Ready to go...It really doesn't matter how much walking you do, even in relatively upland areas such as the Yorkshire Dales or Peak District, as soon as you hit the real high country you seem to struggle almost like you've never been there before. After months walking nothing much more drastic than the likes of Dartmoor and the Hampshire Downs the thing that hits you about the Lake District is the sheer verticality of it. This expedition up Helvellyn over May Bank Holiday is a case in point. At 3,117 feet England's second or third highest peak (depending on whether you consider the Scafells one peak or not), you really are into the realm of mountaineering here. Scrambles, rocky ridges, vertical drops and, for the unconditioned, painfully slow progress await - but the views and sense of achievement afterwards are of course great.
Jo offers a sugar boostAbout halfway up we found ourselves looking down on an RAF Sea King routeing down Grisedale towards Ullswater, where it proceeded to circle Glenridding before continuing north east along the lake. The thought it might have been Prince William on another jolly did cross our minds...
After a pretty exhausting walk we reached Striding Edge - from where a couple of walkers had been blown to their deaths earlier in the year. It was fairly calm fortunately (though make no mistake there was little danger of a world card-castle building championships taking place either). Some of us elected to take the more sheltered route across (effectively a footpath) whilst Ian and Jo took the exposed route along the top.
Danny about to cross Striding Edge
Ian perched precariously
Memorial to an unfortunate who fell to his death whilst following the Patterdale Fox Hounds
Slow progress
Looking back along striding edge
Gingerly making my way down..!
The remains of a snowfall three weeks earlier
The Joe Simpson Award for the trip went to Danny, who became separated from the rest of us on the final scramble up to the summit. Routeing to the right trying to find an easier way up, he ended up having to ice-climb with his bare hands across the field of snow and ice just below the summit that remained from a heavy snowfall three weeks before!
Helvellyn's summit is fairly flat, and in 1926 Australian aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler (with John Leeming) landed an Avro 585 here. Hinkler gained worldwide fame two years later when he became the first man to fly solo from Britain to Australia, an event largely eclipsed in the public memory when Britain's Amy Johnson repeated the feat in 1930 thus becoming the first woman to do so.
The ice field Danny had to cross!
The aircraft in which Bert Hinkler landed on Helvellyn
Descending
A valley of desolation
Red Tarn
Looking back at the summit
On the descent we took the opportunity to briefly re-ascend and bag another summit - the 2,920 ft Catstye Cam.
Only 8.4 miles but it felt much further. Look at the time stopped!
Danny about to cross Striding Edge
Ian perched precariously
Memorial to an unfortunate who fell to his death whilst following the Patterdale Fox Hounds 
Slow progress
Looking back along striding edge
Gingerly making my way down..!
The remains of a snowfall three weeks earlierThe Joe Simpson Award for the trip went to Danny, who became separated from the rest of us on the final scramble up to the summit. Routeing to the right trying to find an easier way up, he ended up having to ice-climb with his bare hands across the field of snow and ice just below the summit that remained from a heavy snowfall three weeks before!
The Summit - The Video:
Helvellyn's summit is fairly flat, and in 1926 Australian aviation pioneer Bert Hinkler (with John Leeming) landed an Avro 585 here. Hinkler gained worldwide fame two years later when he became the first man to fly solo from Britain to Australia, an event largely eclipsed in the public memory when Britain's Amy Johnson repeated the feat in 1930 thus becoming the first woman to do so.
The ice field Danny had to cross!
The aircraft in which Bert Hinkler landed on Helvellyn
Descending
A valley of desolation
Red Tarn
Looking back at the summitOn the descent we took the opportunity to briefly re-ascend and bag another summit - the 2,920 ft Catstye Cam.
Catstye Cam Video:
As we approached Glenridding on our return we got diverted into some ball games with a playful dog at Rake Cottages. We were not going to be allowed to continue until we'd thrown a few!
As we approached Glenridding on our return we got diverted into some ball games with a playful dog at Rake Cottages. We were not going to be allowed to continue until we'd thrown a few!
Only 8.4 miles but it felt much further. Look at the time stopped!
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