The 12 Peaks Challenge

The 12 peaks challenge was successful just to let you know first of all.

I am going to write each day out in sections so you can break it down into bits. I’ll try not to go on for too long, but I had an exciting time and have lots to write about.

I first had the idea to going up the highest 10 of  ‘Walking Englishman's’ list of England's Highest Mountains. I would carry a backpack with all my food and camping equipment just like usual and wild camp on the way. Looking at the map this route looked very manageable which was part of the reason why I decided to do it. Since then I learned about the 10 highest Wainwrights these didn’t include Lower Man, Broad Crag or Ill Crag because of their small prominence, but instead included Nethermost Pike, Catstye Cam and Pillar. To do these three would involve a lot more walking just to get to them. I decided the best way to do this was to merge the two lists together which lead to a total of 13 peaks, the ten Wainwrights with the 2 crags and Lower Man as extra. I then bought a Wainwright Hill Chart from ‘Guideus’ and looking at it realized it wouldn’t be too much more work to do the 11th and 12th highest Wainwrights on the way. So to sum things up I was doing the top 12 Wainwrights and what many people would class as the top 15 peaks in the Lake District, which if it wasn’t for Cross Fell in the North Pennines would be the 15 highest in the country. This manageable trip now looked like a tough challenge and I was beginning to wonder whether I would manage it at all.

Day 1

Bowfell Summit

I was dropped off in Langdale at 10:20 and after saying goodbye to Dad I set off up the Band to get to Bowfell, the 6th highest fell of my challenge and the 6th highest in the country. When I got to the three tarns area where Crinkle Crags and the Band both stop to give way to the magnificent Bowfell I couldn’t help notice a camera crew of 2 men with a man possibly in his 60’s being filmed going up. One thing I heard him say to the camera was “You can see why they’re called ‘Three Tarns’.” This was all said while filming me walking up. When I got to where the man was standing he said “Good Heavens! That’s a heavy load, I suppose you have to be young.” I couldn’t help but ask him “Will I be on the telly walking up there then?” and he replied “Probably, it depends if you choose the right channel.” This guy struck me as the kind of person I should recognize off other TV programs but I didn’t, so I just spoke to him like anyone else on the fells. When I walked up a bit further I saw two ‘fix the fells’ people and I recognized one of them off Julia Bradbury’s Scafell Pike episode. I felt particularly odd at this point I had set off for a week of walking through the Lake District on my own. Now I know just as well as anyone else how busy the Lakes can get at this time of year, but I hadn’t been walking 2 hours yet and I was feeling star struck with the hope of a television appearance. 

Great End - South-east Gully

Scafell Pike Summit

After summiting Bowfell I then went on to Esk Pike, no.11 of the Wainwrights. My knee was a bit achey at this point but nothing to worry about. I had started using the technique of taking a picture of my brand new NB baseball cap on the summit cairn to show I had been there when I got back. I did this on every summit throughout the week and it feels like a good bit of evidence to back up my success, not that I am likely to need it. I then went down into Esk Hause and up Great End I had read in the Wainwright guide at home about an ascent up one of the gullies and made a mental note to check them out next time I was on the summit. I looked at one and thought it could be doable but would probably choose to do it with out the weight I was carrying and possibly with a friend, (it is very difficult to find a committed outdoors partner though). After Great End I went on to Ill Crag. I was the only one on it which I find a bit of a shame considering it has amazing views of the River Esk running down into the valley where Cam Spout is. However it is always nice to know that there are places to go for those of us who love that feeling of peace and wilderness. I then went across to Broad Crag where again there was nobody around. Out of the two crags I prefer Ill Crag but would Broad Crag would probably offer good shelter from the wind if you wanted to have lunch there. It was then up to Scafell Pike the highest in the country. This was my 4th time on this fell and I was pleased to see Blackpool Tower and the Isle of Man to back up the rumors.

I had the remainders of my lunch on Scafell Pike before heading up to Sca Fell; England’s 2nd highest mountain. 

Sca Fell Summit

Great Gable - On a Great Day

I was at the base of Gable just after 7 o’clock and headed up at a reasonable pace for this time of day to be on the summit just before 8 o’clock. On it were two very friendly fell runners admiring the view. One took a photo for me before they descended. I rang Mum and Dad before heading down myself and setting up camp on the col between Great Gable and Kirk Fell.

