Mountain Journeys

The big freeze continues

We were out in the Grisedale area yesterday afternoon and found a wide variety of snow conditions.

Walking in from Dunmail Raise (the Struggle was blocked due to ice) we needed crampons on after only about 15 minutes into the walk. Anyone walking without them is going to struggle plenty!

Small sections of Raise Beck are starting to freeze, but it will be a while before it's climbable (me & Kate climbed it around 3 years ago and I can highly recommend it as a fun way to Grisedale Tarn).

Our objective was Pinnacle Ridge over on St. Sunday Crag, but already this plan was seeming optimistic as time was pressing on all too quick after our late start. We did however continue towards the ridge, traversing the steep hillside below the crags, this was very hard going.
After a breather and some food, it was decided to abort the plan and instead maybe climb a nearby gully that had caught our eye.
Upon reaching the gully it looked most enticing, sadly it was waist deep powder snow, so a non-starter.

So a relaxing walk back to Dunmail finished us off for the day.

Flexibility on route & objective is particularly important during the winter months, whilst neither of us wanted to walk away from the climb, we both agreed it was the right choice.

Conditions on Tarn crag, Falcon crag, Cock cove, Ruthwaite cove areas looked good, but again there could well be a lot of powder around and cornices are starting to build up around the corrie rims.

Photo show:
Falcon crag, Cock cove, The Tongue, and Ruthwaite cove

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