calf (the highest point of the Howgill range). At this point we elected to shorten our original objective and traverse near the summit of White Fell Head before climbing Busk Howe and thence (over the Cobbles) to Langdale where we intended to spend the night.

This is the view from the top of the Cobbles, a small bump with many undualtions (hence its name I guess) and no summit...from which a steep descent (something the Howgills have a lot of are VERY steep climbs and descents) took us into Langdale.












 Our campsite can be seen suffice to say that it's one of the best pitches I have ever been on...lovely; grassy; flat; with water nearby and superb views....
Supper of pasta and pesto followed with cups of tea and a minature of whisky....really suffering as one can tell.


A great nights sleep followed although we had a little rain overnight and awoke this morning to a few more clouds.




Both of us were feeling a little tired after yesterdays walk and I had blisters on both of my heels - a legacy from the Cross Fell walk a couple of weeks ago. Ergo, we elected to walk along the valley for about 1km, which also gave my heel the chance to loosen up, before ascending the side of Hazelgill Knot. Emerging onto the ridge which runs parallel to Bowderdale we ploughed on over West Fell before descending to Bowderdale - and seeing a party of people ascend who where the first people we had seen since about 3pm the previous day.

The day was a bit gloomier -as can be seen by this view of (the ubiqitous) Yarlside looking up Bowderdale. Our day also got a bit gloomier when trying to cut across to Ravenstonedale...there has been a TON of new planting/seeding/whatever, even from when I rode that way in summer 2009...however a quick hitch along the road got me back to the car and thence to collect Claire....

All in all - despite aching legs - a fantastic trip

photo's from the backpacking trip...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102361192587557786751/BackpackingInTheHowgillFellsWithClaire#


report to come in due course - suffice to say it was amazing.

Packing....

it's supposed to be a lightweight trip; backpacking in the Howgills with an overnight stop. Which is why I am wondering if the mountain of gear strewn over the floor is really the way to go...on the other hand it will be good practice for Scotland later on in the year..


Oh - and the weather is stonking; looks set to hold and I have a new camera to try out!!