Diversion to Scafell Pike

August 2012

A week in the Lake District gave us the chance to do some higher-altitude training. As novices to the area we decided to start at the top - by climbing England’s highest peak Scafell Pike.

A glorious sunny morning beckoned as we set off from Seathwaite at 7.56am. Our plan was to ascend the Corridor route and back down Grains Gill. It didn’t quite go to plan however! Grey wagtail seen in the stream on the way to Stockley Bridge. Have to say I expected a grander bridge as it was marked on the map but it was fairly obvious when we reached it at 1.3km, 8.25am. Here the path splits with the left hand fork going up Grains Gill and the right hand heading towards Styhead which was our route.

From Stockley Bridge.

The diminutive Stockley Bridge.

We now started going up a bit more steeply and followed the stream until we got our first view of the mountains ahead. Didn’t know which was which and it transpired that it would be a few hours till we caught a glimpse of Scafell Pike. 

Reached Styhead tarn at 9.12am, 3.5km. Some wild campers were going for a swim; imagine the water temperature was pretty cool. Just a short distance ahead was the Stretcher Box, apparently famous enough to merit capital letters. Took a couple of photos of the box  and agreed our main objective was to avoid needing it being brought into use.

Styhead Tarn.

The famous Styhead Stretcher Box.

And this is where it went a bit haywire. According to our guide book, purchased the day before in Keswick, the Corridor route heads runs up to the coll between Great End and Ling Mell. Now that’s fine if you know what you are looking at; the hills unfortunately don’t have nameplates on so we were trying in vain to identify the peaks from the OS map. Easy in Shropshire where the bumps are pretty obvious, but here there are so many peaks it is easy to get confused.

















We started off on what we thought was the right path and crossed a gill as suggested but the path seemed to peter out and we ended up at a very unsafe looking crossing point on the next gill. Having concluded that the Corridor route would be a much clearer path we decided to backtrack towards Styhead and try again. (Learnt later on that even the best-known paths are not always that clear to find on the ground.)

Somewhere here is the Corridor route.

Anyone seen the Corridor route?

Having wasted around an hour and a half and gone 5.7km, we then took the Esk Hause path as we resolved to only take proper-looking paths, and thought we would surely find the turn onto the Corridor route soon.






















After a coffee and sandwich break we ended up at Sprinkling Tarn and finally worked out where we were; not where we intended to be but there was a route to the summit from here as well. Intriguingly Sue received a text message from T-Mobile saying welcome to the Isle of Man; we knew we had got lost but were not quite that far off track!

Low cloud over Sprinkling Tarn.

We saw other walkers for the first time which was reassuring at least and then quite a crowd of people heading up towards Broad Crag at 8km, 11.45am.










The route went past the cross-shaped windbreak stone walls which was noted in our guide book and up between Broad Crag and Ill Crag. Here we met our first boulder field. An interesting experience and the route was identified by kind souls who had built a series of cairns to show the right way.

Windbreak above Esk Hause.

The final ascent up to Scafell Pike was pretty busy with the sound of boots slipping on the loose scree. After a quick bite to build energy for the final climb we headed upwards for our first scramble. A descending walker assured us we were only 20 minutes from the top.

Boulder field. 

First glimpse of the summit/ 

Final ascent to Scafell.

Arrived at the summit at 1.25pm, having gone 10.6km but it felt like a lot more. It was a bit like Picadilly Circus on top but it didn’t spoil it in any way. It is reassuring that there are lots of people who care enough about our wild places to get out and make the effort to climb them. When we were climbing up we had intended to go back the same way, having been warned in the guide books that it can be difficult to see clear paths off the summit. That might be a problem if you were here on your own but with dozens arriving and departing every minute, it was fairly clear and we also found a knowledgeable local who told us how to reach the Corridor route. 

Busy at the summit.

Sue at the trig point.

Success: I've climbed Scafell Pike!

Don't expect much of a view from the top.

And so have I!

The first part of the decent was straightforward and very busy. A few very ill-equipped walkers passed us on their way up and we had our doubts whether they would make it given the amount of huffing and puffing on the lower slopes. We eventually found the route rightwards towards the Corridor route. It wasn’t terribly clear but we had been warned not to veer to the left as that would mean ending up in Wasdale, miles from the car!

As soon as we took the Corridor route we were virtually on our own. It’s obviously a feature of this mountain that there are so many possible routes that crowds converge at the top, but it thins out considerably lower down. Reached Piers Gill at 2.36pm, 12.7km. shortly afterwards we arrived at a vertical wall, with an arrow marked ‘Corridor’ heading up. We thought it must be a joke but another walker arrived and assured us that this was the way and referred us to Wainwright’s advice to avoid the tempting path around the side as that went in completely the wrong direction. This was a full hands and feet job, we had anticipated scrambling but this was much closer to climbing albeit only for a short way, with a ravine neatly placed below.

Styhead Tarn with Derwent Water in the distance.

Wast Water seen from descent of Scafell Pike.

As we neared Styhead, we realised that we had only missed the Corridor route earlier on by a short way. Our expectations of a wide, well-trodden path were clearly wide of the mark as well although going down we at least had the tarn to head for. Arrived back at the Stretcher Box at 4pm, 15.6km.

Great Gable: one for our next visit.

The return to Seathwaite was at least heading down but still quite gruelling and we realised that we hadn’t had a level path without rocks and uneven ground all the way. We arrived back at the farm at 5.26pm and then to the car a few minutes later having completed 19.6km. Tired but very satisfied!