31st March 2012
The plan was to reccie the descent off Great End towards Great Gable and meet up with Andy Blackett on his Bob Graham Round on Great Gable, he was going well, so between 10 & 11 pm seemed reasonable (ish), I had said i would have a cup of tea ready for his arrival.
I set off from Honister slate mines at 6pm and headed up to Grey Knott and on to Brandreth before taking a direct route, over to the foot of Great End. I planned my ascent and headed up the North west side. It soon became clear that this was not going to be as easy as it looked, after arriving at the top i decided i had previously chosen the correct route by descending off the north east end, so headed off this route through the craggs and made good time to the stretcher box at the bottom of Gable.
Dusk was looming so i set off up Great Gable with the intention off settling in for the long wait on the summit, it was 8.30 when i eventually reached the summit and the light was fading fast, i soon found a cosy spot to settle out of the cool breeze. A snug little spot facing Kirk Fell so i could see Andy coming and soak up the atmosphere of the mountains at night.
By 10.30 the atmosphere was no longer cosy and i had used all my water on cups of coffee trying to keep warm, the ground was beginning to sparkle from the frost, my hands and feet were going numb. Time to make a move and head off back to the car - i called my partner and informed her i would be no longer than an hour.
Heading over Green gable towards Honister i spotted lights coming from the direction of Pillar, great news, the boys are on their way, i turned around and headed back up Great Gable. Unfortunately i had lost phone signal so was not able to advise my partner of the change in plans.
12.30. The boys arrived and i was an hour late back to the car and freezing cold again. It took a further hour to get off the hills with Andy and back to Honister. Andy went straight through without stopping and i awaited a telling off from my partner. "Don't go into the Lakeland hills on your own at night and arrive back 2 hours late".
I spent the best part of 4 hours on Great Gable waiting in the cold but i now have the route off Great End sorted ready for the Cumbrian Traverse and Andy completed his BGR in good time - so a good result all round.
The plan was to reccie the descent off Great End towards Great Gable and meet up with Andy Blackett on his Bob Graham Round on Great Gable, he was going well, so between 10 & 11 pm seemed reasonable (ish), I had said i would have a cup of tea ready for his arrival.
I set off from Honister slate mines at 6pm and headed up to Grey Knott and on to Brandreth before taking a direct route, over to the foot of Great End. I planned my ascent and headed up the North west side. It soon became clear that this was not going to be as easy as it looked, after arriving at the top i decided i had previously chosen the correct route by descending off the north east end, so headed off this route through the craggs and made good time to the stretcher box at the bottom of Gable.
Great End
Dusk was looming so i set off up Great Gable with the intention off settling in for the long wait on the summit, it was 8.30 when i eventually reached the summit and the light was fading fast, i soon found a cosy spot to settle out of the cool breeze. A snug little spot facing Kirk Fell so i could see Andy coming and soak up the atmosphere of the mountains at night.
By 10.30 the atmosphere was no longer cosy and i had used all my water on cups of coffee trying to keep warm, the ground was beginning to sparkle from the frost, my hands and feet were going numb. Time to make a move and head off back to the car - i called my partner and informed her i would be no longer than an hour.
Heading over Green gable towards Honister i spotted lights coming from the direction of Pillar, great news, the boys are on their way, i turned around and headed back up Great Gable. Unfortunately i had lost phone signal so was not able to advise my partner of the change in plans.
12.30. The boys arrived and i was an hour late back to the car and freezing cold again. It took a further hour to get off the hills with Andy and back to Honister. Andy went straight through without stopping and i awaited a telling off from my partner. "Don't go into the Lakeland hills on your own at night and arrive back 2 hours late".
I spent the best part of 4 hours on Great Gable waiting in the cold but i now have the route off Great End sorted ready for the Cumbrian Traverse and Andy completed his BGR in good time - so a good result all round.
I'm just picturing another 'car park moment'! Poor Debbie.
ReplyDeleteWell done to Andy B.!