15th Feb, Winter Climbing, Crinkle Crags and Bowfell

Today I am in the Langdale valley and planning to climb the gullies and butresses on Crinkle Crags. The forecast thaw has arrived with spring like temperatures in the valley of around 8 degrees C.





The camera was carefully packed last night to avoid a repeat of yesterday. However low cloud was giving poor visibility on the tops as we set off up Oxendale Dale towards Crinkle Gill and I wasn't very hopeful of getting any good pictures today.











As we gained height the cloud began to break up and visibility improved. The snowpack was starting to thaw and I dug a few hasty pits to check for stability before we moved onto the steeper ground.





As we climbed we got got views back down the valley and over to Pike O Blisco which was enjoying some sun.


Despite being half term the Lakes seemed very quite and I saw very few people on the hill for for whole day.









After climbing on the buttresses we headed up to the summit of Crinkle Crags and walked round to the Bad Step to check conditions. It was disappointing to find it was only wet rock, with little or no snow remaining on most of the route.

































The walk across the Crinkles was pleasant with a few deep snow fields to cross. The thaw had softened the snow pack and it was possible to walk over here without the need for crampons today.

The route onto Bowfell was in sun and it looked Alpine like with clear blue skies above. After a quick break at the top we desended down the Great Slab and returned along the Climbers Traverse.


This route had not been used for many days and there was no trace of the normal path which was buried under lots of wind blown snow. Again we tested for stability and found no evidence of any weak layers and decided to proceed.


I was able to kick steps and create a good path for Annie and Nick to follow along easily behind me.


When we reached the Band all of the snow had gone and we enjoyed an easy walk back down the path to the ODG car park just as it was starting to get dark.