I have been going up Kirkstone Pass and Red Scree's for years now. I learnt to ski up there when we had the shop, as its first incarnation, The Fellsman, when we put a rope tow up most Sunday's when there was snow. We used to charge 50p per day for use of the tow, to cover the fuel costs and our chicken and chips in a basket (a real one, not this plastic rubbish you get now-a-days) in the Kirkstone Pass Inn, when we were too cold and wet and neaded some solice. I remember one year we made an igloo on the side of St Ravens Edge.

Now, as I have been back in the Lakes for 10 years, I have been up and down Red Scree's many time. It is such easy access and if the gritter is able to keep the road open, then you up high before you even step out of yor car.

Kirkstone Pass and Red Scree's is used by all. You find sledgers, skiers and boarders, runner, walkers, climbers and a mulirtude of people just wanting a quick drink in the highest pub in England and to enjoy the feel of winter.

Yesterday I had 3 occurances with Red Scree's. After a little too much to drink on Saturday night, after a Christmas drinks party, I awoke to the obligitory dry mouth, badger shit 9or at least iot tastes like it, and slight skullrock (headache to the uninitiated) associated wiht too much alcohol. Still, there is coffee to help ease the pain. I had promised to take Nicola and kids to the Kendal Dry Ski Slope for practice for Isaac and Millie's on coming ski holiday with there Dad. The weather was amazing, with wall to wall blue skies. Why were we heading to a dry ski slope? I have only been on one, maybe once or twice, but Isaac wanted to go, so thats what we did. [a foot note: If we had skis for Isaac and Millie, I would have insisted we headed to Kirkstone, but.... we didn't) We arrived at the slope, got kitted up, I used my telemarks, for a bit of practice... don't have alpine skies anymore really. Isaac just got on with himself and for a kid who has only had onbe week on snow, he was pretty good, able to look after himself and confident enough. He'll be jumping cliffs in no time and ripping up the park as soon as he can. I helped and taught Millie again and I was happy to see she remembered lots from our 3 day's in Scotland earlier in the year. This was number 1, as I looked longingly at the white mountains in the distance from the dry slope, but with the knowledge I would be up there soon, sliding around.

Nic and kids went to thier grandparents for lunch and family time, I got a pass out and headed off to meet JP at Kirkstone for more fun.

Looking up the ascent path. The line we skied/boarded is just under the left of where the sun finishes in the bowl in the middle of the photograph

Red Scree's looked plastered, but on arriving it seamed to have less snow than when I skied down it 2 winters ago, but there looked enough and other people had already been down the bowl. JP, with snowboard in hand  and me, with my telemarks over my shoulder, headed up the path to make our way into the bowl. Its not a hard walk up and soon we were climbing the exit gully on the leftside of the mountain as you look up at it.

Pepa sitting in the exit gully of Red Scree's

From here we traversed across the slope and walked up out of where we were to ski/board down. As you look at the bowl, you have Raven Crag on the left, a steep gully just to the left of that, then some craglets, then a less defined gully weaving its way through the craglets and rock bands, then scree and the exit gully. We came down the less defined gully. It was steep, narrow at points and as ever, changable snow from top to bottom. JP, a seasoned and very compitent snowboarder, looked comfortable at the thought of heading down, where as I , a compitent telemarker, but not so confident on this ground, was a lot more nervous. I cursed I had not put on my helmet. We met a friend at the top of the gully, Wesley Orvis from Kendal, he had soloed up Kilnshaw Chimney, a great way to the top of the crag and reported it to be a snow slope all the way, the chimney choked with snow. Now was the time for the descent. JP dropped off the side of the slight cornice at the top and I gingerly turned on easier ground to start heading down. Both of us side slipped the next section to where there was a constriction. Alpine turns, step turns and side slipping saw me through the constriction and ready to watch JP make short work of it, which he duely did. Thankfully the angle eases and I was able to drop back into Tele-style turns, which I find ultra commiting and pretty hard on steeper terrain. Here I cursed for the lack of knee pads as rocks rushed past my dropped knee's. A few falls in deeper & heavier snow, and a 'picked line' saw us back at the carpark. The van was waiting with the burner still smoking away, ready to be stoked up. Wesley dropped in for a chat and JP and Nette (his wife) departed.I headed off for Nicola's parents and some cups of tea.That was number 2.

