July - Ill Bell

Summit Height:
2484ft / 757m

What?
Ill Bell
(plus 10 other Wainwrights)

When?
17th July

Where?
Lake District

Why?
As I mentioned in my original introduction to this Blog, I hoped that this mountain-a-month challenge would increase the amount of time I spent in the hills this year by creating a focus.  The project has been incredibly successful in doing this, and as well as the 7 summits listed here I have reached a further 16 summits so far this year.  Come December, however, this particular challenge will be over, and I have decided I want another challenge that will continue into 2011 and beyond.  Given that one of my favourite areas for walking is the Lake District, and that I received the complete set of Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides as a gift recently, my new challenge is to reach the summit of all 214 Wainwrights.  I will be writing a Blog of my Wainright progress here;

 http://mrpinswainwrights.blogspot.com/

This month I spent a weekend in the Lakes and it became my first specific ‘Wainwright Bagging Trip'.  I managed to collect 11 summits over two days, and naturally I had to choose one of them as my mountain-a-month.

How?

Rainbow near St Sunday Crag

I caught an early train to  walking route took me from Windermere to Patterdale (where I spent the night) over a collection of Wainwrights; Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag, High Street, The Knott and Angletran Pikes.  On the Sunday, in terrible windy wet walking conditions, I walked back to Ambleside via St. Sunday Crag, Fairfield, Hart Crag and Dove Crag. 

I have chosen Ill Bell, despite it not being the tallest of the weekend, as I felt that it was the most satisfying climb, and it had some of the most stunning views.  My highlight of the whole trip was in fact Angletarn Pikes, but these were under my arbitrarily chosen height for what defines a mountain in this challenge.

View from Angletarn Pikes

The tallest mountain of the weekend, Fairfield, I climbed in terrible conditions with no views, and the second tallest, High Street, I found had relatively less to offer than many of the other summits.  So, Ill Bell it was, although it was a tough call as all 11 were wonderful mountains in their own right!

June - Whernside

Whernside Summit

Summit Height:
2415ft / 736m

What?
Whernside (& Ingleborough)

When?
3rd June

Where?
Yorkshire Dales

Who?
Only me, although my 90 year old grandma would have joined me, given half a chance!

Why?
In February this year my Grandma turned 90, and we had a big celebration in Jersey. Instead of gifts, she decided she wanted money to go towards a trip to Yorkshire, where she was born and lived until her late 20s, specifically to re-visit some of the important places from her life there. Shortly after her birthday she became very ill, and it looked likely that the trip might not happen. Being 'born and bred' in Yorkshire, however, she is made of pretty tough stuff, and so she made an incredible recovery and the trip went ahead! I was lucky enough to be able to join her, along with my mum, uncle and auntie, on a trip down her memory lane. We visited her old houses, her primary school, the pub where she met my grandad, the town hall where they had their first dance, the church they got married in and many other places! Given that my Grandma was also a very keen walker, I thought it was fitting to mark the occasion by heading up Yorkshire's highest (and second highest) mountains, Whernside and Ingleborough.

How?
I got off to an early start as I wanted to climb both Whernside and Ingleborough (723m) to complete two thirds of the Yorkshire three peaks! It was an incredibly sunny day, probably the hottest so far this year, but clear sky and great visibility made it the perfect day to be out on the hills. It took me a total of 6 hours to do a circular route involving both mountains.

I've done enough waffling above and below, so rather than describe the walk I'll let the pictures do the talking this time!

Ingleborough, seen through Ribblehead Viaduct on the way towards Whernside











The summit of Ingleborough, with Whernside in the background

Ps...

On 30th May I climbed up Scafell Pike with Lettie, which I wasn't able to count towards my 'Mountain a Month' because Pen y Fan had already taken the May slot. I've climbed up more than one mountain in some of the other months too, but being the highest mountain in England, I wanted to give it a specific mention. In the Scafell Pike chapter of Wainwrights guides he says;

"The difference between a hill and a mountain depends on appearance and not altitude (whatever learned authorities may say to the contrary) and is thus arbitrary and a matter of personal opinion"

Out of Whernside and Ingleborough I would say that, despite being 13 meters lower, Ingleborough looks a little more mountain-like, has a more impressive summit and was tougher to climb. I decided Whernside should be my mountain in the end because of its 'highest in Yorkshire' status, but which is actually more of mountain, as Wainwright said, a matter of personal opinion!Ingleborough - More of a mountain then Whernside?

May - Pen y Fan

Summit Height:
2907ft / 886m

What?
Pen y Fan

When?
1st May

Where?
Brecon Beacons, about an hours drive from Cardiff.

