Thankfully the good weather continued and allowed us another great day winter mountaineering in the Lakes.
Scafell Sunset
Today it was just Peter & Myself, Will & Rob opted to chance the conditions would hold for a further day.
As we drove to the lakes the temps were to yoyoing between 1 & 4 degrees so after much discussion we eventually plumped for the Great End gulleys allegedly the most reliable crag in the lakes.
When we got there at least 6 other teams had the same idea so we geared up & set off to see what the conditions were like for ourselves.
Our chosen start was Central Gully a grade 2 in normal conditions today it was lean & hacked up. The early pitches were soloed & provided some good sport.
Starting Central Gully
When we reached the gully fork there were three teams in action right, middle & left, none of the options looked easy, the middle team finished first & so we followed them.
The route went into a corner which exited left on a spur of steep rotten ice, I caught up the team in front on the stance & we conferred that the pitch was probably grade 3 in the conditions of the day.
Join the queue
The rest of the climb went easy enough & we reached the summit as our beautiful day started to deteriate.
It was too late to start another route so I suggested that we make the most of the day by continuing along the ridge to Scafell even though it would mean getting back to the valley in darkness.
It was a great walk along the ridge with some amazing cloud formations, we were treated to a spectacular sunset on the summit, this descending in the dark is getting to be a bit of a habit, thankfully we got our Night Nav practice session in.
The day was rounded off with a quick pint by a roaring fire in the Scafell Hotel.
Finishing central Gully