Hi Kris,
Great conditions in the Lake District just now and you can even drive around on fairly clear the roads between crags! Some of the higher crags like Gable and the top of Scafell are lightly hoared/snowed up so the mixted there will be excellent. After a quick trip to Dollywagon North crag on Saturday (did Thrash Corner IV,5 **) we have been mainly sticking to the ice, literally in most cases! We walked past Chock Gully and kept on walking, whilst it had a good ice build up there wasn't enough snow!
After a quick play on some III ice at Honister, we headed for some real action on Pillar on monday. West Waterfall Gully IV,5 ** did not disappoint, although it was more like V,5 in the current conditions. Not for the faint hearted due to a large section of steep ice not attached to any rock (see photo)! The north face of Low man was very black and the Shamrock wasn't much better. The North West face of High Man looked to be reasonably snowed up, with all the grooves and cracks looking white. How long will it take for these routes to become winter objectives? There are some strong winter lines here not too dissimilar to The Crack.
On Tuesday we discovered that the fabled Right Hand Branch finish on the Wasdale screes hadn't fully formed and looked to need a couple more days. So we headed around to Thirlmere and skipped a skinny looking Shoulthwaite ghyll to join the crowds on Launchy Gill III ***. This was in good condition, but certainly not worth 3 stars to be honest. Blea Water gill is much better. We had a rare moonlight ascent of Taylor gill force 40m III* to finish off our rest day.
We finished our trip off in style with an ascent of Right Gantry curtain IV/V 5 *** on Honister today. It was certainly worth all 3 stars with excellent varied and sustained climbing. The ice was superb, with a nice squidgy texture that took screws well and also mainly first time pick placements!!! It will only continue to get fatter as there was still water coming out of the mine above. How long will it take for the mine owner to realise what an asset he has on his land? All the other routes around Honister looked to be well formed, including the Dave Birkett 'super routes' that he put up last year.
Thanks Adrian for the update from the Lakes. I have been up North for the past 8 days were I have had great weather and no Internet connection. I will add an update tomorrow on that.
