Category: Helvellyn
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Red Tarn: A Bowl Carved by Ice
This is Red Tarn, tucked into the hollow beneath Helvellyn that looks like an armchair carved into the mountainside. The shape is no accident. It is the work of glaciers. The steep headwall of Helvellyn and the sharp ridges of Striding and Swirral Edges are the giveaway. Together they form a semi-circle. Geologists call this…
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Charles Gough’s Fatal Ascent and his Dog’s Vigil
It has been some time since I last dragged myself up Helvellyn via Striding Edge. Definitely before the pandemic chaos. This photograph, taken around midday, gazes slightly east of south. St. Sunday Crag and Fairfield flaunt a dusting of snow. A marvellous day: cloudless peaks, sub-zero temperatures, and a wind that was brisk enough to…
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Red Tarn
It’s good to be back in the Lakes even if only for a day trip. I could have packed my tent, camped high and not really increased the risk of spreading Covid-19. But the rule is no overnight stays and rules are rules. Filling the cirque below Helvellyn, Red Tarn is perhaps one of the…
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Striding Edge and Red Tarn
Overnight worries evaporated after a visit by the 4th emergency service for another glorious day on the fells. A welcoming breeze climbing Helvellyn along Striding Edge. Interestingly on this day in 1996 weather scientists predicted that global warming would have the effect of moving Britain 100 miles south in the next 25 years, bringing summer…