Day 2

Great Gable and last nights camping spot
from the path up to Kirk Fell

Pillar Summit

I woke up at 7:50 and had overslept. I unpitched and made breakfast with the intention to set off as quick as I could in order to get a good start to the day. After doing Great Gable last night instead I wasn’t as concerned about whether I’d manage to complete the days route. Today was more about getting over to the Helvellyn range, but I would have to do Pillar as part of my 12 peaks and on the way didn’t see any harm in doing Kirk fell and Haystacks as well. It wasn’t long before I was on the summit of Kirk Fell, as I was camped on the col already some height up it. After taking a photo or two I headed down off the fell and up towards Pillar. The first half of today’s route was very much like my first solo backpacking trip in Easter. I didn’t plan this deliberately it just turned out that way. The only difference was I did the traverse along Pillar instead of going to the summit. I was on Pillar at a decent time so rang home. I couldn’t get a signal it appeared but apparently Dad could hear me although I couldn’t hear Dad. I planned to scramble down onto the traverse and then descend off that through the forest but I couldn’t find the right way down so just went back off Pillar the way I came and on to Black Sail Pass. Quite often on these trips I do, where I’m carrying a heavy pack in hot weather I feel dehydrated. I have improved this by getting a filter bottle which means I don’t have to boil my water. However it still takes a while to get the water out of the filter so I often only drink when I feel particularly thirsty. Coming along Black Sail Pass it wasn’t long before I came upon the Youth Hostel. There were plenty of people sat outside it and I asked one of them if there was any drinking water inside. He said that there was and the facilities were open to non-residents as well so I could even make a brew if I left a donation. I went inside and filled up my bottle to the brim and drank it on the spot, then I filled it up again and drunk it just as quickly, before filling it up again to take with me up to Haystacks. I couldn’t help notice the cosy feeling this old shepherd's bothy had. The small dining room was full of old chairs and the Kitchen had many great facilities, yet it still has it’s old feel. I think that I might stay there sometime in the winter so I don’t have to buy a warmer sleeping bag in order to camp. 

Black Sail Hut

I then headed up towards Haystacks, Wainwright’s final resting place. It really is very unique. Although its very safe, you have to make use of the handholds in order to get to the top. Then there is a whole fell full of life to look at. It looks the perfect place to camp and one day I’ll camp there but seeing as it didn’t fit in with my route I stopped by Blackbeck tarn to have lunch (dehydrated Beef Stroganoff), heading down to Honister Hause Slate Mine where I had an ice cream and bought a chocolate rice crispy cake. The place itself looked quite remarkable. It has a Via Ferrata course there and guided slate mine tours. It looks like the kind of place you can spend the day quite easily. I then joined onto the Allerdale Ramble for a short length of time before heading into Rosthwaite where I rewarded my body with water and cola before heading up to Watendlath and finally to Blea Tarn where I would camp for the night. Blea Tarn is a fantastic tarn. It is probably one of the biggest in the Lake District although not as visited as Sprinkling Tarn or Styhead due to its remote location. When I arrived there were a group of girls there who had set up camp. They looked like they were on a D of E trip or something. When they saw me arrive they looked concerned. I waved but no one waved back. “Are You alright?” One of them shouted “Yes.” I replied.

Blea Tarn

“Are you on your own?” another asked “Yes,” I said “Why?” What did they mean by that? Why wouldn’t I be on my own! I hesitated for a moment before replying, “I just.....do. Seeya!” I then went off to the other end of the tarn and after putting up with the midges while having tea, I went to sleep.

Day 3

I got up at 07:30 and packed up. I didn’t have breakfast because I couldn’t put up with all the bites I was getting. I set off for Thirlmere stopping to clean my teeth and zip off into my shorts which I deliberately didn’t do until I was far from the midges. I walked along the shore of Thirlmere reservoir before crossing the busy road and heading up to Nethermost Pike. I hadn’t had much to drink and a lot of the streams marked on the map had dried up.

