Quote Originally Posted by Baggins View Post
Last week coming off Skiddaw went to the left of hare crag rather than over it, horrendous, I was bashing through knee deep heather most of the time or following ditches, I take it the way to go is over hare crag that would mean joining the road skiddaw house near the south ridge.

I then went up Great galva between dead beck and the south ridge which was not much better, dropped off galva via the ground to the right of the fence, this was not too bad compared to where I'd been but looking back from Mungrisdale common the south ridge looked a better line.

So is it quicker to use the south ridge for both ascent and descent or is there a secret dry path hidden in the heather.


Bill
There is a path through that goes on the left side of hare crag, crosses a small bridge and then follows the beck line to calva - it is much better than over the heather although resembles a stream at times.

What you do is go 400m along the path from Skiddaw, and the moment it flattens out at a col dead recon a bearing over the fence to hare crag. I havent missed it yet, even in thick clag: but at night it is worth spreading out so that someone spots the trod. although all the routes seem to converge unless you are way off .

The south ridge is a misnomer, the ridge goes SW and it is much shorter heather than south which although good running 5 years ago is a nightmare now. Going SW is fast certainly half way down, and I think it may be worth sacrificing distance to come even further down that way.

About 150m W of the sheepfold near the caldew ( see aerial photos) there is a place to cross the river without getting wet feet clinging to a fence, but I missed it last time out - havent seen it in 3-4 years injured , but presume is still there


PS

If you read Yiannis' 60@60 he talks of being shown a fast descent from seat sandal on a more direct route. I asked him about it, but he was a bit more non commital than the report suggests. Is there a better way off? I once tried going SW lovely running down , crossing the far end of dunmail and up the ridge of steel fell, but It is certainly longer than the normal route?