What I've Done

By JohnGravett

Scafell Pike from Scafell

Its a big mountain, so please view LARGE

The Summit of Scafell is only a few feet lower that that of Scafell Pike, and before the individual mountains were named, that whole ridge was known as the Scafells. Scafell retained the name because of its majesty and technical difficulty, with its "offshoots" referred to as its "pikes". It is a magnificent mountain, and despite it's (slight) lack of altitude, is far more technical than most routes up Snowdon or Ben Nevis. The top being a continuous, technical boulder field that takes immense care to navigate without mishap.

We chose a route different from any we had done before, choosing to start at Wasdale Head. A shorter walk in miles on plan, but far steeper. Thick cloud took away our views for much of the day, but after reaching the summit, continued on to Slight Side (a drop of 750 feet, then a climb of just 100 feet). The only sensible way to return however, rather that face unpathed knee-deep bogs on a direct route back, was to climb back to the top of Scafell, and return down the steep path we has ascended on.

Two more down:
Scafell 
Slight Side

15 to go!

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