Scotch Mist and Scramble in Sandbed Ghyll

As the summer holidays approached, it was obvious the monsoons were about to kick in.  The steady drizzle of scotch mist on the windscreen as we headed down St. John’s in the Vale confirmed that the day’s options were indeed the wet wander or the even wetter scramble up a ghyll.  What I couldn’t believe was that for a couple of the day’s gang the concept of the “Ghyll Scramble”  was a completely untested idea. We set off in pretty crappy conditions with much chuntering going on and Martin upping the ante with tales of upgrading and “… it’s a 5 now!” “Never fear!”, replied I.  I’d been there before, I well recalled its November, pre annual dinner, pushover nature!!  Thing was though,...

Gillercombe Buttress Winter – Not Quite!

Went up to Gillercombe today to have a look at its eponymous buttress.   The 3-legged dog boy had given up walking duties for the day to tutor me in the art of scratching about.  As we walked up past a barely frozen white bordered Sour Milk Ghyll, Gillercombe looked “bloomin wonderful” but rather bare on the buttresses of “The Buttress”.  It was a stunning day but clearly the long eyeballed buttress climb wasn’t going to be on: at least not as a proper winter jaunt. Though we were somewhat disappointed, it’s always possible to find something to do.  Sure enough the chimneys and grooves of Grey Knotts Face; or a version of it, saved the day again. Avoiding the letterbox section we took a line to the right up wintriest looking...

Kandersteg Survived – Not Quite Bankrupt Yet

The trip to Kandersteg was a fantastic success.  I finally got out with Jessie and her Scouty pals on some reasonably high glaciers and even topped the trip off with a summit: the Hockenhorn.  That was the first time over 10,000 feet for most of the children. Highlights of the week included Walks up to Oeschinensee with the scouts and the Explorers.  What an idyllic place this is.  Even though it is an exceptionally easy access corrie thanks to the cable car, 5 minutes walking gets you away from the busiest “throngs”. Here everyone was getting stuck into a bit of cold lake swimming. Here’s granny giving it what for on the Rodelbahn – max speed 2 mph! Yeah man we’re really extreme !!! Jess gives it some welly jumping one of the many...