Another training day, the Lakes this time!
1st May 2011
Another day off work, another day walking, scrambling and climbing in the mountains in preparation for the alps!
Our plan was simple, to link up a whole bunch of scrambles, do a load of miles and generally get nackered.
We parked just above Coniston and started to follow the main path up to the pudding stone beneath low water beck, half way along the path I spotted a pair of climbers scampering up a pleasant looking arete way of to the right, a quick check revealed that this was a grade 1 scramble and was roughly going in the right direction, it would clearly be more fun than plodding up the tourist path, so off we went! This scramble lead to the Pudding Stone (a large distinctive boulder) at the base of Low Water Beck, a classic grade 3 waterfall scramble, after getting over excited and going a little off route we were soon at the top of the waterfall and staring at Low Water and admiring the peaceful blue colour of the water. We skirted around the lake and began the next scramle, a Grade 2 slab climb which took us to the top of Brim Fell.
After a quick drink, we started to follow the ridge north, taking in a few summits before bearing west then taking a direct route (super steep!!) back to the col between Dow Crag and the Old Man of Coniston. We crossed the col and skirted a scree slope to the base of Dow Crag, another grade 3 scramble took us to the summit, we then followed the ridge back down to the col then up the other side to finally top out on the summit of Coniston Old Man (the highest peak there). Shattered, we wearily made our way back down to the car (painful knees!) and then to the pub for a well deserved pint.
Another good long training day!!
North Wales again on Saturday!
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