It was a real pea souper when we left York but by the time we got to Sheffield the cloud was showing signs of lifting & by the time we got to Hope the cloud had lifted leaving a clear frosty landscape.
Into the Woodbine Café for Coffee & some of us ordered food.
'Peri & Jim entering Winnats Pass'
While we waited for our 4th member Brian to catch up, incoming message, our man was held up by an accident on high road from Stocksbridge.
He would catch us up later, so we parked up at Castleton & set off slowly walking up to the Winnat’s Pass.
'Jim starting the first steep section of Elbow Ridge'
When we got to the foot of Elbow Ridge it was in shadow & well iced up while the upper sections of both ridges were basking in sunlight. The idea was to solo but I kept the rope handy in case it was required, the first section of the ridge is a steep arête, this was steady away.
The second section follows an exposed knife edge ridge & it was covered in verglass & very tricky standing up so we adopted the a’cheval method.
'Brian demonstrating the a'cheval method'
Jim & Peri were on the ridge & I was taking photos when phone rang, Brian was very close & could see us so I waited for him.
How did we manage before we got mobile phones
He quickly caught us up & we progressed onto the warmer upper ridge, this had no ice on it at all & was a breeze.
After topping out & a breather we descended to the start of Matterhorn Ridge.
'The final section of Elbow Ridge'
This is actually graded Vdiff harder than Elbow ridge which is a Diff. The big difference was that this ridge was in sunshine so despite being very exposed it felt much easier.
Everyone was soon on the top, we decided to have a coffee break, the day had developed into a stunner & we could not have asked for better.
'The team makes it to the top of Mam Tor'
The scrambling now finished we walked past Blue John Caverns & up to the summit of Mam Tor there were a lot of walkers & cyclists around now.
Both Peri & Brian need to be back to the car by 16.00 so I did a quick calc & decided to increase the pace.
'Returning to Castleton past the scenic Peveril Castle'
The route then followed Rushop Edge, crossed farmland & quarry to reach the very impressive Limestone Way that took us past the picturesque Peveril Castle & back to Castleton arriving back at 16.00 on the dot.
A great day out, hope everybody it. I certainly did & got some good photos.
then back home thoroughly cream crackered for hot cups of tea and crumpets by the fire – oh, wait no, straight to the york wall for several hours route setting! Oh my aching arms and legs…
I got off lightly. Only stripped a route and sorted out a few bolts, holds and screws, legs were a bit tired Sunday though.
Sounds truly awful. I'm so glad we spent the weekend in Sussex in the rain.