7th Feb, Winter climbing, Browncove Crags, Helvellyn

I was out today with Ian on his first pitched winter climb. The weather was much more overcast and windier than forecast but the snow and ice conditions for climbing were very good. The Lakes has enjoyed some amazing conditions this year. Probabaly the best for over 10 years. Browncove Crags is a good area for an introduction to winter climbing with a relatively short walk in to the foot of the crags and a good choice to grades to climb at.

Based on the weather forecast we decided to head off early to try and get ahead of the crowds on the most popular route gully climb on the crag, Left Branch, which was to be our first climb of the day. When we arrived at the crag a team was just setting off up the short ice pitch at the start of the route.

As we climbed we noticed a large number of teams beging to appear in the valley floor and also start to climb. Conditions were good and Ian quickly completed the first route without any problems. We descended by Central gully which was also in good nick and set of to climb the popular grade 3 route of Stepped Ridge which follows the line of the summer scramble route. This is more of a mixed route with a combination of snow, ice and rock. A number of short ice pitches existed which were fun with good ice. We also had some excellent turf to climb on and use as anchors with

Part way up this route is a large wall which appears to block the route but hidden in a corner is a chockstone with with a window which it is possible to crawl through to access a large snow slope and means to continue on the ridge to the summit.

It was cold and windy on the tops and we quickly dropped back into the valley to gain some shelter. Before heading back down to the cars at Swirls car park.