Who?
George & Lettie

Why?
On my very first post on this blog I mentioned that some of the mountains would be dictated by circumstance rather than organising a specific mountain trip, and that is very much the case this month; I had planned a mini tour for the Bank Holiday weekend (Cardiff & Bristol), and thought I'd fit a sneeky mountain in on one of the days! Pen y Fan was the obvious choice being accessible from Cardiff and the highest mountain in the Brecons.

How?
Plenty of people had suggested I avoided climbing Pen y Fan from the Storey Arms since the route was often busy and only offered a couple of hours walking, rather than the full day I was after! We chose instead to start from Taf Fechan forest and complete a horseshoe walk that would take us over three summits; Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn.

The walk out of the forest was pleasent and easy, but the climb up to Graig Fan Ddu was the first real test of the day. It was tough but instantly rewarding. Graig Fan Ddu is a ridge that over looks the three summits and the valley below, and it was fantastic to be up high early so we could spend a large part of the walk at a decent altitude, and the views that come with it.

We enjoyed lunch looking over the Brecons on the summit of Corn Du, then quickly carried on to Corn Du's biggger neighbour Pen y Fan, our highest point of the day. A quick 'summit photo' and we were heading down towards the foot of Cribyn. The highlight of the day for me was Cribyn; the view of this wonderful looking mountain on the way down from Pen y Fan was spectacular, and I never expected to see such a beautiful mountain so far south. The other reason why Cribyn was a highlight was that it offered the greatest view of Pen y Fan we'd had. All day we'd been seeing Pen y Fan as a 'big hill'. Looking back from Cribyn the rolling grassy features give way to the impressive North Face, which looks very much more 'mountain-like'. As we reached the foot of Cribyn the rather pleasent walking weather we'd had all day disappeared and the heavens opened. We walked for the last hour back to the car in heavy heavy rain. We were able to warm up back in Cardiff that evening with a few Ales (as is the ending to so many of my mountain days out!)

April - Twympa (Lord Hereford's Knob)

Not the greatest summit picture, I know!

High winds, a summit empty of people and a lack of tripod are responsible for that!

Summit Height:
2231ft / 689m

What?
Twympa, aka Lord Hereford's Knob

When?
6th April

Where?
Brecon Beacons, South-East Wales. Starting from Hay-on-Wye

Who?
Just me!

Why?
The challenge this time was to leave and return to Birmingham within a day just using just public transport. Hay-on-Wye to Twympa and back was do-able in this time frame.

How?
I took the first train to Hereford early in the morning, and then a Bus to Hay-on-wye. 2.5 hours on public transport gave me lots of time to read (which is probably the third favourite hobby, Climbing and Mountain Walking being 1st & 2nd!). I think my favourite thing about taking trains and buses is that it gives you time to just sit and read! Reading, is of course, very much on my mind during this trip given that my starting point; Hay-on-wye, is the "town of books".
The walk from Hay-on-Wye to the foot of Hay Bluff (a mountain 'just next to' Twympa) was much more challenging, but equally much more beautiful than I had expected! The sun came out and I found myself walking for the first time this year in just a t-shirt.

After an hours walk through farm and woodland I arrived at a large opening and then I was presented with a surprisingly large looking pair of mountains! Still feeling fresh, I headed straight for the summit, and although not very steep, the trek up to the top was picturesque and enjoyable. On arrival I was totally on my own at the summit! The winds were really high, so I dropped down to find shelter and enjoyed lunch with an incredible view over Wales. I then returned to the summit cairn to try and get the all important photo. I set the timer, ran over to the cairn, and then 'click'; I got a lovely photo of some grass. The high winds had knocked my camera over. I tried again; 'click'; this time sky. Frustrated and wind swept, after another few failed attempts, I eventually had a to settle for a rather uninspiring summit shot (you can see at the top), which is a shame as it does not do the mountain justice!

The decent walk was even more beautiful than the ascent, and once out of the wind I was back to wearing a t-shirt in the sun and feeling the first hint of 'Spring'! Back in Hay-on-Wye I had a little time to kill before catching the bus back, and so naturally I went book shopping! The Hay-on-Wye book shops are just wonderful, as is the local Ale!

I did of course buy a book, and I chose, fittingly, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway. Why fittingly? Well, I'm planning to enjoy the Snows of Kilimanjaro myself in August, as this will (hopefully) be my August Summit!

March - Red Screes

Summit Height:
2546ft / 776m

What?
Red Screes

When?
27th March

Where?
Lake District - Ambleside

Who?
Just Me!

Well, I started off with Laura, Mel & Nick but... long story... (explained below!)

