Helm Crag (the Lion and the Lamb) - A Walkers Guide

Start/Finish : Grasmere Village
Wainwrights : Helm Crag (1329 feet / 405 meters)
Distance : 3 miles
Time : 2-3 hours

The Route

I wrote this guide for a friend but thought it worth publishing on the blog as others may find it useful. This is the classic day hike up and down Helm Crag which, for good reason, is trodden by many thousands of people every year. It is particularly suited to those making their first foray into fell walking as it has all the virtues of a perfect Lakeland hike, but in miniature. Wainwright described it as "a brief essay in real mountaineering". 

   3D Fly-Through of the Route + 5 Descent Options

It is an easy climb which offers fantastic views over to neighbouring fells and down to the lake of Grasmere. It also has one of the best summits in all the Lake District with an abundance of interesting rocky scenery. My son managed it easily when aged 4 and I have seen folk in their 90's enjoying this climb. It really is a family fell and a great introduction to hiking. Cumbria Tourism produced an excellent free 'Wainwright Audio Guide' podcast intended to be used while on the walk and I have linked to this here (to download the free 15 minute mp3 file right click on the link and select 'save link as'), or you can listen via the embedded player below. Narrated by Wainwright impersonator Nik Wood-Jones, this is closest you can get to walking in the company of the great man himself. 




The walk starts in Grasmere village where there are numerous public car parks. Helm Crag is clearly visible from the Grasmere area and the 'lion & lamb' summit rock formations can be seen clearly from most vantage points. 

An autumnal Helm Crag over Grasmere

Helm Crag and Gibson Knott from the north - over the Greenburn valley

Helm Crag from the south in mid summer

Zoomed in on the 'Lion and the Lamb' summit profile from Grasmere

Head off up Easedale Road (opposite the famous Sam Read bookshop), walking towards Helm Crag which is visible for most of the way. After about 1/2 mile the road passes through a gate and enters a meadow in the grounds of Lancrigg. Continue along the road until it reaches the start of the footpath between some cottages. Take the right fork up a cobbled path through some woodland and then another right at the T-junction following signs for Helm Crag. After a short distance take the obvious leftwards path up to some wooden fencing and then follow the dry stone wall up a steepish section until the wall end. At this point the path turns leftwards (west) and continues to rise less steeply. Don't forget to glance backwards at Grasmere and over to the far left as Easedale Tarn comes into view. 

Looking down on a frozen Grasmere during a winter ascent ...

... and over to Easedale Tarn in the summer

The path soon climbs up onto a rocky outcrop (Jackdaw Crag) which is a great spot to sit and rest for 10 minutes while admiring lovely views over the Easedale valley. 

Having recharged the batteries, rejoin the path which soon turns eastwards onto more grassy terrain, eventually emerging onto a wide plateau where the view opens up to reveal much higher neighbouring mountains over Dunmail Raise. The large fells which dominate the scene are Seat Sandal, Fairfield & Great Rigg which should whet the appetite as objectives for another day. 

Views over to Seat Sandal and Fairfield

 From here the summit is just a short climb away and once there, a leisurely exploration is well worthwhile. The first set of rocky protuberances are the 'lion & lamb' formations seen from Grasmere. 

 

The 'Lion and the Lamb' from the other side

From here follow the wide summit plateau along to the other striking rocky feature, the 'Howitzer', at the northern end. So named as it appears as if a giant artillery gun is pointing skywards. The top of the Howitzer represents the true summit but does require some 'rock climbing' to get there. Those of a nervous disposition would be best avoiding this little challenge and be comforted in the knowledge that Alfred Wainwright himself never managed to reach the true top.

The 'Howitzer'

To get to the true summit requires some scrambling

Helm Crag summit plateau panorama looking north ...

... and south

 

         Fully Labelled Summit View Video

From here most folk will return to Grasmere via the same route and be content with their 2-3 hours effort. However, if you have surplus time and energy then a number of routes are available to extend the walk. An additional 2 hours will take you northwards along the ridge to Gibson Knott and Calf Crag from where you can return to Grasmere via the far Easedale valley. That route is described here. 

Alternatively, from Calf Crag you could return via the lovely & quiet Greenburn valley, or extend the walk over to Steel Fell (see the video at the top of the page for 3D Fly-Through route guides).

Fit and experienced walkers could go on up to High Raise and then return via Sergeant Man and Easedale Tarn, or via the Blea Rigg to Silver How ridge. There are many options, but while other nearby fells may offer better views and more challenging walking, none have a summit to compete with Helm Crag itself.    




  

A Winter Hike in the Coniston Fells

Date : 30th January 2015
Start/End : Coniston Village
Wainwrights : Dow Crag, Old Man of Coniston
Distance : 8.8 miles  (14.2km)
Height Gained : 2861 feet  (872 meters)
Time Taken : 6 and 1/2 hours
 

Map of the route. Click to zoom.

