I almost didn’t to go yesterday and didn’t even put an alert out until just before we set off . I use a live webcam site called keswick.net which has views from the North lakes along with the Bassenthwaite Sailing club webcam . Windermere lake cruises have cameras in the South also ,useful to look at the way the wind’s affecting the lakes before I set off fishing with a small boat . They are also useful to see if fells are “clagged in”.
The updated forecast said heavy snow at higher levels, clearing about Midday when it would be sunny . the webcams showed even Skiddaw summit was clear at 7AM so off we went driving past glass calm lakes , and grey but high cloud which did not look threatening at all . Obviously they’d got the forecast wrong again ?
There’s no good route from this part of West Cumbria to the fell , which I’ve never done before , so we went via the lakes . Not that much more in distance , but one option involves driving over Hardknott as well as Wrynose and our car has terrible gearing for such passes , it won’t pull 2nd on some bits which means crawling up sections in 1st at high revs , which is a pain .
We arrived at that Shire stone area and reached the top of Blisco at about 11:40 , just as I was setting up that heavy snow arrived . In fact it was a blizzard of quite wet snow which fortunately was not laying for long . Tony M9OUD from Skiddaw answered my first call . He was having similar conditions and said he was calling time and leaving after he signed off . Skiddaw had a good dusting of snow on the way home I saw ( bathed in sunshine against a clear blue sky). Another summit to summit came later with Richard G4TGJ on NP-022 Calf Top . I also worked Graham M9IPU who was between Wainwright summits in the Devoke Water circuit , would have been good to get him at a summit , but it’s good to see he is enthusiastic about the WOTA scheme I bet there’ll be plenty chances of a W to W in future .
I’d intended to do 70cm fm , but called it a day when the 2m calls dried up ( I only made two “last” calls Reg) .
I’d just got the antenna down and radio bagged when the snow just stopped , so we had a cup of tea . Then the sun came out . To be fair we were not too cold the main problem , apart from my unfortunate timing , was the swirling snow finding a way round and into everything I had in place in an attempt to keep things dry . The walk up was OK, and the walk down was enjoyable , via the path down to Red Tarn then back to the car on Wrynose Pass . We’d not been out for a while and it was a new fell for us , so looking back , a good day with a few good contacts , although we did miss out on what I reckon would have been some great views from the summit .
Richard
Good timing , if you like the snow !
Sky starting to clear
“If there’s enough blue in the sky to make a sailor a pair of pants it’s going to get out fine” According to my Grand mother . Apparently so today .
Red Tarn
Wyrnose is definitely a much easier proposition than Hardknott, whatever the chosen mode of transport. Wrynose from the North is easier again, if you’re prepared to journey to the Duddon Valley and Cockley Beck. The plateau, if you can call it that, between Hard Knott and Wrynose, is about 1/2 the height of the other sides (more or less) so approaching from the Duddon Valley is the least taxing. Probably the most inconvenient as well.