Many Scafell Returns 5^th May 2007

On my first visit of the year to Wasdale, it overcast and misty when I parked the car at Brackenclose; however, it was warmer than it looked and I was soon walking in teeshirt and shorts. I walked up the mainly reconstructed Brown Tongue route to Hollow Stones, along with dozens of walkers on their way to Scafell Pike; many of them were heading for the slippery scree slopes of Mickledore, either on purpose or probably by mistake. The long plod up the stone-built path brings you to a branch in the path just as the gradient eases; first-timers and walkers of a nervous disposition should take the left-hand branch.

I took the right hand branch, a gentle gradient on an obvious path took me into the mist as I crossed the mainly grassy Hollow Stones. You reach a constructed path as the gradient increases; this is the start of the climb to Scafell and Scafell Pike, both of them seem to be attempting to de-construct the path by sending down enough stones to overwhelm it in places. The path just about stays visible beneath the stones in places and the ground becomes more rugged the higher you get. You will pass by an unmistakeably large boulder before a final steeper climb up the path; a cairn marks the official start of the climb to Lord's Rake but I always carry on a little further.

There is a group of large flat-topped boulders by the side of the path on which you can sit and catch your breath; usually you will just be staring into the mist wondering what lies ahead, although occasionally you can see what an intimidating, rugged place it is. From this point onwards the path towards Mickledore deteriorates into a sea of slippery scree; the climb up the steep scree slope adjacent to the boulders, towards the base of Lord's Rake, is relatively easier. The stones on the lower part of the slope are fairly well consolidated so the climbing isn't difficult; higher up the slope conditions are changing, there is much more new erosion and many loose stones, it would be easy to dislodge a dangerous amount or rock.

With care you should have no trouble than getting up the steep slope to the bottom of Lord's Rake; it is a mightily intimidating place, steep walls of rock surround you and even on a bright day it is dark and moody. As you reach the wall of rock ahead of you, walk a few yards to the left and you will see a cross carved into the rock, a reminder of a climbing accident many years ago. You could carry on along a climber's traverse to Mickledore from there but if you turn to your right you will get your first sight of Lord's Rake. I have climbed Lord's Rake many times but I still get mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension when I first see it; who knows what state the constantly self-destructing rake will be in.

The natural cycle of the rake is that during winter more rock will fall into it from the surrounding crags, enormous amounts on some occasions. Early in the year there will be a lot of loose material that eventually settles as it slides downwards and consolidates; with this being my first visit of the year I am expecting the rocks underfoot to be fairly mobile. There are a couple of large boulders at the bottom of the rake that never seem to move and once I had clambered over them, I kept as close as possible to the right hand wall of rock. I could tell the rocks were as loose as I had expected, but keeping close to the rock wall you can steady yourself as you tread lightly; special care is required not to send rocks down onto other walkers below you.

It was still misty and very atmospheric when I caught my first glimpse of the fallen boulder; that first sight always causes a couple of extra heartbeats. The sun was trying to get through the mist, causing a fascinating mixture of brightness and murkiness in the rocky gullies. The final third of the rake is a bit steeper and the larger material quickly slides down to leave a gravel-like surface on which it is difficult to get a good foothold; you have to scramble on all-fours and keep moving, hopefully upwards.

Then you reach the base of the boulder; the collapsed rock wall has created a small ampitheatre, from where the boulder looks likely to lose its grip on the opposite rock wall. You can squeeze past the right hand side of the boulder but I can't resist going underneath it; from the other side you can see that at the top it has a good hold on the rock face. The ever-widening crack at the bottom suggests that it will eventually be undermined; it won't happen soon but it will inevitably become part of the rest of Lord's Rake.

I climbed up to the top of the second rise of Lord's Rake and I could see, for some reason, one of the walkers I had been speaking to when I was at the boulder had actually climbed up onto it. The descent from the second rise is as steep and eroded as the climb up the first rise but nowhere near as intimidating with not being enclosed; there is a rough path across steep, eroding ground before a final steep climb up gravel on the third rise to the top of Lord's Rake. I was beginning to see blueness beyond the mist and as I arrived at the top of the Rake, I was suddently in bright sunshine and there was a completely unexpected inversion as the clouds stayed lower down.

I walked back down the newly sunny Lord's Rake as far as the boulder, clambered underneath it and carefully made my way over steep, eroding rock to the start of the West Wall Traverse. There were climbers on Scafell Pinnacle, one was climbing up a crack that looked reasonably straightforward but I couldn't see how he had got up the apparently smooth, almost vertical rock face to get there. The West Wall Traverse is a pleasingly steep and rugged route; the high, steep cliffs of the Pinnacle rise upwards on the left but it is more open and less intimidating than Lord's Rake. When you reach the upper part of Deep Gill you have a steep climb up and over boulders that usually gets too much sun to feel intimidating; the gully narrows as you ascend and the eroded exit requires a bit of determination to push yourself up and out.

