Lakes conditions update...

Currently it's minus 4 and snowing in Ambleside. The weather has been pretty good today but the sunshine has stripped a lot of the frosting from the buttresses. We're not getting the depth of snowfall that the east of the country is getting but still enough to make the driving interesting.

There's been a few teams out on the usual areas of Helvellyn and Great End. The old snow is now well consolidated and the turf is nicely frozen. The heavy snow showers should be continuing to improve conditions on some of the classic mixed routes such as Bowfell Buttress and Pisgah Buttress. The low level icefalls of The Trough and Low Water Beck should be coming into condition fairly shortly although they're not there yet!

One team paid a visit to Scafell which was reported to be in good condition. Plenty of snowed up rock and streaks of ice. The Cascades on the Shamrock have had an ascent. However only the higher & north facing buttresses were rimed due to the sunny conditions today. Snow chains were very useful for getting up Wasdale.

It looks like it's going to be a very busy weekend so probably best to take the opportunity to go and explore some new areas rather than the usual suspects!

Lake District Conditions

The Lake District has been very busy this weekend with plenty of folk out on the hills enjoying the good conditions. Generally there's more snow and better conditions in the north with the Coniston area looking very bare. Temperatures have stayed low (-4 oC in Ambleside at the moment with 2" new snow) but plenty of sun today has helped the snow to consolidate. There's a surprising amount of water ice around after a few days of cold temperatures. Helvellyn has been the main focus but a few folk have gone for more adventurous options with Scrubby Crag seeing some action and a potential new route on High Crag, Dollywagon. The highlight of the weekend was arguably the first winter ascent of Scabbard on Bowfell by Paddy Cave, Chris Sterling & Tom Greenwood to give Fragile Existence at VII+ 8. The weather is forecast to stay cold for the next few days with a few more snow showers coming from the east. Conditions for climbing should continue to improve with more water ice forming. A quick round up of what's been climbed in the last couple of days...

• Blea Water Gill, III
  

• Left Branch, II, Brown Cove Crags
• Central Gully, I, Brown Cove Crags
• Right Buttress Crack, III, Brown Cove Crags
• Two Grooves, IV, Brown Cove Crags

• Catstye Cam Gully, I/II
  

• Pinnacle Ridge, III, Gable Crag
  
• Bottlescrue, IV 5, Gable Crag
• Engineers Chimney, V 4, Gable Crag
  

• Window Gully, II/III, Great End
  
• Central Gully, II, Great End
  

• Swirral Edge, I, Helvellyn
  
• Gully 1, II, Helvellyn
  
• Gully 2, I, Helvellyn
  
• V Corner, III, Helvellyn
  
• Blade Runner, IV 4, Helvellyn
  
• Viking Buttress, IV 5, Helvellyn
  
• Striding Edge, I, Helvellyn
• Thor's Corner, IV 4, Helvellyn
  

• Nethermost Cove Gully I/II

• In to the Groove / Big Groove, V 6, Bowfell
• Bowfell Buttress, VI 6
  

• Pikes Crag Long Gully, I

As everyone keeps asking... The Trough on Carrock Fell, which is our infamous roadside icefall, is starting to form with ice visible at the back of the gully but no ascents yet that I'm aware of. With the forecast I would guess it'd be in in a couple of days.

Carrock Fell Ice

With the roads still covered in snow I took a walk up in to the Northern Fells. I had a quick solo of Troughs Gully (III) on Carrock Fell. It was a little thin but the ice was good and probably an easy grade III. The direct start wasn't fully formed. A not so quick wade to the summit gave some amazing views over to High Street and the Pennines. I had the fells to myself again today, not a soul to be seen.


The strong south westerly was still moving plenty of snow around and it was tough going on the lee slopes with drifts up to a meter deep. The snow still hasn't consolidated at all and was useless to climb on but the turf was well frozen and the ice, where thick enough, was taking first time placements. After a day of blue skies the snow was beginning to fall again as I got back down early afternoon.