Another fine, bright (if early) morning and our kit was already packed so we were well ahead of the crowds as we pulled into a field and parked opposite the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Langdale. Stopping in the bar to use the loo - sorry - to pay the parking fee was the only delay before heading up the path which parallels Stickle Ghyll and leads up to the tarn. Well, that and the fact we couldn't find our way out of the pub garden...
I just put my head down and pushed myself up the "made" path, criss-crossing the frozen beck and pausing every so often for Sue to catch up (and for me to catch my breath). Before long we could see queues of cars heading into the valley delivering more bodies who, like a row of ants, were soon wandering up the path behind us.
Before long the path narrowed, entering a confining gulley, and we crossed the beck on frosty, snow covered rocks before pulling up and into the hollow where Stickle Tarn sits, reflecting the south east facing crag of Pavey Ark.
Pavey Ark across Stickle Tarn
After a few minutes admiring the view and deciding not to walk straight across the frozen tarn, we were off again, around the tarn to the foot of the crag. It was at this point we enjoyed a philosophical discussion regarding the concepts involved in walking, scrambling and climbing. When I say enjoyed, it was perhaps more of a matter of enlightenment. For me. I subsequently had a crystal clear understanding of just what parts of my anatomy Sue was going to remove should this walk turn into a climb rather than a scramble. And I was sure, no, certain, that there would be ice on Jack's Rake. Jack's Rake being our route to the top of Pavey Ark and, as famously described by A W Wainwright, the limit to what a walker should reasonably attempt.... I was convinced that while we'd get to the top, perhaps not all of me would be coming down again!
Sue SMILING at the foot of Jack's Rake
Technically, not Walking but Scrambling. Definitely not Climbing!
Excellent progress was made right up until we found the icy section. Photographs are now noticeable by their absence; I was busy with the rope which came out to give Sue a little confidence, secured from a first rate rock-spike belay where I could sit and watch the rope with my legs firmly crossed. We were both safe!
Once over this minor hiatus all was good, scrambling up the long slanting groove come ledge to finish with a steep rising traverse across a clean slab. Success - we were at the top, no epics and physically intact. Just in time for lunch.
Phew - I think that I got away with it!
Crinkle Crags to Great Gable - the heart of the Lakes
Below Thorn Crag on our way back to the NDG
Dougal raring to go...
