High Winds on High Street 5^th January 2008

It was damp at home but not too cold, I wasn't really sure what to expect when I got to Cumbria; when I turned right at Windermere onto the A592 towards Kirkstone, the snow warning sign showed the road closed north of the Pass. I was hoping the snow warning belonged to yesterday, and so it was; there were small fragments of snow on the verge but fortunately the road was clear. It had started raining by the time I got to the car park behind Hartsop village; it is unusual to see lots of cars there on a cold, wet January morning, I think it was mainly locals and some visitors meeting up to watch a fox hunt.

Hartsop Dodd rises steeply at the southern end of the car park; go through a gate onto a track and after a short walk you start to climb by the side of a wall. A drainage channel has been cut, higher up the hillside, diagonally across the slope, making the initial climb a good less swampy than it used to be. There is no gentle introduction to Hartsop Dodd, you start climbing steeply up the grass immediately, although with being less wet it is a lot less slippery than it used to be on a wet day. After the initial steep grassy climb you reach the intake wall; on the other side of it, a pitched path has been constructed where the footpath used to be an eroded scar. The steep, walker-unfriendly path has fixed the erosion but being wet and slippery it will encourage a new path to to be trodden and cause fresh erosion.

The rain had turned to sleet by the time I reached the top of the wall where it crosses the north-west ridge; the wall carries on down the other side of the ridge towards Brotherswater, the path turns left and follows the ridge uphill. The climb continues up steep grass, there is a small trodden path in places but some of it was hidden under patches of snow; rain and snow always fill man-made paths. In addition to the sleet it was getting windier as I gained height; I could see Helvellyn on the other side of Patterdale, covered in snow under a sky full of dark clouds.

After a long, consistently steep climb the gradient eases as you reach the summit plateau; the path disappeared in the longer grass and occasionally under increasingly larger patches of snow. Navigation is straightforward once you reach a stone wall, it takes you all the way to the summit of Hartsop Dodd. A large cairn posing as the summit is a short distance away from the real summit by the side of the wall; either the old wooden stake or a smaller cairn next to the wall mark it. There was a dramatic view of Caudale Moor and High Street; dark, bleak hills highlighted by a partial covering of snow.

I continued to follow the wall, descending easily on grass to a broad col; it had stopped raining by then but the wind was still blowing well. As I started to climb upwards towards Caudale Moor, the path became increasingly covered by more consistent, if rather wet, snow. Walking a short distance away from the wall it was less slippery, but more strenuous, where the longer grass gave me a better grip underfoot. As the ground levelled off I realised I couldn't remember where the summit was; the visibility wasn't bad but the mix of snow and rock created a camouflaged landscape.

I followed the wall until it ended, there were a few rock outcrops nearby but none that was more obviously a summit than any other. I chose what seemed to be highest outcrop and walked over to it; I found a big cairn but I wasn't sure if it was the summit, I didn't recognise because I'm not used to it not being in mist. It felt strange but the reasonable visibility didn't help me to reassure me that I was at the summit; I should have used my map and compass but in the strong wind I didn't want to hang around. I found a path leading away from the cairn towards another wall; the snow was deeper and more consistent and it felt like I was going in the right direction. I found another cairn on the other side of the wall, I was fairly certain that this one wasn't the summit; it must have been the cairn I reached earlier.

I walked the short distance back to the wall and started to follow it downwards, I was fairly certain it was the right way to descend to Threshthwaite Mouth. It started to snow and in the high winds I was a bit concerned about how I was going to manage the steep rocky descent I was heading towards. Before the proper descent starts the path moves away from the wall and meanders over usually boggy ground; the ground was frozen, making it easier to walk but no easier to navigate. I rejoined the wall where the ground is more rocky and rough just before the steep descent; the state of the wall reflects the state of the ground, steep and broken.

The steep ground is covered in rocky slabs and boulders that were wet and the gaps in between were filled by wet snow making it awkward enough without the gradient. I had to take care stepping between the boulders, the snow was getting deeper but better, not quite as wet or slippery. It is an enjoyable descent but the normally easy clamber is made a bit more challenging with the wet rock and deeper snow making the next step off the rocks a bit less certain. I was absorbed with concentrating on getting down safely and I was aware that there were still some awkward steps to come; sure enough I had to make an awkward detour onto the other side of the shattered wall in order to avoid a perilous step down off a large rock.

After the awkward detour there was not much further descent to Threshthwaite Mouth; the descent from Caudale Moor was sheltered from the wind was certainly stronger as I started to climb up towards Thornthwaite Crag. It is a steep climb on an eroded stony path that is also partially filled with wet snow; I met the first other walkers of the day as they were descending and they did say it was windy at the top. It became extremely windy as I got higher, my rucksack cover was almost blown off, two press-studs and the Velcro strip came undone, it was only because it snagged on my ice axe that stopped it from blowing away. The cover caught the wind and I was dragged sideways, fortunately away from the edge, and I had to drop to my knees before I could get my rucksack off and pack the cover away.

Even without the ballooning cover it became increasingly difficult to walk, so I headed up over grass to the wall running along the crest of the ridge, hoping for some shelter from the wind. As I reached the summit of Thornthwaite Crag I had to hang on to the wall while I took photographs. I walked around the Beacon to get to the other side of the wall where it was sheltered from the worst of the wind. On the other side of the wall I met another walker there, he was clearly unprepared for the ferocity of the conditions and I think he was glad to have some guidance about the best way to get off the hill. He had intended to reverse my route to Caudale Moor and descend to Kirkstone Pass on his way to Ambleside but he was in danger of it getting dark before he got there. With him being unfamiliar with the area I recommended that Caudale Moor was no place to have navigation trouble at that time and in those conditions.

I set off for High Street no other walkers in sight except for the one pondering my advice to descend to Troutbeck from Threshthwaite Mouth; at least the wind was bearable on this side of Thornthwaite Beacon. I could see all the way to High Street, the wide path to it being obvious although underfoot the wet snow wasn't ideal to walk on because it hid the really wet places underneath it. After crossing the broad col I started the easy climb towards High Street; when I reached the start of the wall and left the main path to get to the ridge and walked on the other side of the wall. The snow was deeper and less wet and it was strenuous walking through it; there were no other footprints in the snow until near the summit. The wind got stronger as I got nearer to the summit and the snow got deeper; just before I reached the summit a set of three footprints came from the other side of the wall, it wasn't High Street's busiest day.

From the summit of High Street I continued to walk parallel to the wall through the snow which got fairly deep in places where it had settled in the lee of the summit. The wind continued to buffet me, but not really impede my progress, as I descended to the Straits of Riggindale. The path towards The Knott contained less snow until I reached the start of the climb up to the summit where I had to step through another deeper drift. The view from the summit of The Knott was the curiously dappled valley Hayeswater Gill looking wild and unspoiled. From the summit I descended off the path, keeping to better snow avoiding the soft wet slippery snow on the usual descent by the side of another wall.

The good path at the bottom of the slope suggested that it be a straightforward descent but it was long before the path was little more than a muddy line down the steep grassy slope. The path split a couple of times and I followed the left hand branch on each occasion; the ground wasn't frozen and becoming quite muddy as I lost height. The hail was stinging driven by the wind, strengthening again, but turned to rain by the time I reached Hayswater Dam, the path from there was generally good all the way back to Hartsop; there were no cars left when I got there.

As I was driving past Troutbeck village I passed the man I had seen on Thornthwaite Crag, he had got down safely, probably by the route I had suggested.

Andy Wallace 5^th January 2008

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