Snow capped Lakeland fells over the back of Red Scree's. Sunset on the summit

Night arrives, and Nicola and I say our goodnights to kids and Nicola's parents and head back up Kirkstone Pass for a revisit on Kilnshaw Chimney. We geared up in the van, with the warmth of the burner making it hard to get ready quickly, not really wanting to get out into the cold, but then once you're out there it all ok really.

We used Kahtoola KTS Steels for the ascent, knowing it was only a snow slope, they seemed perfectly adiquate and I don'rt mind walking on semi rock ground wiht them, as they're not my climbing crampons. Nicola had my axes, I used my ultra-light Camp Corsa Axe, perfect for this type of action. We were at the foot of the chimney in half the time we were the other night and started our way up un-roped. Charlie

Halfway up, the rope came out for Nicola's confidence and we made 2 pitches to the top, Nicola making a mini third as she headed off above the rope. The top gained and we headed for the descent path and the warmth of the van. The views from the top were beautiful. This was number 3.

So, Red Scree's showed me itself in the morning, capped in sparkling whiteness, welcomed me in the afternoon and let me slide down its belly on beautifully formed snow and then let us enter its guts as we walked up the banked out snow slopes of Kilnshaw Chimney for our finaley of the day. The views all round were fantastic and the lights of all the towns and villages, under dark cloud and the night sky were just perfect. A great day out on one mountain, and so many different things you can do on it. The possibilities are endless... or almost....

Life takes different paths, we all know it, and it depends whether you try to fight it, or just go with the flow, as to what the outcome will be.

I have found myself in another life change, it usually happens every decade, as far as I can see. The sorting comes through the years in between & then when your approaching your next decade change, you find it all starts coming together. I have remained without children for my 37 years, and it has been fine, I have never had the great want for kids, not to say I don't enjoy them, I love playing & kids are the best at it, adults tend to become boring & lose all their fun. Maybe I haven't wanted for kids, as I am still a big one myself, anyway a digression is in process, so lets get back to it. I have a beautiful girlfriend, Nicola, who has 3 children, one who has now flown the nest, the other two are ages 5 & 8. The long & short of where I am going is that now I have a girlfriend with children, it means I must give up some of my time to them & their needs, can't be a selfish ass all my life. So Isaac, the 8 year old has gone away on a ski holiday with his Dad, and good for them, this left me & Nic with her 5 year old Millie. So we decided to take her upto Scotland, with the thought we might get a good amount of snow & be able to take her skiing (we were hoping!!). Its always a risk if you head to Scotland for a bit of piste skiing, you can be pretty much guarenteed to get ski-touring during the winter season in Scotland, but skiing on piste can be very hard work, icey, windy, not much snow cover.... but then sometimes you hit jackpot & you wonder why on earth anybody ever goes to Europe!! This was one of those times.

I learnt to ski in the Lakes & Aviemore from the age of 4, plastic skis, a bit of sliding around, and then the next year we headed to Italy & Sauze D'Oulx, so from the age of 5 I was very lucky to be on good pistes, with great snow. So this little holiday takes me back to when I learnt to ski. But of course, I remember the fun, but I can't remember how I was taught, what problems I came across, or how to deal with them, so to me it is all a new experience, as much as it was for Millie.Thr first day we had low cloud, but the snow cover was amazing, especially since there was no snow the week before, it had been stripped as Honza and I found out when we arrived at Ben Nevis. Luckly for the last couple of days it had been snowing like crazy, putting over 2 feet of fresh snow, maybe more. We opted for Glencoe to to high winds forecast, but found the conditions fine, bar the whiteout. Glencoe is not the friendliest places to ski with a 5 year old who has never been on ski's before, but we set off up the chair lift & then I made an effort of getting Millie up the Poma to the green runs above. this was no mean feat, as I had to carry her, not trusting she could stand up on ski's having never worn them before. We made it to the top & set off down the green to the rope tow, Millie between my legs, snow ploughing all the way (me not Millie that is). This again, didn't prove as easy as I thought it would be. The skiing was simple enough, but controlling Millie's extra weight whilst snow ploughing down the runs was pretty tough. My legs were on fire when we reached the little rope trainig tow. It was of course not running, but no matter, it wasn't a big slope to walk back up. And so I preceded to snow plough with Millie between my legs, trying to get her to stand upright.