Why?
On way back from Buttermere last month I bought a Wainwright wall chart, so I wanted to head back to the lakes to tick off a few more Wainwrights!

How?
My March mountain was a lesson in being flexible with mountain plans! We set off in the morning to complete the Fairfield horseshoe which includes a total of 7 summits. After a 2 hour walk, and with the hardest part out the way, we reached the first summit of the day; Low Pike. At this point, one of our party (who had been feeling poorly all day) turned an interesting shade of green, and we all decided the best plan was to walk back to Ambleside. At just 508m, Low Pike fell a little short of my arbitary minimum height for my 'mountain a month', and so I needed to find a mountain I could do on my own, from ambleside, in just a couple of hours (as by this point it was already noon).

I picked Red Screes, and set off straight away, climbing up from Ambleside heading North, then down the steep decent to the East (where I was met by the others!). Considering it wasn't the mountain I planned to climb, it turned out to be a very beautiful addition to 'mountain a month'. The view from the summit is stunning, and quite unexpected too!

The next day was national tree climbing day, so we went on a circular walk (which included Loughrigg Fell) and made sure we celebrated by climbing a couple of trees along the way. All in all a great weekend in the Lakes! I will have to do Fairfield some other time!

February - Haystacks

Summit Height:
1958ft / 597m

What?
Haystacks

When?
17th February

Where?
Lake District - Buttermere

Who?
Annika, Manuela & Laura (& Tam for part of the way)

Why?
My ‘mountain a month’ challenge would not be complete without at least one Wainwright, and so I decided that I would go straight for his favourite mountain; Haystacks.

How?
We stayed at Buttermere YHA and some fellow walkers at the hostel, who had been visiting the area for 10 years, assured us that in the last decade they had never seen such good walking conditions, so we knew we were in for a treat!

We started our walk from the hostel, and the route took us along the lakeside path of Buttermere lake, to the foot of Haystacks. We ascended via Scarth Gap, which included a muddy detour due to recent flood damage on the path (just before the detour we said 'cheerio' to Tam).

As we reached about 300m we hit fairly thick snow, which against the back drop of blue sky, sun shine and Butteremere lake made for an incredibly beautiful day of walking; the most picturesque days walking I can remember!

We stopped for lunch on an outcrop which looked over the lake and back towards the other Buttermere peaks. With all of the peaks covered in snow, the view looked more like the Alps than the English lakes!

It was tricky to follow the path to the top, due to snow covering, and the last 100 meters or so require a bit of a scramble. The summit could not have been more different from that of January's summit; Bleaklow. Clear views, frozen tarns and bright sun shine will make this summit a very difficult one to beat when it comes to out right beauty!

A bad choice of decent route created a bit of a challenge in the snow on the way down, but a couple of hairy moments later and we were back on dry path!

My favourite photo of the day came towards the end of the hike as we started walking back towards the hostel along Buttermere Lake; I stopped and looked behind me and saw the summit I had just climbed reflected in the lake itself. The perfect end to a perfect days walking!
PS. The next day I woke up before sun rise and climbed to a slightly higher summit; Whiteless Peak (2165ft/660m). The others did not join me on this one , and so I had the whole mountain to myself. Although Whiteless was higher than Haystacks, I haven’t chosen it as my February summit because I feel that Haystacks was the more significant and picturesque of the two I climbed in February. Wainwright, it turns out, knew what he was talking about!

January - Bleaklow

Summit Height:
2077ft / 633m

What?
Bleaklow

When?
23rd January

Where?
Peak District

Who?
Laura, Mel, Nick & Shona

How? No continuous path exists to the summit, and routes were covered in deep snow, so relied mostly on GPS.

Winter conditions were always going to play a part in my choice of summit for January, and since crampons and an ice axe are not things I have lying around, I needed to choose a relatively low and close to home mountain.

Bleaklow is the 2nd highest mountain in the peak district, and the 'bleak' in it's name is perfectly fitting. Bleaklow is not a traditional 'pointy' mountain, and the summit can apparently be quite hard to find on a clear day. Even with the help of GPS, provided by Mel and Nick, we almost didn't find it due to the thick fog.

It ended up being a little tougher than expected, with snow at times literally up to our waists, but despite the navigational difficulties and lack of view it was a really great experience.

The summit itself wasn't much to write home about (a stick in some rocks, amongst some fog), but the highlight of the day was finding (again, thanks to trusty GPS) the site of the crashed Boeing RB-29A Superfortress which crashed in 1948. A shiver went through my spine as it emerged out of the fog, and the weather conditions added an eerie atmosphere to an interesting and sombre moment.



The round trip took us a good 6 hours, and ended with a traditional ale and pub dinner before driving home.