With my enthusiasm for mountaineering growing everyday, I took the opportunity to get out into the hills in the ‘lull’ between Christmas and New Years day. Surely the most boring week of the year? Unless of course you have a passion for traffic, crowds and sales shopping. Needless to say, I do not!
Living in the flat lands of Cambridgeshire makes it all the more difficult to just pop out into the hills. The nearest range to be found in the Peak District, a mere 2.5hrs drive! Thankfully I have family in Manchester that can provide an excellent base camp (and of course it’s always good to catch up).
This last minute expedition meant I was going solo, something of which I had never thought such a good idea in the winter. That said, my confidence was sky high after Snowdon and with Kinder Scout standing at just 2087ft (compared with Snowdon’s 3560ft) I was confident all would be well. You can always turn back you know!
As I was now accustomed to, I planned the route in detail and left a copy with my family in case I shouldn’t return before nightfall. I did the same for my fiancé who was back at home. If anything this made me walk faster to prevent my mother or fiancé calling out the mountain rescue team prematurely!
The walk from Edale starts gently with a couple of miles of path through some rolling hills. I was disappointed the record snowfall, that had shut the main road to Edale just the week before, had largely disappeared. The path was easy going but every now and again a patch of solid ice had to be crossed. Reluctant to put on my crampons for a mere 10ft I wobbled and slipped my way over a number of ice patches. This was fine until one particularly slippy patch through me in the air only to land severely twisting my right knee.
A shooting pain went through my leg as I quickly jumped up. I could walk and I hoped the pain would subside. The thought occurred to me; what if I couldn’t walk? Whilst I had gained little height it would be difficult for anyone to carry me out of here on foot given the large ice patches.
Covered in mud head to toe I took a minute to clean up using water from a nearby stream and my water bottle. I thought it would also be a good opportunity to see how effective my clothing was at keeping the water out. Very good, it seems. As I was cleaning up I saw another hiker heading for the same patch of ice. I warned him of the super slippy surface and he took note, only to suffer the same fate as I. Now there were two of us down by the river. I wished him all the best and carried on. N.B – 4 months on I still suffer with my knee albeit intermittently. A lesson to learn: Call it a day and get home for some rest.
Once the rolling hills were done, the ground steepens as you start to ascend to Jacobs Ladder. Keen to avoid any further injuries I avoided ice at all costs, although in places this was impossible. However, I was surprised to find that in general the route was still very easy going.
Jacobs ladder put a stop to that. A series of steep steps justified its name. With plenty of time I took it fairly easy and took regular breaks as I ascended. That said, when I saw another party catching me up my pace seemed to get quicker. Some mountaineering pride at stake? After the ladder I ascended for another hour to the Summit.
The Kinder Scout Summit plataea is notorious for reducing visibility to zero and subsequently it is quite common to find lost climbers wandering around the top looking for the summit cairn. I ended up being one of them. As soon as I hit the plateau the mist came down. I could just about see my hand in front of my face. I used my compass and map to navigate to the cairn but just couldn’t seem to find it. After about 20 minutes I was about to concede defeat when I heard two gentleman talking about what types of sandwiches they had for lunch. Was I hearing voices? Going crazy in the mountain mist? I followed their sound and to my surprise found the cairn a mere 10ft away from where I was standing. If it wasn’t for them I would have never found it.
I walked up and exchanged pleasantries. We shared in our delight at being out in the hills far away from the madness of Christmas. We agreed our better halves were probably very pleased as well. Spending three days cooped up inside with ‘outdoors’ people is never good! We spent a few minutes exchanging information about our kit (mountaineers love a bit of kit) and then I wished them well as I started to head back down. As I began my descent the cloud cleared for a couple of minutes offering a spectacular view. I took advantage with some photos and then carried on.
The route back was easy to follow and within 1.5hrs I was back at the car. Disappointed mind that the pub was shut for the winter. Without a drink to warm up I hopped in the car and returned back to the hustle and bustle of the city. Now to plan the next climb?
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