BB0606 A Bit on the Side.....

6th April 2006

A bit on the Side Pike and a lot on Lingmoor Fell.  Wind that is, plus nasty spitty and at times driving rain but strangely not too cold.  Not ideal conditions for our biggest turn out of the year (Bryan, John, Stan, Tony & me) but no surprise as that is what MWIS predicted.

John also predicted a moment of exposure but reassured us with the fact that there was an alternative route that involved removing rucksack and squeezing through a tiny gap.  I comforted my self with the unkind thought that if John could get through, then so could I!

Anyway, we parked at the Old Dungeon Ghyll car park and set off up the path that runs above the road to Little Langdale, passing on the way a group of whingeing school kids who were finding that a holiday in the Lake District is not quite the picnic they hoped it might be.  At the high point of the pass we struck up left to take Side Pike (see souvenir photo- too wild for me to use the timer and gallop back into the picture) and enthusiastically almost bounced down the other side.

Big Mistake- it's pretty sheer cliff. Retraced our steps and traversed round the Pike and came across the Big Squeeze with the alternatives of going over a rock or round the rock, both with exposure.  I don't do exposure so the squeeze it was.  Quite enjoyable really (see photo of Stan emerging).  Had first stop on the other side and looked back.  I have to say that had we done the route the other way round, I could not have done it.  Even the squeeze path looked as if it had bad exposure.

Headed off to Lingmoor Fell in worsening conditions and, having bagged it, carried on along the ridge to find the path down to the quarry.  After one false start we found the path and from then on it was easy peasy down to the Cumbria Way and back up the Valley, even with the odd bit of sunshine although the weather threatened to close in again towards the end.

 

 

A good little loosener although the way I feel at the moment it seems more like a bad little stiffener.  

 

Don, 5th April 2006

Afternote:

What the report omits to mention is a considerable amount of helicopter activity plus an ambulance racing up the valley as we were driving home.  Rumour had it that there was a group of students going from Langdale to Borrowdale dressed in light clothing and slip on shoes pulling wheeled suitcases!. The Langdale Mountain Rescue report stated:

A group of ten people from Thailand got in to difficulties when they tried to walk from Langdale to Borrowdale. They became very cold and wet during heavy snow fall in the Angle Tarn area. Eight of them were helped to safety by passing walkers, and two of the more seriously affected were given shelter in a tent put up by a school party. They had become seriously hypothermic. The shelter provided by the school probably saved their lives, and their actions are to be commended. So to are the actions of the people who assisted the other eight. The team were called to assist the two in the tent, and we requested the assistance of a search and rescue helicopter from the RAF, and help from Kendal MRT. The two were treated by team members then all were evacuated from the hill by helicopter. The group were inadequately equipped and had little by way of appropriate clothing or footwear. Without the sound thinking of passersby and the assistance of the helicopter, the outcome would have undoubtedly been much worse.

 

 

STATISTICS

Distance:
7.0 miles

Height climbed:
1,962 feet

Map reference:
See Map

Wainwrights:
 Lingmoor Fell

 

 

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