The river crossing, but not today - Walking Scafell Pike from Wasdale
Walking Scafell Pike from Wasdale
This season has been quieter than usual for us in relation to Scafell Pike enquiries and bookings. Not sure why, maybe there is an ever increasing choice, maybe more people choose not to use a guide.
Thankfully, we have still been super busy, so a big thanks to all who have joined us on walks or other fun activities.
Today I was due to be guiding a father and son team to Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head. As is always the case, I checked the weather on a couple of websites, including the specialist MWIS service and all seemed pretty reasonable. Some overnight rain that may linger a little. But nothing to be concerned about.
As I left home in Ambleside this morning, the weather was a decent fit with the description I had read online. It was when I was driving through Little Langdale that the picture started to change, dramatically so.
The Wrynose Pass was more akin to a river, with rocks strewn across it. All the streams were in spate and the rain hammered down. All a bit bleak actually. Eskdale was worse, with significant flooding on the road and even in a car with lots of ground clearance I was being very cautious going through the standing water, some of it was over a foot deep! Driving into Wasdale was much the same. By now I knew we would need to revert to plan B or C. My main concern was being stranded by high water and unable to return home.
I met Rory and Alistair and explained my concerns. We also discussed the route up Scafell Pike and that it has a river crossing that wouldn’t be safe today. Whilst there is an alternative route to the summit that doesn’t require a river crossing, my feeling was we should be focusing on getting out of Wasdale fairly quickly as it was still raining quite hard and the water levels would be rising.
We made a plan to walk as far as the river crossing, to see just how wild the waters were. And we would reschedule for another bid on the summit next year. The path was more like a river and Lingmell Ghyll was massive and a wonderful sight. Isn’t nature amazing.
Alistair was just starting out on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and really enjoying hill walking. This gave us lots to talk about in general as well as the specifics of why and when we may turn back on a walk or call a walk off until another time. This felt like time very well spent and although we didn’t get the day we’d all hoped for, the weather has given us some positives as Alistair has seen a dynamic risk assessment in action and understood the reasonings.
Decisions like this are difficult to make. I certainly never take them lightly. But safety will always come first, everything else is secondary.
This brings me on to thinking about why people hire a mountain guide. Well there are lots of reasons why and I hope we fulfil what people are looking for, we certainly try our best.
But the really big one, the big why, is to make these challenging decisions at a moments notice. These are the decisions that make the difference between being safe and not. It’s getting on for 18 years now that we have been making these decisions and whilst we are not perfect, - who is - from a safety point of view we will always be on the cautious side of the fence as this is what helps keep us all safe and leads to the most memorable and enjoyable days out in the mountains.
Remember, the mountains will always be there for another day.
If you’re looking for a safe and adventurous day out in the mountains please do check out our walks and activities. And if you aren’t in the market for a guide, please take time to check out the Adventure Smart website for loads of helpful information.
Thanks for reading
Mark
Lingmell Ghyll in spate - Walking Scafell Pike from Wasdale
The summit on a clear day - Walking Scafell Pike from Wasdale