It all worked pretty well, but she spent alot of the time relying on me to keep her standing, not taking much of the weight herself. I then moved to skiing backwards infront of her, supporting her from the front, but she still relied heavily on me. Did I experience this lack of balance when I was her age? Did I have the same fears she looked like she was experiencing? I can't remember, I was only 4 at the time.To finish the day, I thought it would be ok to ski down the final run to the carpark, with Millie again between my legs. It looked reasonable from the lift on the way up. Whoops, bit of a mistake. It was ok initially, but then the slope steepened & then narrowed, as they tend to in Scotland. Nicola, who has skied enough time before to be comfortable on red runs in the Alps, was now being tested after not having skis on for 3 years, whilst getting to grips with sloppy hire boots & not so great hire skis. I was having to pick Millie up & ski with her in front of me, but al was well & with a little walking past the rock exposed gun barrel, we made our way safely to the bottom. A good first day's skiing and Nicola & I had managed to get a couple of runs in separately ourselves. With beautiful views across Rannoch Moor, we set off to spend another night in the Van down in the woodland behing Glencoe Village.

The next day we woke & thought we would check out the Nevis Range. The snow cover was full, all runs open & the weather was a little claggy, but clearing. We hired kit again, set off up the bubble and arrived at the slopes. The rope traning tow was working here & so with ski's on we set to teaching Millie again. Nicola went off to get a run in, whilst I tried to get Millie to support herself & start to learn a snow plough, and we did pretty well, but she couldn't get the snow plough quite sorted & still wanted to lean on me a litle too much. With Nic back, we went for a break & then I got a couple of runs down the Warren in excellent snow conditions. There had been a Polish guy in the hire place, who had understood I wanted a nice stable fast ski and had given me a set of Rossignol something or other... it was a good choice & I had 2 great runs. When I got back, it was almost time for heading down, we had had quite a late start, but then its ok when you have a 5 year old with you. Lazy days!! Back at the van & we headed this time up Glen Nevis, after deciding to stay an extra day, due to being told it would be a blue sky day on Wednesday.

Waking in Glen Nevis, at the top carpark, was a beautiful experience. The sun was shining on the mountain tops, that were plastered in snow and we were surrounded by them. What more can you ask for. We went for a morning stroll up towards Steele Falls, but with limited time, due to a lasy breakfast, we turned back before we got there. We wanted to get Millie a ski lesson with someone else, thinking it would benifit her confidence & she may learn more quickly. It would also have given Nicola and I the chance to get 1 hour skiing together. It ws not to be. Millie is quite shy with people she doesn't know & would be left with the instructor, a lovely guy called Tristan. But this was not a bad thing, ok Nic & I could get some time to ourselves, but then we were there for Millie & her benefit and for me this is the life changing stuff. Having to think about others again... it comes to us all. We figured it would be good for Tristan to show me at the same time, how to carry on the tuition after had finished.

Quite quickly he had Millie up the Poma & I learnt how you take kids up a Poma, and then coming down the slope as Nic and I watched at the bottom. After a while I skied down with them & then took over what he was doing, with him directing. At the end of the lesson, we used a great device, which allowed Millie to support herself, whilst I was there to control her speed if needs be. It was basically a couple of slalom poles with a shorter fiberglass pole in between, held together with a rope strung though them to make a frame. It worked a treat & Millie snow ploughed and steared her way down the slope with very little help from me. A major success!!

For the rest of the afternoon, which was only a hour or so, we played in the wooden climbing/play/swing area whiclst Nic & I took turns to get a couple of runs in. Millie enjoyed the swing looking down at Loch Lihne and the surrounding mountains & snow cover. What a beautiful finish to 3 great days in Scotland & Millie's first experience of skiing. We could have asked for more. We headed down to the van and got our heads ready for the long drive home. We set off from Fort William & stopped on the back road to the Kings House on Rannoch Moor to have dinner in the van, before making the rest of the journey, the beauty of a camper van.

