BB1804 : Faltering on Fairfield

Wednesday 7th February 2018

Sun in the sky, snow on the hills; it promised to be a good day for a big BOOTboys outing.

Initial thoughts were for Coniston Old Man but fearful of the likelihood of ice on the roads we opted for Fairfield instead.  That isn’t quite right.  Bryan offered Terry and me the option of climbing from Grasmere to Grisdale Tarn then carrying on up either Seat Sandal or Fairfield.  However, I have an aversion to Seat Sandal- to me its effort / reward ratio isn’t right.....

..... so I was minded to opt for Fairfield.

We started lively enough as we climbed Little Tongue.  

When we hit the snowline it was clear that no-one had been up before us today as yesterday’s snow lay unmarked other than by foxes.  You could see how their tails had swished the ground

We had an “interesting” detour around Hause Riggs before reaching the final climb to Grisedale Hause with its view across the tarn to Dollywagon.

It had been hard work making our way through quite deep snow.  Terry and I were both wondering if we had the energy to make it up to Fairfield.

Terry proved to be up to the task.  Maybe it’s the fact that he climbs the Empire State Building every time he goes on the gym’s stepper.  I was finding it much harder going.  Maybe it was the fact that I had enough gear in my rucksack to equip a mini army.  More likely, I’m just not match fit.  Anyway I was faltering. Bryan kindly nursed me to the top.  Without his encouragement I am sure I would have done an about turn and taken an early bath.

St Sunday

Helvellyn

By this time the day was starting to go off.  Cloud was forming and there were some strange light effects.  At least I thought they were strange but when I took my glasses off they didn’t look quite so dramatic but still unusual. Here is what they really looked like; to the east.....

.....and to the south.

Apart from a brief attack of cramp I was going much better after lunch.  We progressed along to Great Rigg where we joined two men and their dogs enjoying the stunning view of the Coniston fells.

Finally it was down to Stone Arthur and back to the car. Later, relaxing at the Brewery in Staveley, I reflected that it was November since we last did an outing of similar statistics (and that was with less snow).  The ten week layoff has done me no good.  Must get back into proper action again next week!

Don, Wednesday 7th February 2018

Thanks to Bryan for seeveral of the Photos

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Comitibus : Terry, Bryan, Don

Loos with Views

Spotted by Mike in Bowness:

School Knott, Brant Fell, Gummer's Howe, Orrest Head & Wansfell Pike but not as Wainwright knew them!

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