Lakes Mountain 42

[Travs]

Great write-up Nick.

I experienced much the same as you. On the way up to High Street I spotted the path dropping away left and knew to keep right. I think I may have then gone too far up to the right, as I found myself pretty much at the summit of Rampsgill Head.

I also had a brief dalliance with the path down to Hayswater, but like yourself corrected it, and a mad dash across rough ground and that steep sided stream, saved the situation.

It was certainly character building up on Place Fell, I wonder if the route would have even gone up there if the organisers had known the severity of the conditions up there...

[Chris K]

The upper ones are mostly Rowan, Willow in the wetter bits and Hawthorn in between - limited funds from the village and the cost of the guards meant little choice in the species. With the red deer herd up at around 300 over winter, we needed a very robust system for any chance of survival! It was certainly good training carrying gear up and down just the lower reaches of Place Fell.....

[BritNick]

Travs, seeing your reply describing your experiences brings it all flooding back. Most of us probably did the same thing, apart from the route choice approaching High Street. It's strange how the path seems to disappear into a no-man's land on that right turn before appearing again.
Did you see John Bamber's photos at Angle Tarn? The conditions look quite challenging there but they were benign compared with High Street and Place Fell.

Chris K, sounds good. The fell side will be transformed. I bet it was 'exciting' working on such a steep slope. The tendency to topple down the hill is almost overwhelming at times, isn't it?

[Travs]

Yes I saw John's photo's, very impressive.

I was actually a little cheesed off that he was there... after my little detour towards Hayswater, i'd put on a real push, and got myself on the tail of a little group of 4 or 5. They were just about to fly past the drop off for Angle Tarn, which would have put me theoretically in front of them, when John bellowed out "the tarn's down here" and they made a sharp left, saving the day for them. Probably not very sporting from myself, but it's a race after all...! Certainly wouldn't have left them to make such an error if they were heading up into the blizzard instead of down!

I didn't actually notice the conditions too much on High Street, I was too busy navigating and running hard. But on Place Fell I really suffered. Due to my injury I wasn't really moving fast enough to keep warm. Halfway between Boardale Hause and the summit I started to feel incredibly slow and sluggish, and realised I needed to sort myself out quickly. Sorted my layers out and put on a Primaloft, the hardest part being trying to put my gloves back on over my frozen hands. Luckily it worked and within 5 or so minutes I felt much better.

Everyone looking out for each other on top of Place Fell. I was grateful to two guys who checked on me about half a mile after the summit, I was sat down doing something with my kit, and probably looked in a bad way to anyone passing. I was completely fine and about to start moving again, but they duly checked on my welfare.

Looking forward to visiting the area again for the Tour De Helvellyn.

[Travs]

Was just looking through the archives on the Lake District Mountain Trial website, prior to sending off an entry, and noticed that in the 'infamous' 1962 trial in which there was only one finisher, the final couple of checkpoints were High Street and Place Fell.

So at the weekend we were quite literally following in the footsteps of a legend. Although I suspect conditions for us were a little easier, albeit colder...

[rileforce]

An amazing race... I loved your write up Nick!

It was a big shame no photos were added "camera failure" :-) I worked out who you are...it was great to meet you in the pub for a beer afterwards.

After Patterdale I didn't see a single person for two hours, I had a very lonely few minutes at the top of place fell.

A mixture of fear and panic came over me...*Where do I go...? I can't hang about here for long!*

It took me twenty seconds to think logically; get the compass out and head in the right direction.

It was a brilliant experience and my favourite race of the year.

I will certainly be coming back next year and plan to do TdH this winter.

[BritNick]

rileforce I did manage to eke out some photos and post them on Flickr. It seems I didn't put a link on here. Sorry.

Yes, I really enjoyed the pub session in the evening. I just hope we didn't cause too much disturbance to the few sleepyheads in the village hall afterwards.

[Chris K]

'Chris K, sounds good. The fell side will be transformed. I bet it was 'exciting' working on such a steep slope. The tendency to topple down the hill is almost overwhelming at times, isn't it?'

Yes! Some of the fit young volunteers couldn't believe the effort required to carry cages, posts and trees up, also Border TV had an 'interesting' time filming and interviewing. I think one or two of our 'plods' through the dead bracken may have tempted the odd runner to take a direct line onto Place Fell. Used to be a training route when I lived in the village.
Good photos by the way Nick!

[Travs]

'Chris K, sounds good. The fell side will be transformed. I bet it was 'exciting' working on such a steep slope. The tendency to topple down the hill is almost overwhelming at times, isn't it?'

Yes! Some of the fit young volunteers couldn't believe the effort required to carry cages, posts and trees up, also Border TV had an 'interesting' time filming and interviewing. I think one or two of our 'plods' through the dead bracken may have tempted the odd runner to take a direct line onto Place Fell. Used to be a training route when I lived in the village.
Good photos by the way Nick!

As i was heading up towards Boardale Hause, i noticed the 'official' direct route up to Place Fell, which starts a couple of hundred yards up the path from Side Farm, if i recall.

I think in 2016 when i took the direct route, i just blazed straight up without even looking for any trod or path, and probably made it even more difficult.

Fair play to anyone taking the direct route up there this year. It made me shudder at the thought in those conditions. Although i did spot at least one person heading up that way.