Helvellyn - Red Tarn

Raise Summit

When I got to Nethermost Pike I was unsure of the summit. I had a quick stroll onto High Crag before finding out that it wasn’t the right one and then went back onto Nethermost Pike to do the whole cap on the cairn thing. The views of Striding Edge from it’s southern side were quite magnificent. I then went over onto Helvellyn, where taking my cap off the cairn nearly knocked the whole thing over. I then went down by Red Tarn to fill myself up with water before heading up to Catstye Cam and ringing Mum and Dad for a quick conversation. I then went onto Lower Man, the last of those fells which aren’t always classed as fells. My final peak of the day was Raise the smallest out of the peaks in the challenge. The Summit itself was very nice and had a beautiful cairn. I descended down towards Shoulthwaite. My bad knee was really starting to cause me grief. It was aching on almost every step and I was overtaken by a couple with trekking poles. I was concerned at this point as I had done all of the peaks in my challenge apart from one, Skiddaw. This was no time to give up! I stopped and seeing as I was on my own I had a good, stern word with my knee basically saying I was going to go up Skiddaw even if I needed to replace it when I came back down, so making descents painful wasn’t going to put me off any. When I got to Shoulthwaite I realized that when planning the route I hadn’t really thought about following paths and had relied on my navigational skills to get me across random fields up to the Castlerigg Fell area. This was easier said than done as it involved certain bits of fence hopping and I was carrying 15kg. Also I lost where I was for a while after switching maps, but when I found out where I was I hand railed along a stream and a few fences and ended up camping not far from Walla Crag. After pitching my tent and having my tea, I put my fleece on and walked over to Walla Crag where I sat watching the sun set over Keswick and Skiddaw with a strong signal to have a nice long conversation with my parents. My knee was feeling better and I was confident I would make it up Skiddaw the next day.

Camping on the Final Night

Day 4

Keswick in the morning

I woke up at 7 o’clock. For the first time on this whole trip the clouds were showing signs that rain was inevitably coming. I headed down into Keswick where I bought breakfast at Greggs, expecting to have a nice change from the rubbish I’d been eating over the past 3 days. It wasn’t much better, but it gave me a lot of good energy that helped lift my spirits, and at least the hot chocolate was nice. I then bought some water and headed out of Keswick and up to the car park at Latrigg. I could feel the joy of completing the challenge already and after a final lot of hard work I reached the summit of Skiddaw and rang home in celebration. There was a couple on the summit and one took a photo of me.

Skiddaw summit - A Success!!!

My challenge was now a success and I felt the trip had given me plenty of great moments with very few bad ones. I felt I could finally say I had done something to make note of. I descended into Keswick in about 1 hour and was happy to see my Dad who looked just as happy with a slight concern to how wet and tired I looked, so he took me straight into a pub and watched me wolf down a Steak and Ale pie with Chips, while I spoke to him about the last few days. We then looked around Keswick for a bit and I bought a very interesting book from Oxfam. It seems to be a first edition of John Hunt’s ‘The Ascent of Everest’. This was written in a month and published in 1953 the same year as the ascent. John Hunt was the expedition leader. I haven’t really started reading it yet but it looks really interesting with photos of the trip and a first hand account of all the dedication and organization involved in it.

If by any chance you enjoyed reading this entry then please look out for my next one about the Picos de Europa. It is a family holiday so I will make sure I spend most of it with Mum and Dad doing things together but I should hopefully get the opportunity to get out of our cottage and head up some of the fantastic mountains in the area some of which are over 2500 metres, though I won’t be doing too many of them!

Thanks for Reading

Ethan 

The 12 Highest Peaks in the Lake District - a bit of boring info before hand for the dedicated fell walker

I am all packed for my big challenge and will set off tomorrow (Monday 25th). I will be doing a 4/5 day walk where I will be going up the 12 highest peaks in the Lake District. I was originally going to do the 10 highest but considering Raise and Esk Pike are on the way to others I thought I might as well do them too. There is a bit of uncertainty as to what the 12 highest are. Ill Crag and Broad Crag of the Scafell range and Lower Man of Helvellyn are to some considered the 4th, 5th and 7th highest mountains in the country and the lakes but to a lot (including Alfred Wainwright) they aren't.
This is because they don't have a high enough prominence to be considered an extra peak. I can't make my mind up about this one. Quite frankly this whole prominence thing confuses me to much to make an opinion on the subject myself, all I can say is when going up to Scafell Pike; Ill Crag and Broad Crag are well worth a visit. As for Lower Man I have never been on that. I will be doing these 3 peaks as well just to avoid having to explain to anyone why I didn't go up them (when I wouldn't really know why myself). This way no-one will be able to argue that I haven't gone up at least the 12 highest mountains in the Lake District if not the 15 highest. My only concern is Ill Crag and Broad Crag go off the path a bit so I am hoping I won't have too much trouble finding them if they're in fog.
Check back next weekend to find out how I got on.

