Scafell Pike

23 June 2013

Each year on the Summer Solstice many a walker, hiker and climber in the UK do the "Three Peaks". That's the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales and the goal is to climb them all within the same 24 hours as the longest day of the year.

Now, one would think that's either some short walking or lots of walking the dark. On the longest day of the year (daylight wise), at this latitude, there is almost 20 hours of daylight if you include twilight. When you consider a strong hiker can do each peak in about 4 hours, the challenge becomes one of transportation between the peaks.

The Three Peaks are: Ben Nevis in Scotland; Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in England.

Of course, Scafell Pike is in my back yard at the moment...

No, this will not be a description of my attempt at the challenge, but that unfortunately the many hikers that day leave tons of trash up on Scafell Pike and somebody needs to pick it up. The hikers don't.

I volunteered to join a small group that annually hikes up Scafell Pike on the day after the Three Peaks challenge with the objective being to make the top and then pick up trash on the return down. It's an opportunity to not only climb another mountain (it's not a fell, or hill, but real mountain) but also to meet some interesting people and give something back for all the walking I do in some very beautiful country.

Unfortunately, the forecast was for windy, cold and rain. So I left my camera at home, but I did bring my cell phone (which does of course have a camera, albeit a poor one).

The climb was fairly straightforward. We headed up the quick route, from Wasdale Head Inn we walked east over to Lingmell Gill, the path being very well worn and the stones emplaced more like stair steps, than a path. About halfway up (550m or so) we took a break at Brown Tongue to rest, get a snack and let the group get back together (okay, so I could catch up...).

I took this picture looking west towards the Irish Sea. The cloud layer is just above us, but that promontory is Buckbarrow, the lake being Wastwater. A keen eye (zoom into the picture) would show you Gosforth. To the left, the next fell is Illgill Head.

This doesn't look like much, but basically it's a picture of the top of the mountain. Scafell Pike to the left and Scafell to the right, Mickledore is a saddleback between them...of course with the cloud you can't see anything!

And shortly after we ended our break and got back on the trail up, we went into the clouds and there was nothing so see but large rocks and occasionally grass (not much up there, really). The cloud got so thick we really couldn't see more than about 20 feet in front of us.

Ultimately, the slope flattened a bit and suddenly a wind break loomed out of the fog. Basically a large stone fixture with no roof, it's a great place to get out the wind. It was very windy, easily 30 mph steady with gusts higher. We loaded up on calories again and after about 15 minutes of rest opened our trash bags and started back down to pick up the trash.

Besides the fact that trash shouldn't be there, you'd be surprised the trash we do find...we actually found a dead octopus, about a foot long! Obviously a prank. Gin bottles (that's a lot of weight to carry up, besides the foolishness of liquor), clothes enough to outfit a hiker, even the shoes! Lots of wet tissues and plastic bottles and candy wrappers. I reached the bottom with a full trash bag, as did the other 8 folks in my group. The sampling says there must be a full ton of trash on the mountain, given how much 8 people brought down.

It took longer to get down than to climb up, just do to the slow going as we picked up trash.

Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England. 977 meters, 7.1 miles, 8 hours.

Until next time...