A couple of days in the Snow

I managed to get back to the Lake District last week, a friend and I had originally planned a couple of easy days around Ennerdale with our hammocks but he was forced to cancel due to illness, as such I decided to change the plan and do a bit of walking/camping instead. Due to the late cancellation it was a bit of a last minute trip but I had a really good few days in the snow so I thought I'd share a few words and photo's from my trip. I didn't cover a massive amount of miles but the hills climbed inc Glaramara, Allen Crags, Scafells, Seat, High Crag, High Stile, and Red Pike (Buttermere).

Due to working nights on Tuesday I had a bit of a late start on the Wednesday, that and busy traffic on the way over meant I didn't leave the car until around 3 o'clock. As soon as I did though it was great to be out again and I soon got in to my stride. I made my way up to Styhead Tarn which was partially frozen and looked great in the sunshine.

Above Styhead Tarn there was still plenty of snow around so on the way to Sprinkling Tarn I stopped briefly to put on my microspikes.

I carried on up and was soon at Sprinkling Tarn which was frozen solid

From here I carried on towards Angle Tarn, however due to the amount of snow around I decided to double back and head for a camp near Styhead Tarn. I'd decided to take the Trailstar and I'm glad I did as it got fairly windy on the first night, the Trailstar lived up to it's limpet like reputation and just sat there and took it with zero movement/flapping around.

It was a pretty cold night and the Trailstar was frozen by the morning, I managed to stay warm tucked up inside though. As with a previous trip I had a few issues with Silnylon vs Silnylon which caused me to wake up a few times through the night but otherwise I slept quite well.

I packed up nice and early and as I was setting off I took one last look down the valley past Styhead Tarn with the sun rising beyond, I'm not sure if you'll be able to make them out at this resolution but I could just make out 2 tents pitched down by the Tarn.

From here I made my way up past Sprinkling Tarn again and then onwards to the Scafells.

It was super windy at the top of England so I didn't hang around too long. Just long enough to take a few photo's and have a snack to eat. From here I made my way back down and took a short break at the shelter just down from Allen Crags.

The rest of the trip carried on in much the same way, other than the freezing wind the weather remained pretty good. All in all a great few days, it was nice to be out in the snow again and other than my cheapo microspikes failing towards the end of the trip I was very happy with all the gear I took.

A few more photo's

Basic kit list:

Pack: Osprey Exos 58

Shelter: MLD Trailstar (Silnylon)

Sleeping stuff: Mountain Equipment Helium 600 bag, Full length Thermarest Prolite mat, MYOG bathtub floor, Borah Gear bivy, silk liner
Stove: Jetboil Sol Ti
Poles: Cascade Mountain Tech Carbon

Clothing wise I guess I tend to run quite warm so it's rare I wear anything more than a base with a windproof on top of it, when it's a bit cooler I'll add a mid layer under the windproof and that usually does me. Around camp or when necessary I'll chuck on my insulated jacket as well.

Base: Mountain Equipment Eclipse Hooded Zip Tee (love this top!)
Mid: Mountain Equipment Micro Zip Tee
Windproof: Montane Featherlite Marathon
Insulation: Mountain Equipment Fitzroy
Hat: Mountain Equipment Mountain Cap
Gloves: Mountain Equipment Touch Grip 
Trousers: Montane Terra
Socks: Inov8 Debris sock

I also had all my waterproof gear with me but thankfully it wasn't needed other than my tuff bags which I put on when packing away the frozen Trailstar.

Thanks for reading.


Matt
Follow @OutdoorsMH