Bow Fell & Scar Fell Pike Loop (Cumbria) 11/28/11

[Guy]

What the hell do you want?

Friday 10/28/11 Brother in Law Tim & I headed out to Climb up England's Tallest Mountain, Scar Fell Pike by way of Bow Fell & Esk Pike.

We set off from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Langdale at about 7:45 and made our way up trail towards Crinkle Crags & Bow Fell, the Sun came up over the hills at about 8:20.



We took a secondary but more exciting route to the summit of Bow Fell by way of the Climbers Traverse



& then up the side of the Great Slab.



The photo below is of the Great Slab & the Climbers Traverse taken from below on our hike out at the end of the day. If you look closely you can just about make out the traverse at the base of the main rock face.



The Bow Fell Summit was in thick cloud & a bit windy so we didn't hang around for long before heading on to Esk Pike by way of Ore Gap. Though we did almost walk around in a circle on Bow Fell before figuring out which way we needed to go in the Pea Soup Fog!


Bow Fell Summit (2959')

As we dropped down off Bow Fell we got below the slowly rising cloud layer but the wind was blowing a gale through Ore Gap & on the Summit of Esk Pike.




Esk Pike Summit (2904')

As we came down off Esk Pike the weather again improved & heading towards Esk Hause we could see people coming hiking up from many directions for the climb up to Sca Fell Pike.


Descending Esk Pike

From Esk Hause the trail climbs & drops twice as you make your way over first Ill then Broad Crags. Some times the walking was easy going, other times it was slow as we made our way over seemingly never ending rock fields!




Tim on the final Stretch up to the Summit.




Sca Fell Pike Summit (3209').

After lunch on top we began our descent.




A look back at the Summit.

Once we got back to Esk Hause instead of climbing back up & over Esk Pike & Bow Fell again we headed down to the trail to Angie Tarn



And then on down to Rosset Gill & Mickledon Beck.



Hiking out along the foot of Langdale Pikes back to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel where 2 restorative pints of Cumberland Ale were imbibed in the Hikers Bar.


Langdale Pikes


Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel

All told 14 miles and 5550' of Elevation Gain.

A few more pics of the day can be found here.

[Eric Peterson]

Jealous meter just went bezerk!! Very nice Guy!

[mayhem]

Way cool! Guy I bet your glad you do not wear a wig, because that thing would have been lost forever up in the jet stream!! Thanks again for sharing from abroad! That first Pic is a classic!

[Peder]

2 restorative pints of Cumberland Ale were imbibed in the Hikers Bar.

Did you remember to have a chip butty with the pints?

[Splintercat]

Wonderful, Guy! Wow... my jealous meter is spiking, too. Especially when I saw this:



Amazing terrain! BTW, for you non-geocentric types wondering why 3,000 foot peaks would be above the tree line, one reason is that the northern part of England is about the same latitude as Ketchikan, so without the influence of the Gulf Stream, there would likely be tidewater glaciers flowing off these peaks, too. I believe there are some cultural explanations, too, is that right Guy?

Tom

[Guy]

Thanks guys, Peder, I had more chip butties than one man should be allowed to eat!

Tom, yeah after a bit of reading up on the subject it seems that after the ice last retreated from Cumbria about 10,000 years ago the Tree line made it up to about 2500' but the climate was apparently much warmer then than it is now. Under the current climate without man's influence the tree line would only be about 1500'.

All the valleys between the fells & the lower half of the slopes would still be forested with a mixed woodland if it wasn't for sheep! It was actually the Vikings that started clearing the Fells for sheep grazing about 1000 years ago and the most common sheep breed on the fells today (and the one in the photo of my post) is still the Herdwick the breed they brought to the country.