Never done either of these Fells before , we ascended via (not from) Swirls car park , and like the Illgill Head trip last week , there were no clouds no wind and a nice warm Winter sun shining down, a lot more people though ! Not ideal for atmospheric photography but that was a small price to pay .
Richard .
Arriving at the summit : I’d heard a lot about Striding edge , but it looked a bit tame 
It must be deceptive from where you stood. The number of deaths & serious injuries is increasing.
[BBC News, January 2025] Last week two men died after falling from ridges on Helvellyn and Blencathra, while fatalities in the Lake District have more than doubled from 14 in 2023 to 32 in 2024.
Ha Andy , I was attempting to infer the bloke with the ice climbing gear was me arriving at the summit hence the quip about Striding edge , you’ll not be seeing us on any edge routes ( or ice climbing !! ) I even try to avoid inclement weather ! A few years ago there was a TV series with a woman walking the Wainwrights , which some thought had inspired inexperienced people to go out ill prepared , and there was a spike in Mountain rescue call outs , now there’s youtube , it makes you wonder?
Glad to get the summit to summit before we moved on , I spoke to Dave M0JKS on St Sunday Cragg yesterday and it was a different day altogether by the sound of it icy cold strong wind .
Richard…
You know how to pick your day’s out,you have had some great weather and the photo’s show how people get caught out with no snow on one side and the north face serious
this is what Striding Edge can be like from the other side very un- predictable and serious
hopefully i will be able to get out soon June’s back surgery is healing nicely so fingers crossed
Yes, your photo of a solo ice-axe ascent looks scary to me but probably not to someone properly trained with plenty of experience. I’ve read & heard mountaineers / climbers say that social media, YouTube etc encourages some people to think, it looks easy, if they can do, so can I, without realizing they lack the necessary skills and equipment.
A few years ago I attempted my first and only solo walk via Striding Edge to the summit on a bright, dry, windless day. I got about two-thirds of the way to where there are steep drops in most directions, couldn’t see how to proceed safely and turned back, and even that involved a bit of tricky reverse clambering. It’s one thing to follow an experienced walker who knows the route well and can guide you. It’s another to do it alone without knowing exactly where and what to do.
I’ve seen people doing it with dogs off lead. I know from walking dogs in hills for 35 years, not all dogs are sensible or have natural mountain-goat skills.
When I put the alert up for Helvellyn I’d added , may do another Wainwright if time allows , not committing to either of the two closest ones we looked over to Catstycam as we neared the top of Helvellyn and Swirral Edge decided that I’d be calling CQ from Nethermost Pike for that other Wainwright! As you say Andy on a nice day , with an experienced climber like Reg for instance who’s been over before a few times, I might consider it ?
Reg , we got to try those ice grips out on some packed snow where the path had been covered for 50 yds or so on a bit of an incline . We would have been OK without them , I’m sure but it was a good chance to try them and they were great , Annis said she felt a lot more confident with them on . Good to hear June’s doing OK ,
We may have another new activator G5KCI who lives in town , as well !
Richard
