Rossett Angle Triangle 3^rd March 2007

When I parked at the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel it was dry and bright but there was heavy cloud on the hills; I could see snow on Bowfell so I took my ice axe with me. You have a long walk up the valley of Mickleden until you reach a wooden footbridge; just after you cross it there is a slate signpost, although if you don't know the difference between Esk Hause and Stake Pass you are already lost! I took the left hand path, climbing a reconstructed path in the direction of Rossett Gill; the reconstruction ends with a scramble at some rock outcrops. At the outcrops you turn right and continue on a wet, rocky scramble, unless you want to continue on a faint path for the traverse to Bowfell Buttress.

The scramble upwards, towards the huge cliff face of Rossett Pike over eroded rock, is flowing with water; eventually you reach a cairn on the bank of Rossett Gill. There is some water flowing downwards but what makes Rossett Gill famous is its steep, wide tumble of boulders. The cairn is actually on the edge of the steep drop onto a cascade of stones; off to the left you will find a reconstructed path, an old pony route that zig-zags up to the base of Rossett Pike, avoiding the gill. For a more interesting, or tortuous, route continue upwards towards the stone-filled gully; over rough grassy ground at first until you reach an entry point to Rossett Gill.

Rossett Gill is as it appears to be; millions of stones piled on top of each other, filling a wide, steep-sided gully with no escape routes. The way is steep and eroded, there are many loose stones but the larger rocks are as stable as you would want them to be; the stream flowing down the centre of the gully has picked the most obvious route. There is a fairly obvious route following clean rocks and a line of smaller stones created by walkers' boots until you reach the stream. The alternatives are to walk up the loose stones by the side of the stream or my preference which was a scramble up the steep side of the gill. I reached the point where you could carry on up to top of bank and out of the gill, where I dropped down to cross the stream and carry on walking up the steep, stony gully.

Almost at the top of gill, the junction with the pony route is marked by cairns; shortly afterwards the ground levels out and you can see the path going up to Rossett Pike. Having made the effort to get this far it is surprising that so few people make the the easy walk, mainly on grass, up to the summit of Rossett Pike. It is an acceptably rocky summit where a cairn on the slightly lower of two boulders makes it the highest point; the views from there, especially of the Langdale Pikes, make it into a better-than-average summit. I retraced my steps and carried on down to the stepping stones across the Angle Tarn outflow stream; before I started the climb to Esk Hause I put on some outer gloves because it had turned noticeably colder.

As I was making the steady climb up the good path I came across the first fragments of snow of the day; there is a flatter area with several small tarns after which you cross Allencrags Gill. There is supposed to be path to Langstrath downwards from there but I have never seen any signs of it. After crossing the gill you begin another steady climb, although the normally obvious path was filled with wet snow. Eventually I reached the familiar cross shaped shelter at the foot of Allen Crags; I turned left and walked up to Esk Hause. There are usually many people, many cairns and many paths at Esk Hause; unless you know the area well, even in good visibility, you should always check your map and compass to make sure you climb the hill you want to.

The visibility was poor as the mist rolled in and I turned left towards Esk Pike; I found the broad path which was visible across the flat grass but less obvious as I started to climb. It is an interesting climb on rough, stony terrain, made more interesting by patches of snow that hid the obvious parts of the path. There are cairns but they can be difficult to see, the cairns are the same colours as the many stones everywhere and they can be well camouflaged. There were patches of wet snow, which was not good enough for proper footholds, and I had to be careful because it can lubricate already wet rock.

The ascent of Esk Pike from Esk Hause is usually the best place for views of Ill Crag but it was hidden by cloud; as I approached the cloud base the mist became more persistent and consistent. The path goes straight up for a while, it is difficult to keep track of anyway but you can lose it completely at a slightly steeper section; where the way ahead seems too rough and steep, bear right to find the path and walk across slabs to reach a plateau. There was a bitterly cold wind, I was surprised that the snow was wet and not frozen.

From the plateau you can see the rocky summit outcrop ahead; you can see a gap in the skyline that gives you a clue where to find one of the two rocky gullies that get you to the summit. I had to stop in the gully I was climbing; sheltered from wind I had to put on some warmer gloves. At the top of the gully is a small rock tor; on one side of it a small shelter has been built but I can't say it provides much shelter. The summit of Esk Pike is marked by a cairn a little further away on top of a higher outcrop of rocks; the cairn is built from typically colourful Esk Pike stones.

