I’m the best man for a good friends wedding and we had a stag party to organise, neither of use wanted a traditional stag do, we wanted something different. Shaun had climbed Scafell Pike a few years ago and it was foggy on the top so he never got the view so he decided we would climb this and this time there would be a view.
Shaun and I drove up to Seathwaite and parked up and waited for Ian the third member of our party to arrive. It wasn’t long before he did so we had a quick chat about the plan and route and then set off.
The route was going to be a circular walk heading up Grains Gill to Esk Hause then to Scafell Pike but taking in the three peaks (Great End, Ill Crag and Broad Crag) along the way and then down the Corridor Route to Styhead Tarn and back to Seathwaite.
The weather was looking less then ideal for a clear summit but that did not put us off, there was a cool breeze blowing but once we got walking it was very pleasant.
We passed a group of lads with large rucksacks and bright orange rain covers and said hello to them, I asked if they were DofE and they replied they were and on the Gold Expedition, we wished them luck and kept walking.
The going was steep and we are not at the height of fitness, so we had to stop a few times on the way to Esk Hause. As we stopped the DofE lads passed us and said hello again, this continued all the way up to Esk Hause and by the end we were all laughing when we all said hello.
We decided to stop just before the open ground of Esk Hause to have some lunch and Banana Cake which Shaun’s fiancée had made for us. It was very good. After the feed and a rest we set off again and soon we got to the turn where we could bag one of the 3 extra summits or just keep going. It was an easy decision, we turned and tramped off in to the clouds for the extra summit of Great End.
It was quite rocky under foot so we had to be careful as we didn’t want any accidents. With the summit in the cloud, we did not hang around and headed back to the path towards our main summit but it was not long before we turned off again to head towards the 2nd extra summit of Ill Crag, the going here was harder as it was small boulders we were climbing over until we got to the summit. This time there was a view so we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy it. We could see the 3rd extra summit and when the clouds broken we got a view of the prize, Scafell Pike.
The ascent to Broad Crag was very similar to Ill Crag, but with cloud so we did not hang around and struck off towards to the final accent of Scafell Pike.
The route up was a lot of loose rock, so we walked carefully so as not to knock any loose, and then we finally made it to the summit. Hurrah! The views from within the clouds were grey, but as we sat down to have a rest we got a break in the clouds the view was something else.
After asking Shaun and Ian if it was ok if I could try and activate the summit I got the Anytone out, and started to look for a free frequency and found Ian M9OTE calling CQ SOTA from Illgill Head so I replied and we got Summit to Summit. What a great start. I found my free frequency then went back to the calling channel and called “CQ SOTA, listening 145.425”. It did not take long to get some hunters. I quickly got 5 in the log so the summit was activated but as I was in the Lake District this was also a POTA (I found out latter it’s actually a 2fer) so could I get 5 more and activate the POTA too? I asked Ian and Shaun if they were ok with this and Ian opened bag and handed us all a beer to celebrate doing the summit. I took that as a yes. I cracked on and managed to get the 5 more I needed including one over the Irish Sea to Norman MI6LNP just outside Belfast.
With 10 in the log, I packed up the radio and we decided to make a move and start the descent. Coming down was a lot easier going. We were coming down the main route to Wasdale which is an easier decent, but soon we had to turn and start the path the Corridor Route. This was quite an interesting route with the path getting narrower and finally ending with a little climb up a small rocky outcrop to find the path starting again at the top of it. The views coming down this route were amazing. It was a hard slog and we were all finding it tough going and digging into our reserves to keep going. We did have to stop and do a little first aid on Shaun’s knee but once he was patched up we carried on going and got to Styhead Tarn. On reaching it we saw 2 separate tents pitched and committed it would be nice place to wild camp and maybe next time we might do that.
The weather was starting to turn and it was getting late and we were getting a bit hungry so we picked up the pace and kept moving. Coming down the hill we passed a few people heading up with bigger then day bags who were oblivious going up to the tarn to wild camp too. Best of the luck as the it had really started to rain.
My knee was starting to play up and stepping down hill was making me swear with every other step but with the car park in site I was being to stubborn too do anything about my knee.
We finally made it back to the car park, what an amazing day walking it was, just over 8hrs and nearly 18km. We got in the cars and head out to Keswick to find some food then head to our lodgings for a well earned beer and some rest.
| Operation Details |
| Summit: https://www.sotadata.org.uk/en/summit/G/LD-001 Parks: https://pota.app/#/park/GB-0165 https://pota.app/#/park/GB-2198 Grid square: IO93lt WAB square: SE63 |
| Working Conditions |
| Anytone 878 Ham2K Polo |
| Operation Totals |
| 10 QSOs 2 DXCC Entities 1 S2S 1 Band and 1 mode 2m – 10 FM |
