Into a Cold Embrace by Hannah James, Trail Magazine
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Go The Lakes in Winter Levers Water looked calm as we walked by; but that Do The Coniston Fells was about to change... f I went through the motions as many times as possible it would become natural. There would be nothing to worry INTO A about. It would be fine. It was nearly two years ago since I passed my winter skills course, and said skills were a little rusty. Nerves were getting the better of me. I swung my axe again. If the worst happened, I’d remember how to do an ice axe arrest. I’d chosen this route as an entry-level winter adventure, as a good stepping stone and confidence boost for getting back into the winter mountains. It didn’t require anything too technical – I hoped. With a white cloak snapping in the wind behind him, The Old COLD Man of Coniston stood high above us. At first glance it seemed peaceful enough, resting against a pale grey sky; but when we looked closer there was trouble looming in the creeping black clouds and the ever-increasing ferocity of the spindrift swirling higher and higher. As we meandered our way through the old copper mines of Coniston the rain pitter-pattered on our raised EMBRACE hoods, sounding much worse than it really was and deafening � Don’t let winter lock you out of the mountains. But remember– they can bite. WORDS HANNAH JAMES PHOTOGRAPHS TOM BAILEY I 28 TRAIL MARCH 2017 MARCH 2017 TRAIL 29 Coniston Fells each of us to conversation. As solid-soled winter boots Left: stay in Coniston rolled over stony tracks, we ascended the mountain, Coppermines Youth Hostel to walk enjoying being wrapped up against the temperamental straight onto the hill! elements. The access track took us straight to Levers Above: swapping Water, where we entered The Prison – an ominous- poles for ice axe. sounding name marked on the OS map. Just as we hit the snow line the sun broke through, catching on soft Right: starting snowflakes. It looked rather idyllic; so why on earth to climb the Prison Band. was this place called The Prison? Unbeknown to me at the time, it is in fact an area that’s notorious with Coniston Mountain Rescue. Tempting-looking paths lure walkers down steep Thurso slopes, renowned for good scrambling and climbing, ISLE OF LEWIS where they often become cragfast. This is certainly a HARRIS Lairg place where you need to know your way around a map Ullapool and compass. The first kick of nerves came with the NORTH UIST return of the group of three walkers who had been ISLE OF SKYE Inverness SOUTH UIST Portree Shiel Bridge ahead of us. We’d seen them disappear over the CANNA Aviemore Aberdeen Prison Band as specks in the distance, but almost RUM Inverie EIGG Mallaig Invergarry Braemar Fort William immediately they reappeared and backtracked over COLL TIREE the slope above us. Doubt started to eat away at me MULL Oban Great Carrs as I worried we’d taken on more than we were capable as it strikes with full force, churning up a Grey Friar Swirl How Wetherlam of. Why had those walkers returned? cauldron of dark clouds in the skies above. JURA Black Sails Glasgow Edinburgh Swirl P Hause The higher we climbed, the louder the howling Like a jagged and rather warped stairway Great How Crags riso ISLAY Berwicklll-upon-Tllweed n Strenuousness Little How Crags B sounded in our ears and the harder our coats cracked to heaven, the Prison Band led straight upwards a ISLE Navigation lllll n against our bodies. Holding onto hoods and hats we into that murk – and that’s where we were going. OF ARRAN Ayr Jedburgh Brim Fell d Technicality lllll Ballantrae Above Beck Fells reached Swirl Hawse, the col between Swirl How and Above: graupel The hammering of my heart was loud in my ears as TRAIL’SDumfries ROUTE Newcastle Londonderry Newton Stewart Dow Crag Goat’s Black Sails, and with ice underfoot we came head snow looks like excitement – and nerves – flooded through me as we -upon-Tyne ASHCROFT JEREMY Stranraer Carlisle Hause polystyrene balls. on into a raging northerly wind. Bracing against the started to climb. I could do this. Donegal Belfast Keswick Penrith Levers Middlesbrough onslaught, it soon became apparent that this was Ice covered every boulder, glassy and smooth where Coniston Old Man Water Below: catching going to be a true test of strength – standing strong the wind couldn’t reach it, but rough and scoured on Windermere Kendal Northallerton Low Water the rare rays of sun Ingleton Buck Pike against