After being in the midst of rock faces and erosion you suddenly step out onto a wide, grassy plateau; only the nearby top of Scafell Pinnacle gives you any clue about where you have just been. There are no paths on the plateau but there are cairns, you have to make your own way towards the summit of Scafell and pick up a path after you pass a large cross made from stones laid on the ground. The summit is reached after clambering up a final bouldery rise; the first cairn you reach is probably the highest point but there are a number of cairns for you to visit. It was fairly spectacular being in bright sunshine but having a sea of clouds below, there was a gloomy view of Wastwater and Burnmoor Tarn below.

I couldn't see Scafell Pike or Slight Side from the summit because of the mist as I set off along the ridge in the direction of the latter. The descent to Slight Side can be confusing in poor visibility, cairns and paths can suddenly disappear even if you are being careful; you should keep to the crest of the ridge rather than wander away from it if you want to find the path again. As it was, the mist cleared ahead of me as I was descending, by the time I reached the rocky platform at the summit of Slight Side it too was in bright sunshine.

After clambering off the summit onto a grassy shelf just below it, you turn left, walking over grass until you reach a shallow, eroded, bouldery gully. It is a strenuous start to the descent and you will wonder if it is actually not a trap; in good visibility you can see the path below to encourage you, in poor visibility you need confidence in your navigation. A better path emerges as you get past the boulders, loose stones at first but as you lose height the stones disappear and you walk on a small path down the grassy slope. There aren't many rocks on this grassy hill so the large flat-topped boulder by the side of the path is an obvious landmark, even though there is no longer a cairn on top of it.

The boulder is where I turn left and generally follow the contours, heading back towards Eskdale. You can stay on grass all the way, there seems to be a faint path at times as you weave up and down to avoid the intermittent boulder field. There is a rock buttress that you walk above rather than pass below it; surprisingly, you will come across a small path to follow that keeps to the contours high above Eskdale. Eventually the path disappears as you reach a swampy area, now is the time to descend; the ground can be very wet in places, I just make a beeline for Sampson's Stones, diverting around the wettest ground as I need to.

When you get closer to Sampson's Stones you will see a sheepfold; there is an abvious path that goes through it and that it what you are aiming for. The path will take you to the Stones and keep you out of the wettest areas; it would eventually take you to the head of Eskdale but you need to turn left to get to Cam Spout. I always stay as high as I can above the path when it descends towards the Great Moss, walking just below the boulders I eventually meet a path that leads to the foot of the Cam Spout waterfalls. The reason I come this way is for the scramble up the steep rocks by the side of the waterfall, you can bypass some of the rock on the right hand side if you don't like handling rock, but on a good, dry day it is much more fun to go straight up the front.

It is fun, but it is steep and strenuous; shortly after I got to the top and had walked a little way further along the path, I was fascinated to meet a cyclist carrying his bike because the path was too rough to ride. I told the cyclist I wished I could stay and watch the next part of his descent; extreme mountain bike carrying would be required. The walk upwards towards Mickledore can feel tiring at this stage of the walk but I am obviously fitter than when I first did it; I took it steady but I was still keen to climb Foxes Tarn Gully when I got there.

The climb up the gully to Foxes Tarn is another enjoyable scramble; with very little water flowing down I was able to take a slighty different route, straight up the middle rather than normal tactic of keeping as close to the side wall as possible. Foxes Tarn looked just like a damp patch around the big boulder, it isn't a huge body of water in the wettest weather. The climb up the corrie wall to Scafell starts off easily enough, a good reconstructed path making its way up through the loose scree; the scree however has overwhelmed the path in places and it is difficult to keep to the path. It is worth making the effort to find the path, the alternative is a mass of slippery stones requiring twice as many steps as normal.

The path eventually levels out and takes you back to the plateau below the summit of Scafell; I didn't feel the need to visit the summit cairn again on my second ascent of the day. Just before the final clamber up to the summit there are a couple of small, ineffective shelters that are good landmarks even if they are no good at keeping the weather off you; turn right for Green How. There is an obvious path downwards, it doesn't look that steep but it is very eroded with many loose stones; I almost invariably slip onto my backside going down this path.

Eventually you reach grass, lots of it; as you descend a faint path on grass you reach a T-junction, turn left for Burnmoor Tarn and right for Barckenclose and Wasdale. After you pass the top of a gully the path seems to bend to the right; it might seem like a short-cut but it is probably a fellrunners short-cut and only leads to an awkward, eroded gully and you still have a long descent to the valley. Instead of bearing right keep going straight ahead, following the line of the path, and you should reach a small cairn and then a shallow green gully. There is a faint path by the side of the gully but even if you don't find it just head downwards towards the wall you can see below.

It is a very steep descent; I don't usually have problems with my knees but they complain about this; it is encouraging as you approach the wall, seemingly you are almost at the bottom now. At the wall you will find stiles to climb over, not the easiest of stiles to negotiate on the steep ground; you will then find you still have a disappointingly long way to descend, although the ground isn't quite as steep. At the bottom of this grassy descent there is a fence, you are better off fording the small stream close to the fence before crossing another stile. It isn't much further now and you are on level ground, walking on a good track back to the car park.

Andy Wallace 5^th May 2007

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