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Topic: High Stile Ridge - 13 April 2012 (Read 231 times)

footix2
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High Stile Ridge - 13 April 2012
« Thread Started on Apr 15, 2012, 9:52am »

With the weather being fairly nice at the end of last week I took a days leave from work in order to get back on the fells. I had only managed 1 walk since the start of last October for various reasons so I realised I had to get out there while it was nice and I could spare the time.

The High Stile ridge is visible from my house and is one I have been looking at for some time. I didn't have a lot of time and this seemed to fit in nicely at around 5 hours.

I got to Buttermere around 9.30am and was soon heading down to the lake to start the ascent of Red Pike, the first hill on the ridge. The path leaves from the corner of the lake and heads diagonally up the fell side. The start of this stone staircase is pretty steep in places and it was actually quite warm in the valley with little wind. I had chosen not to put my jacket on and this was a good choice as I was soon rather hot and rather sweaty. Towards the end of the diagonal path the stone staircase steepens quite noticeably before entering the zig-zag section.

It's a fairly relentless path from the valley, with one lesser steep section before the final pull to Bleaberry Tarn. You are rewarded with some excellent rock scenery as you complete the 1st section. It literally all appears in front of you at the top of the steep path and was enough to stop me in my tracks to appreciate the view.

A short walk brings you to the shore of Bleaberry Tarn. This is lovely little tarn, Red Pike's little secret. I could have stayed there all day but we had bigger things to tackle and the tarn was visible as we travelled on.

I made my way up the next section of stone staircase. I decided not to take on the subsidiary top of Dodd, it seemed a simple enough detour but not too interesting. Perhaps another time. On reaching the saddle it became apparent that the monotony of the stone staircase was over. A rather eroded section now awaited us. The going was fairly easy and not to slippy, until you reach the small gully that brings you out onto the summit. This bit is also very eroded and very steep. There are good handholds in this compact little gully and with some effort you can pull yourself up by your hands. Pretty physical stuff, but thankfully very brief. There were little patches of snow still at the top, but I had only put my jacket on for the last 100ft as the exposure was allowing a chilly breeze to cool us somewhat.

The views from Red Pike was excellent. It really has a felling of being right at the centre of things, with great views of lakes and fells in all direction. We had a good explore of the views here as the summit is fairly compact and then made our way to High Stile.

The path to High Stile is not really a path at all. You can use the edge of the cliffs as an easy enough guide and the views back down to Bleaberry Tarn here are also rather good. Once you start ascending High Stile it's more a case of picking your way through the boulders and rocks to the summit plateau. There are many cairns on this summit and I was not entirely sure which one was the highest, so I visited them all. Again the views are good, but are robbed a little in places by the flatness of the summit.

We stopped for lunch facing our final fell of the day High Crag

The walk to High Crag is a fairly simple affair. The distance isn't too bad and the ascent to the summit from the col requires very little effort. This fell for me is the pick of this ridge. It stands among some illustrious companions. Pillar, across Ennerdale, is magnificent from this vantage point and Great Gable and Kirk Fell are also nearby. The Scafells are visible over Beck Head. These Lakeland giants were also still snow capped in places and looked magnificent.

Approaching Gamlin End, I also go the 1st good view of what will be my final summit - Haystacks. There is a magnificent view from this angle and along with the view from lower down on Scarth Gap, is where you can see the fell in all its craggy, rocky glory.

I had heard terrible things about Gamlin End and whilst it was a little rough at the top, once the stone staircase was reached much speed could made. I must have descended to the col in around 10 minutes. A felt sorry for those ascending this way as it looks utterly brutal. The small fell of Seat is a somewhat unwelcome obstacle at the end of this week, and it offered a rather scrambly route down to Scarth Gap pass. The pass itself is also rather rough in places but gets better the lower you go. It was then just a short walk back across the shore of the lake and back to the car.

I knew this walk would be a good one, but it really exceeded my expectations. The scenery here is some of the best I have seen to date, especially from High Crag.

Here are some photos:

The start of the longest staircase ever
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