winds of over 50mph is tiring. Exalting, every exposed surface. Although it had looked daunting Bentham Goat’s before the climb York Lancaster Water though. Picture it: holding your own against the wind into the cloud. from below when stood high over Levers Water, we Skipton Leeds found our footing in gaps in the rocks where the snow Dublin Liverpool Manchester was softer and easy to walk on. Scooping a handful Rhyl Yew Pike DistanceConway 13.7km Bodelwyddan Sheffield of snow up, the lump disintegrated into tiny little (8½ miles) YHA Betws-y-Coed Co balls – much like polystyrene. Called graupel, it’s often Time 4½Llang hoursollen pp er (6 hours in snow) Derby m mistaken for hail but is actually very soft and crumbly. Barmouth The Bell in e Tralee Total ascent 974m Little Arrow Moor s Dingle Aberystwyth Peterborough It’s one to watch out for as it can act like ball bearings, Birmingham V Waterford Map OS Explorer The Cove a Killarney ll making snow unstable and often being the layer that ey Cork Cardigan (1:25,000)Hay-on- OL6Wye Kenmare gives way, causing an avalanche. Casting my memory Start/finishBrecon car parkGlouce ster back I recalled winter skills, where the importance of in Coniston village Oxford Pembroke (SD303976) Cove Bridge keeping track of the weather in the week before your Swansea Cardiff walk was impressed upon us. Interested, we dug down Bristol YHA into the gully to see if we could see any obvious layers Minehead Wa lna r Road from the past week – where a slab of snow may break Southampton Sca Brighton Coniston off later in the season – but none showed. Exeter Poole Banishead Moor START/ FINISH Swirl How was the second highest point of our walk, Bodmin Plymouth N missing out by a mere metre to The Old Man. With the NORT H initial climb conquered, we felt confident that the worst � 30 TRAIL MARCH 2017 MARCH 2017 TRAIL 31 The higher we climbed, the louder the howling... Coniston Fells was behind us. We’d easily navigated our way up quickly and we were soon back out into the cloud. Left: the wind kicked with some sharp, snow-scoured drops. Mean it proved the winter mountains for somebody looking to build Left: enjoying the through the snow and cloud, a huge boost to our Lying directly south of Swirl How, it was a simple up a notch approach- to be, as descending Brim Fell the winds decided that confidence, but although it’s an easy climb in the last patch of snow. ing the col between confidence. The summit of Swirl How is marked by a course to The Old Man. With the wind now at our we’d had it too easy. There was no gentle warning that summer it had tired us quickly with the addition of Black Sails and Above: made it! monster cairn, letting walkers know they’re on course backs the broad summits of Great How and Little How Swirl How. they were about to change tack – oh, no. As though snow and wind. On the summit of – and to mark the sharp drop into the Greenburn Crags made for easy walking. Crunching under our somebody was there watching our every move, in The snowline was a distinct boundary, and once The Old Man of Valley. With no other shelter in sight we whipped out a boots, the snow was thin and hard but for the raised Above: getting the the wind came, perfectly timed with the moment our crossed the mountain tops felt far away, untouchable. Coniston. bothy bag shelter and settled down to eat, thankfully footsteps of people who had gone before us. These bothy bag ready feet touched the icy path. It hit, not from behind like We’d left the wild world of snow, ice and wind behind for our lunch stop. Below: strolling not taking to the skies as the bag caught the wind. A boot-shaped mounds of hardy, compacted snow clung we might have expected, but from the east, nearly us and we now had access to well-worn paths again. towards The Old bothy bag is a truly wonderful piece of kit; but despite on to the mountain side like odd little limpets, marking Right: rime ice forms taking us off our feet down the western slopes. With There was no wind down here to stall us, and even the Man... before giving fantastic relief from the elements, I can promise the way forward. quickly up here. every muscle working to keep upright and true to the rain had stopped. It seemed altogether too still and the wind hit. you it is not the best place to be when a companion As we crossed the broad summit of Brim Fell the path, we shuffled forward before a brief break in the calm after the bracing mountain tops. Walking became whips out a tin of mackerel.