Not Quite the Coledale Horseshoe Part 1

Our walking group

Robert Burns once said: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”.  This proved to be true about our attempt at climbing the Coledale Horseshoe from Braithwaite near Keswick.

There were 13 of us and Lassie the dog out on another Twitter walk, some regulars and some who were joining us for the first time.  Our mission was the Coledale Horseshoe – a series of six mountains with the potential to add two more if we were feeling active. Simple!  The first mountain on our route was Grisedale Pike and we headed off confidently from the car-park along a low-level path at the foot of the mountain.  I was pleased about this as I had done the Coledale Horseshoe a few years before and had taken the path on the other side of the car-park so it was nice to do a different route.

We walked and chatted looking down at a frosty stream and in front of us a valley stretching out towards Eel Crag and Hopegill Head and behind us, views of Skiddaw and Blencathra.  The sun was shining, the mountains were snow-capped and I was wearing my vibrant pink ski trousers and bright white ski jacket.  No chance of losing me! All in all it was a perfect day to be walking the fells.

Skiddaw & Blencathra from the wrong path

After about 30 minutes of walking on a flat path gaining absolutely no height at all it dawned on us that we were on the wrong path and the towering summit of Grisedale Pike on our right was not getting any closer.  We were in fact just skirting around the bottom of it.  Group walking mentality at its worse as we had all just been following each other assuming someone else knew the way!  We toyed briefly with the idea of scaling the exceptionally steep bracken-covered slope to reach the ridge we should have been on but I think my face and the face of some of the others meant that idea was quickly dismissed (but honestly it was so steep I would probably still be trying to climb it now!)

We decided to head to the ridge at the head of the valley and then double back to Grisedale Pike.  Good plan!  Off we went again still in high spirits with the view of High Force and Low Force waterfalls and Force Crag mine (which looked like an abandoned set from an old Western film - you could almost see John Wayne appearing from one of the buildings).  

Force Crag Mine

A tricky river crossing saw me waving my arms around to balance but I made it safely to the other side although Sian had a tumble (she was not the only one during the day by any means!) and then we started gaining height for the first time.  

Walking in pink with Gina (photo by Phil Corley)

The snowy mountains all around were just beautiful.  Whilst the shadowy crags looked quite forbidding at times we could see the sun catching the fells higher up and it was stunning.  The strange thing was however that our target of Grisedale Pike was getting further and further away as the path snaked its way upwards but in the opposite direction to the one we needed.  The path was starting to get icy and I confess I slipped and caught myself on the bank (witnessed only by Jim I am pleased to say) and as we reached the ridge we had another route discussion.  Given Grisedale Pike looked like a distant speck on the horizon (well not quite but nearly) we decided to head straight to Grasmoor instead.  This was one of the additional mountains not on the official horseshoe.

 

Walking into the sun

Helvellyn range

With each step we got further into the snow and it was amazing. Grasmoor sloped up to the right with blue sky overhead and Eel Crag to the left.  Gina and I stopped for a photo shoot and then after Gina slipped on the ice (earning a score of 10 for elegant falling) we reached the col (dip) between the two mountains with the sun pouring over us like custard over brownies (sorry – I was getting hungry by then) and the silhouettes of the group looked striking.  The Buttermere fells and the Scafells came into view along with the Helvellyn range.  The Helvellyn range from that side looked a gentle and inviting series of ups and downs whereas the Scafells and surrounding fells looked much more dark, rugged and forbidding.  

Climbing Grasmoor

The final ascent to Grasmoor saw us negotiating snow that had frozen overnight and was really crunchy and then slippery in places.  Ice-dancing became a new sport of mine but I scored low points sadly.  As we got to the first cairn though, we decided it was brownie time.  Hurrah!  Dave handed them around and I took one from the box and then a potential disaster occurred!  Gina’s iphone in its red case slipped from her hand and started sliding down the icy slope.  We all thought it would come to rest in a little dip but it seemed to build up real momentum and kept going.  Gina looked quite horror-stricken at the fate that was befalling her phone so Dave started running after it on the frozen snow with the box of brownies held aloft like a waiter holding a silver tray  It was reminiscent of a scene with Manuel in Fawlty Towers.  This led to calls from all those in the party of “don’t drop the brownies Dave” and we watched in awe as phone, brownies and Dave disappeared into the distance......

Part 2 to follow.....