I have listed the mountains that I will be doing in height order:

Scafell Pike (wainwright)
Scafell (wainwright)
Helvellyn (wainwright)
Ill Crag
Broad Crag
Skiddaw (wainwright)
Lower Man
Great End (wainwright)
Bowfell (wainwright)
Great Gable (wainwright)
Pillar (wainwright)
Nethermost Pike (wainwright)
Catstye Cam (wainwright)
Esk Pike (wainwright)
Raise (wainwright)

The Calf & Cautley Spout

Yesterday (Friday 22nd) was my last day of school. While I was at school I thought that it would be good to make the most of spare time I had. When I got home I started thinking about doing a walk. My first thought was High Cup Nick in the Pennines, but I've been up there quite a few times recently so decided to go somewhere new. The Howgills are a big gathering of fells sitting between the Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District. There are many appealing things about the Howgills. For me it is the peaceful nature of them often complimented by the lack of visitors.

I set of from Teasdale at 3:40pm. The first part of the walk I had done twice before, over Hooksey to Randy Gill Top. My Mum had printed off a load of different routes to do in the Howgills from the internet and a few months ago I managed to persuade her to do that one with me. She was very glad she came in the end and for the past 3 months has been saying she'll go on another walk with me sometime.

When I got to Randy Gill Top I headed down west to the river that had a path alongside it leading up to the Calf, the highest of the Howgills. In the distance I could see the silhouette of another evening rambler making his way up to the summit.  I got to the Calf at 5:40 and couldn't resist the childish temptation to stand on the Trig Point. I could look one direction and see the mighty bulk of the the Lake District Mountains and then the other way to see what looked like Pennygent in the Yorkshire Dales. The motorway that I had admired the Howgills from when I was little, I was now looking at from the Howgills some years later. I had a certain feeling of magic when I thought back to just a few hours ago, being stuck in school with the frustration of the classroom, the teachers and the kids. Now I was up here with a free, clear head looking down at civilisation with little to envy.  There was no place I could have picked better to celebrate the end of a school year and the begging of the fantastic summer holiday which lies ahead of me. I descended along Cautley Spout England's largest waterfall, it was fantastic to finally meet it! When getting to the bottom I realised the time and ran the last kilometre, when I got back home we all went out for a meal to celebrate Mum's birthday.

Castlerigg to Seathwaite with Fergus

This will be my first blog entry. I have started up this blog now as I will hopefully be doing a lot of fell walking in the summer holidays and will be going with my Mum and Dad to the Picos De Europa in spain where I intend to spend a lot of time climbing mountains while there sightseeing in the valleys and towns.

Each time I have wild camped I have done it alone but it makes sense that I should start with this post,  as  this time I went with Fergus, who is a close friend of mine. When I think about it he took me up my first fell 'Dufton Pike' and since then I have got even more in to fell walking then he is.  Fergus has lived most of his life in Dufton, a beautiful Village in Cumbria right next to the pennines. Although he has now moved to the nearest town, Appleby,  he has still managed to carry on exploring the pennines and I envy his competence to find his way around the area, usually only using his local knowledge. Many times I have joined him and we have both had a lot of good times together, that we often reflect on in a jokey manner.

We started off at Castlerigg just outside of Keswick at about 11am. This was Fergus' first wild camp in the Lake District, and our first fell of the day, Bleaberry fell, was a good sample of the hard work involved in carrying an expedition backpack over this kind of terrain. We were at High Raise in good time and we both stopped for a bit of lunch. I realised I had been a bit grumpy with Ferg for innocently speaking non stop, while I was trying to find our way on the map. I apologised to him for being so grumpy and we then cheerfully moaned together about other kids in our school, one involving a girl who packed a hair straightener on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition!

We then squelched our way through peat bog, talking about the tactics Bear Grylls uses for getting out of it if you get stuck. After handrailing along a fence we arrived at Watendlath tarn (pictured on the right). We both looked at the fishermen out on a boat in the middle of the tarn with a slight envious feeling, but our tales of previous attempts at fishing soon reminded us we were better off walking. We had a break at Dock tarn before joining up with the Cumbrian Way. We followed the trail along Stonethwaite becoming a little tired of the repetitive scenery this late on in the day. By the time we came to the cross roads that led to Angle Tarn we were both beginning to lack energy. We had done 15 km of walking over tiring ground and decided it was time to ring our parents to let them know we were ok. Another 2.3 km later we arrived at Angle Tarn to find a group of young children throwing a frisbee around shouting and laughing. We had planned to camp here. We both agreed there was a certain loneliness about the place, a grey cloud blocked the sunlight and the dark cliffs seemed to frown at us. I had managed to call home but Fergus hadn't got through yet and was looking a little low. I had spent a lot of the day speaking about the tarns in the Lake District, Sprinkling tarn would often get a mention. It is quite probably one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen. Lacking calories and quite dehydrated we decided to walk a further 1.6 km to the tarn. When we got there it is was worth it. I knew the area quite well now and I felt quite at home here. As we walked past Esk Pike I felt safe to see Great Gable smiling at me like a good friend. As I admired the gullies on Great End we looked for a suitable place to pitch the tent. After dealing with a slight spillage Ferg had with the hot chocolate powder we both had a filling meal before going to sleep.