Driving away I couldn't help but think that I had been in Scotalnd, with the most amazing snow conditions & I had not got to do anything I really wanted to do. I could have run, climbed or skied all over the mountains, the Ben was plastered, there was snow cover & I had my Kahtoola KTS's and Camp Corsa axe with me, but the oppertunity just hadn't arisen, but I felt warm inside, that I had been able to give Millie the same experiences I had grown up with & I knew inside, that Scotland is always there. Ok, it was good snow cover, the best they had had all season, but I new it will come again & I will get my time again. And best of all, although tired, I wasn't as exhausted as usual.

Honza and I made the long walk into Pillar, a little further than it had to be!! But its all training. After working far too many days in a row we headed out to Ennerdale Water, parked in the wrong car park, bedded down in the van, had a few ciders with burner going & got some shut eye for the following day. I woke early for morning needs & headed outside, to catch a glimpse of the Lunar Eclipse, then back to bed for more sleep for the on coming day. We woke around 9am, got the burner going, had coffee & breakfast, got the dogs sorted for a cold day in the van & then headed up the east side of Ennerdale water for our long walk in. The day was amazing, beautiful light & sky all the way. We cursed ourselves for parking in the wrong carpark, but you can't get everything right. I guess we got to Pillar around lunchtime, neither of us having a watch meant we were just there, no pressure, no problems. We had hoped to see the crag holding snow, but it was a bit hopefull & when we saw Pillar Rock in all her glory, we were slightly repelled by the dry rock we saw. Thankfully our back-up plan for climbing Waterfall Gully was a good option.

We geared up at the bottom and soloed up to the main icefall pitch. It looked in good conditions, but a little thin, so Honza tied on the sharp end & set off up the ice column of ice on the left of the gully. A few hollow sounding placements brought moans from Honza, but he sailed up it like all was ok.... I should learn.

As Honza made a belay at the top, I put my pack on containing a rope, all our rock gear (which had been brought in hope of a harder line on Pillar itself) & other stuff, weighing in at above 10kg. Of course I didn't think what effect this would have on my forearms as I started climbing, but with-in taking out the first 2 bits of gear, I was majorly pumped & srcabbling aorund too far left in the corner, back footing, not properly on the column itself. Now I understood the groans from Honza before. As I buried my right axe in the hollowest section & my left close by, I cut looose slightly to swing across. Of course the ice gave way & sheared into the waterfall behind, spitting me off & testing out honza's belay above. All was well, bar my over pumped hands from gripping my axes too hard. I pulled back on & shakely climbed the now thinner, hollow ice above, pulling out into the scoop at the top, breathing hard. The rest was following neve above in strips to the top out to an amzing backdrop over Fleetwith Pike, Dalehead & in the background was Blencathra with the moon rising to the right.

All in all a pretty good way to spend the winter solstice, with a Lunar Eclipse in the morning, a battle of a walk in with winter boots on, beautiful ice to climb to the top of Pillar & then walk back out by the light of the Full Moon. You can't really ask for more. Conditions on the fells right now are great for water ice climbing. Where-ever a water course runs down the fell, over rock,  or down a gully, then its a pretty certain bet that it is frozen & ready to climb. Reports of all ice in condition around Thirlmere, Blea Tarn is in excellent condition, Grasmoor & surrounding area's must have good condition & I have friends heading out to Cautley Spout tonight. Myself & Mike Elliot are heading to somewhere tonight, maybe Lower Gantry as we had a brief look when we drove over Honister on Monday night showing the ice there was also in great conditions & the drive down into Buttermere was interesting, snow tires were certainly a help, a little ice on the road adds to the adrenaline. If your into Ice Skating, then pretty much any small tarn you can think of will be good for skating. Ratherheath is always a certain, but I think it is take your pick until after boxing day.  For skiing there maybe area's which are holding old snow from a few weeks ago, but it will be a walk. The Helvellyn Ridge is maybe ski-able with care, but I haven't had reports back as of yet. Really, more snow is needed for good skiing conditions, but if you head east towards Cross Fell, then I am sure you will find something to mess around on. For runners, well the conditions are great, especially if you own a pair of Kahtoola Microspikes, which give great traction on icey/hardpack snowy conditions. I have heard of 2 attempts a a winter Bob Graham, but unfortunately both were unsucsessful. Steve Ashworth set of with a friend, un-supported, on Monday night, to get to the Dunmail Road cross & call it a day due to being behind schedule, his mate carried on, calling for a pickup in Langdale. The other I heard about was Jim Evans (?),  being supported by Ambleside AC, but this was cancelled before the set off. Hopefully someone out there managed it in the excellent weather condtions we have been blessed with. If your out winter walking then enjoy safely. Make sure you have full winter equipment, including axe & crampons (Kahtoola KTS Steels are a great option), capabilty to make hot food, have shelter, a sleeping bag & of course a map & compass. better safe than sorry!! ;-)

