Rain, Wind and a Pea-Souper on Pillar

Day 30 – Tuesday 21 April – and while everyone in Clitheroe enjoyed another warm sunny day, the weather in Cumbria turned decidedly nasty. With Mike, and joined once again by Ian Hardy, we started from Wasdale Head: having done Kirk Fell yesterday we were confident of making good progress and would hopefully take in Haycock as well. But the weather deteriorated as we climbed the long path up to Black Sail Pass, and the few other walkers were clearly staying to lower ground and avoiding the tops.

Once on the ridge towards Pillar (2927’) visibility dropped and the wind and rain set in with a vengeance. We plodded on with a distinct lack of joie-de-vivre, eventually reaching the summit in a well-moistened state. Extreme care was now required as the mist was so thick it wasn’t possible to see more than about 25 yards. We found the way off towards Scoat Fell, which involves quite a descent before rising again over Black Crag. Having made one error (drifting too much to the north) we retraced footsteps and got it right, then picked up the stone wall which acts as a guide to the summit at 2760’.

By now I was getting very cold but managed to get some more layers on, and we stopped in the shelter of the wall for something to eat. Steeple (2687’) is a spectacular top reached along a very narrow arete with big drops off on either side. Not a place to get lost in mist, but we found it without problem, meeting the only other (solitary) walker to be seen on the tops all day – and I thought we were mad!

Back to Scoat Fell we decided not even to attempt the walk to Haycock in these conditions, then took a bearing for Red Pike (2707’). After a while we still had not encountered the path so for the first time we got out the GPS for a quick fix (the map reference kind, no artificial stimulants for us!) which helped us find the path almost straight away. The summit is a little way off the main path, perched right on the very edge of the precipice – quite spectacular! The weather was just beginning to improve: up to this point I couldn’t be bothered to take any photos but now I took out the camera only to find it was wet through and, after taking a couple of very blurred pictures it gave up the ghost altogether and refused to work for the rest of the day. What a disaster!

The clouds cleared a bit and we had a bite to eat before surveying the vast bulk of Yewbarrow, today’s last top at 2058’, involving a long descent and then a big climb of 800’ back to the craggy top. With spirits not exactly high it seemed a long hard slog to the top, but then the sun came out and the descent, a steep, steep affair between rock pillars and down scree gulleys, finished off the day nicely. Well actually a pint of Wasdale’s finest Pale Ale in the Wasdale Head was what really finished off the day nicely.

As we left Wasdale, hoping for a brighter day tomorrow, the first Swallows of the year were flying around. Total to date (tops, not Swallows) -169.

Photos: 1. Old packhorse bridge at Wasdale Head; 2. Bill and Mike, News at Ten, the summit of Pillar, cold, wet, fed up... 3. The best my camera could manage after the rain; 4. Yewbarrow from the shores of Wastwater.