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Ian and I set of late on Monday afternoon for a night walk over Striding Edge to Helvellyn and returning by descent of Swirral Edge. We had hoped for a clear evening but unfortunately by the time we reached Red Tarn we were walking in the mist.Todays pictures are not as good as I had hoped for due to the mist reflecting the light from the flash.
As we left the valley we spoke to some skiers who had just come down from the ski hut on Raise and they estimated a snow covering of 1m between the snow fences. The snow conditions on Helvellyn are the best I have seen for years and both ridges were plastered in good firm snow.The plateau was very wind swept with just a fine covering snow.
Having arrived at Red Tarn we climbed steadily up the hill side to gain Striding Edge and our route to the summit.
The ridge looked very different with most of the usual landmarks buried in deep snow. The route had an Alpine feel to it this evening with good snow and deep dark drops on either side. It was a nice still evening so we were able to stay on the true ridge line for most of the traverse.At the chimney section we found this to be banked out with snow and an easy downclimb kicking snow steps got us to the bottom.
The final pull onto Helvellyn was quickly dispatched and we headed over the plateau to the shelter for a brew. Unfortunately the shelter was banked out with snow and was not the best spot for a brew stop tonite. Visibility in the mist was poor as we made our way across the plateau to the Trig point and the descent cairn on Swirral Edge.There appeared to be a greater concentration of snow on Swirral Edge compared with Striding Edge and all of the rocky steps on the ridge had been filled in with snow. This made for a very easy but enjoyable descent on good snow before we left the ridge and headed back down to Red Tarn and the short walk back to car in Glenridding.
We had pleasure of enjoying Striding Edge, Swirral Edge and Helvellyn without meeting any other groups.
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