There was more snow on the descent to Ore Gap; it was just as wet and I managed to slip onto my backside as I came off the summit outcrop. The deeper snow makes for awkward progress on a steeper descent; it was deep enough to hide rocks and holes and I had to take care at every step. At Ore Gap the view north was nice and sunny under the clouds, the view south was dark, intimidating cloud; it was sunny where I was for the time being.

In the direction of Bowfell there is a line of cairns on top of boulders that you should follow; as you reach a rock outcrop the lines of cairns bears right; you have the option to head up to the skyline and walk along the ridge but it wasn't the day for doing that. There is an obvious path with cairns until it disappears as you reach an outcrop of rocks; keep going in the same direction or climb a little higher onto rocks to find a more obvious path and bigger cairns. The path leads to the col between Bowfell Buttress and the rise to Bowfell summit; I followed the line of cairns and footprints in the wet snow where there were many signs of feet slipping.

The final crown of boulders at the top of Bowfell was almost snow-free; I had the normal clamber over rocks, there is no real path. You just head upwards to the summit where none of the many boulders is big enough to support a cairn worthy of the summit. There were several people at the top and it was busier than usual; there was no view as usual but the wind had dropped so it didn't feel as cold. I descended towards Great Slab, having to take care on the wet snow that again made it slippery on the rocks. Once you get past the Great Slab the descent is very eroded and steep but fortunately the wet snow was soon left behind with just the normal slippery stones to get down.

Three Tarns appeared below the mist; should I descend by The Band or carry on? My legs had felt heavy earlier on and I was wondering if I could cope with Crinkle Crags, especially if was as windy and cold as earlier. I decided to carry on, but mainly because I don't especially like The Band and it wouldn't be that much more effort anyway. Once I got across Three Tarns I started to ascend into mist; two parties of walkers asked me for directions to Three Tarns, the Crinkles will be a challenge in this visibility. The mist was thick and it seemed quite dark but the wind wasn't too bad and my legs were feeling alright; I was glad I decided to carry on.

I thought I wouldn't bother visiting the individual summit cairns; I had enough to think about and once or twice I struggled to find the path with the visibility being so poor. On one occasion, after losing the path, running out of cairns and climbing up boulders I reached somewhere I recognised; I had ended up at a summit cairn in spite of not needing to, and was able to find my way down to the path again. On another occasion it was murky and wet, the path had become not obvious and I ended up at another summit cairn; I recognised that top, there is a steep drop by the side of the cairn and I was glad to find the path again.

I was sure I knew where I was but I checked the map anyway, I needed to be prepared for the summit; it is a confusing place with danger in many directions. I couldn't mistake Mickle Door, the ground falls away steeply and I knew I was getting close to the summit. I found Crinkle Crags' unmistakable summit cairn on its tilted rock platform; I knew I had to bear right, there was no path as I walked over rough ground until I reached a shallow gully falling away to the left. I had to go to very top of the gully to check for a large cairn just to be sure of where I was; there were footprints in the snow too. That line of descent avoids the Bad Step, which I didn't want to descend for the first time in those conditions.

The shallow gully is rough and eroded with more wet snow to negotiate but I arrived safely at the col below Bad Step. It was easier going from that point up to the summit of the first Crinkle; the descent is a series of rocky scrambles and the ground falls away into a steep gully at one point, I needed to be careful on the wet snow. At the last cairn on Crinkle Crags I had some trouble finding the path; I almost took the one towards Little stand but I kept looking until I found the more obvious path that I knew should be there. I was off the ridge and onto the long path down to Red Tarn; it was 4pm and two walkers passed me going towards Crinkle Crags, it was very late to be heading that way.

It is a rough path, made wide in places because of its popularity; you have to make a couple of easy stream crossings before the final rugged descent to Red Tarn; I got below the mist at last. There is a reconstructed red path leading away from Red Tarn; the tarn must be so-named because of the colour of the local rock. You have a rocky stream-crossing before following a rugged path, high above Browney Gill until you eventually reach a reconstructed path going down to Oxendale. This is my least favourite pitched path; the stones slope downwards making it awkward to descend especially when the rock is wet. You keep slipping and falling forwards which is dangerous on the steep slope; I would have walked by the side of the path if the ground wasn't so steep, eroded, wet and slippery.

You have to cross the head of a stream cascading over bare rock; it is awkward at best and difficult when wet, and then there is another long section of badly reconstructed path, although it is viable to walk down the grass at that stage. The path takes you down to the Oxendale footbridge; once across it you follow the path to Stool End farm before making the final half-mile march on tarmac back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel.

Andy Wallace 3^rd March 2007

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