Have a Happy Snow Christmas,

The Outdoor Warehouse Team

I've been pretty busy for the last week, since the snow fell & it has meant I have neglected getting a fell top report loaded for the end of the week. Sorry... So here we go then, I have skied to work 3 times last week and this morning as well (testing out my new Silvereta 505 bindings on my older Volkl Tele Toruing skis, I think I have mounted them too far back), taken Nicola out on Friday night for her first time on XC Touring skis, been out for a failed mission with Honza two nights ago & tried to ski round the Fairfiled Horseshoe on Thursday morning before starting work.

Conditions are excellent in the fells at the moment, there was about 5" of even snow cover put down on Friday with little wind blowing so this will have covered the whole of the Lakes very nicely. Saturday saw a thaw coming in, as an Atlantic low pressure pushed its way onto the shores of the UK & the Lake District in general. This has allowed alot of the snow, which was largely unconsolidated, to settle down. So we have the start of a good base for skiers & more stable snow on & around the crags for climbing. Last night another 3/4 inches of snow in Windermere has meant a fresh covering over harder packed snow. Care should now be taken to approaches to crags that are/maybe loaded. I have heard reports of all the low level ice coming in, ascents of Low Water Beck-Coniston, Launchy Gill-Thirlmere, Brown Cove Crag has seen lots of action, Gable has had several teams making ascents of Jaberwock, Engineers Chimney, Engineers Slabs & Snickersnap. Honister Icefalls have come into good condition, although there is apparently a diversion in the waterflow & so the routes have formed in a different manner, there may well be access issues now as well. Steve Ashford has repeated Dave Birketts 'The Crack' on Gimmer Crag - Langdale, climbed Asterisk with Woody. Martin from Marmot has been out with Paul Casey of Zero G Climbing equipment over the weekend climbing some water ice in Langdale on the left as you go up Oxendale & I am sure Helvellyn has seen many people climbing all the routes. Blea Water Tarn is in good condition.. need I go on. Basically, this artic airflow has brought the Lakes in to a winter climbers heaven... now its the skiers turn

David has been XC Skiing from his front door, enjoying setting himself a Loiper (ski tracks) around the fields outside his house & langlaufing every morning.

I made a bundelled attempt at getting round Fairfield Horseshoe on Thursday morning before work on very limited snow cover. I aborted my mission just underneath Great Rigg when I had a call from David letting me know he would be late for work, I realised I was also late for work & descended straight down into Rydal valley on very limited snow cover, along the valley floor & back to Rydal Hall.

Honza was climbing with Frazer on Dollywagonon the Tursday, I'm not quite sure what route they were on, but it was somewhere around Dollywagon Gully, but a deviation of some sort.

Fred made a Quinzhee shelter with his flat mate Sonny, first you pile lots of snow into a .... pile, pat it down & then leave it for a couple of hours to settle, after this you start to dig into it, making first a snow tunnel, being careful to always lie face down (if you lie face up and it colapses then you could be 'brown bread' through suffication), make sure you have a friend there in case it colapses, to pull you out. After you have made the tunnel, you continue inside the shelter to dig out a chamber. When ready, you have your Quinzhee shelter ready for sleeping etc.

So you can see we have all been very busy in the outdoors this week, and we are hoping you have been enjoying this amazing weather as much as we have. Weather conditions for tomorrow look fantastic, hoping to get out on Telemarks in the afternoon. The back of Helvelyn looks excellent.

Keep on enjoying ;-)