The next day (this morning) we awoke at 7:25am. We had a bowl of Readybrek each before setting off to Esk Hause. I felt confident enough to navigate around the area without a map in my hands. I gave the map to Fergus for the start of the day, so he could practice his map reading skills in this complex place.

Fergus' feet were sore after a long day's walk from the previous day in his outgrown walking boots. I knew the Scafell Range wasn't going to show his feet any mercy, but didn't want to put him off so said very little. I persuaded Fergus to go up Great End. As we reached the summit of Great End the clouds constantly threatening to pounce on us decided to sweep in a little more, covering Scafell Pike but just revealing the tip of Ill Crag. I took the map from here. As it was Fergus' first time up England's highest peak, I decided I would rabbit on about Ill Crag and Broad Crag and whether they should be classed as mountains in their own right. I suppose I was hoping to persuade him to come up them both with me, but instead I yet again overloaded him with trivial information about fells he'd never even heard of until this weekend. Using the tactic of walking ahead of him by 6 metres I managed to lure him up Ill Crag and he thanked me for it at the top when he could see the river Esk running through the valley at the bottom (pictured above). This was the first time today we both felt the sheer might of this mammoth of a fell. Next we made a quick trip up to Broad Crag before going up the path to Scafell Pike. We arrived on the top of Scafell Pike at 11:50 am. Fergus' feet were slowing him down a bit and we both had a rest. I rang Dad to ask him to try and get to Seathwaite for 2pm. The summit was a lot less busy than the last time I was on it, but there were still a good few people around. I heard one guy say 'Thats 2 of 3 done'. He was obviously doing the three peaks challenge. A challenge to climb Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike all in  24 hours. I can't make my mind up about this challenge. I would rather walk from one mountain to the next than drive. I reckon quite a few speed limits are broken thanks to this challenge.

On the way back down we stopped to cook lunch. Noodles with a chicken sauce. I only had a plastic pan handle to hold the pot which caused a bit of a problem really. As Fergus was about to empty the water from the rest of the noodles I told him not to empty it into the stream. He then turned around to pour it out somewhere else until I realised that's where we were sitting. I said quickly "No not there!"
While all this bickering was going on between us, my flimsy pan handle was slowly giving way and by the time Fergus had gone to what I accepted as a good place to pour it, the pot dropped right off it causing most of the noodles to fall on the ground. I was fed up now after the hot chocolate spillage last night and had a go at Fergus when I shouldn't have. Feeling quite guilty about the whole thing I told Fergus to eat the left over noodles while I attempted to cook some semolina. The only problem was that it took 20 minutes to try and cook it and all I ended up with was a bowl of water with a taste of yeast and sugar in it. I decided to pour it out and get moving. I soon realised the time. If my Dad did arrive at Seathwaite for 2 pm he would already be waiting and I thought we would have another hour to walk first. We couldn't get a signal to ring him. I decided the best thing to do was walk fast which Fergus' feet must have thoroughly disagreed with. Walking down the corridor route with anxiety and aggression over what had just happened, I was soon going at a very fast speed and reflecting on it I must have looked a bit crazy to passing walkers. If you have ever been around the Scafell area you must know how painful some of the descents can be on your toes so for Fergus with tight boots it must have been even worse. He was struggling to keep up on the stone paths so resorted to walking on the grass which seemed to help him out a lot. I pointed at Kirk Fell behind Great Gable. It became quite apparent by now that Fergus was utterly sick of me pointing out fells to him so I soon decided it was best to just walk. By the time we arrived at  Seathwaite, my Dad had been waiting an hour and three quarters for us to arrive and was beginning to get quite worried. He was relieved to see us but at the same time frustrated. After getting a portion of chips in Keswick and can of Fanta for Fergus our spirits were much better again. All in all we had a great weekend and got on really well. And I was pleased to have shown Fergus why I loved the Lake District so much.

Thanks for Reading
Ethan