Himalayan heroes blow away their winter cobwebs on Scales Fell

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/12/blencathra-lake-district-himalayan-heroes

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For 50 years it has been a tradition for Carlisle Mountaineering Club members to climb Blencathra on Boxing Day. Towering above Threlkeld and the A66, the saddle-backed mountain also attracts other climbers on the day, Sir Chris Bonington, Doug Scott and Simon Yates often numbering among them. This last Boxing Day was no exception as scores of Gore-Tex-clad souls clambered up the ridges tumbling like pleats of a kilt down to Threlkeld and the A66.

Since then the slopes have been quiet, a few walkers apart, on these wet days with high winds likely and buzzards blown from the sky, though I saw two red foxes in Doddick Ghyll this week. Sharp Edge was the one ridge mostly bypassed by the Boxing Day throng as it was slick with verglas. The one or two exceptions were climbers wearing crampons, which stick to ice like flypaper.

Described as Blencathra's "shining beacon" by Alfred Wainwright, who also wrote that the sight of it at close quarters was sufficient "to make a beholder forget all other worries, even a raging toothache", Sharp Edge is a Lake District accident blackspot. The mountain rescue team have even fixed a stainless steel bolt into the rock to serve as an anchor during rescue operations. Resembling a billhook, with Foule Crag its wickedly curved tip, this final flourish looks daunting but can be skirted to one side, up awkward slabs.

Scales Fell was the popular Boxing Day choice, the splendid ridge that soars to the 2,848ft summit above its tarn, deep in the bosom of Blencathra. After descending this way, everyone then repaired to the pub for the annual get-together of Great Border City fellgoers. Scott ruled himself out of the ascent as an ankle damaged when he crawled for eight days down the Kararakorum's Ogre 25 years ago is playing up. For now he is using crutches and aimed instead for the bar.

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