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