Due to a busy work schedule robbing me of all my free time over the past few months I have been frustratingly lacking fell time .... until now. Thankfully things are quietening down and I had a free Friday and a reasonably favourable forecast with the promise of some fresh snow on the ground. And so I headed off to the Coniston area where I had an appointment with Dow Crag, the only one of the Coniston Fells that I hadn't yet climbed. 

The forecast was for clear skies but a bitterly cold northerly gusting up to 40mph. So it turned out to be, but being on the sheltered side of the fells along the Walna Scar Road for the first few hours gave a bit of early respite. Only the racing clouds overhead gave any clue to the fierce winds yet to come. Sure enough, on gaining the ridge at Brown Pike the full force of the wind became evident, and it was indeed bitingly cold. It was an exhilarating hike though, along the ridge up to Dow Crag, following which I was positively blown up onto the summit of Coniston Old Man. I've never has such an, 'assisted' ascent.

 
A 5 minute video of the day

Sun rise from the walna scar road

Looking towards Wetherlam ....

... and the Old Man of Coniston under cloud

The onwards path: It's a shame to make foot prints in there - so I didn't !

The Brown Pike to Dow Crag ridge

The Old Man of Coniston

On the ascent of Brown Pike

Buck Pike and Coniston Old Man

Brown Pike summit

Looking along the ridge to Buck Pike

A 'glimpse' of Blind Tarn

Blind Tarn from Buck Pike

Dow Crag

A scary looking gulley

Dow Crag summit view over to the Old Man of Coniston

I got the Kestrel weather gizmo out on the summit of Dow Crag and measured -2 C, wind average 38mph and windchill -12.5 C. Brrrrrr !

Dow Crag summit panorama

Dow Crag summit panorama

My brew spot sheltered from the wind with views of Goats Water

Looking onwards to the 'Old Man' ...

... and back to Dow Crag

Views of the Scafells

Approaching the 'Old Man' summit with views down to Coniston Water

The Old Man of Coniston summit

Views north towards Swirl How

Wetherlam over Small Water

Levers Water creeping into view

The way down

It was great fun wading downhill through lovely deep powder snow. It made for a quick and easy descent.

Small Water

It was fun wading down through this stuff!

Going down the old quarry path

A last look back towards Wetherlam in the setting sunlight.

Kit Thoughts

Cold and windy with some deep powder snow was the order of the day today. I wore the Rab Vapour Rise jacket over a thin base layer and that was enough to keep out the cold - just! I had a down jacket & shell but didn't need them. A windstopper hat and gloves were a godsend. Kit of the day go's to the Mountain Laurel Designs light snow gaiters though. This was the first time ive used them and at 75g per pair I forgot I had them on! Made of single layer Event but with no side zip they are really light and unobtrusive. You have to take your boots off to get them on & off but that is the only down side. They were needed all day today due the deep powder snow, so that wasn't a problem. My old gaiters were 300g a pair and a pain to wear, being hot and sweaty. Not so with these. I was very impressed.

A Bivvy Camp on Kirk Fell

Date : 4th & 5th September 2014
Start/End : Seathwaite
Wainwrights : Base Brown, Green Gable, Kirk Fell, Seathwaite Fell
Distance :11.2 Miles
Height Gained : 4426 feet

The route : anticlockwise from Seathwaite (top right)

                                          A quick video of the trip


My decision to try and climb all the Wainwright fells was made at about the time when I had already climbed about 70 of them. Up to that point my walks were aimed at climbing the main fells along classical routes. Many of these hikes had me within spitting distance of other Wainwrights but I walked on by. Three of the fells climbed on this hike were a case in point. I had climbed all their neighbours, some of them many times but never made the extra effort to wander over to them. So this was really a 'mopping up' exercise as well an excuse to revisit a favourite area. And so, having parked up at Seathwaite, I started the steep ascent up to Base Brown at 5pm, conscious that I had about 3 hours of daylight to reach Kirk Fell where I hoped to camp.

Base Brown from the Seathwaite Road

Crossing Styhead Gill

A different stile to the usual ones

Looking back over the valley to Thornythwaite Fell

Sourmilk Gill

Waterfalls

A hazy Base Brown summit

Green Gable from Base Brown

 There were hazy views from Base Brown summit across one valley to Brandreth and the opposite one over to Glaramara. The onwards way led up to Green Gable which was moving in and out of cloud and unfortunately was mainly in cloud when I got there. The path up to Green Gable is obvious and easy going. It was therefore surprising to count 18 cairns along a stretch of perhaps 200 yards leading up the summit. Totally unnecessary in my opinion.

A string of cairns along the path up to Green Gable

Windy Gap just visible from Green Gable

From Green Gable summit all the high fells including neighbouring Great Gable were shrouded in mist. Windy Gap was just visible and that was where I headed before dropping down the unstable scree path towards the 'tongue' of upper Ennerdale. Thankfully I wasn't on this path for long before deviating off towards Kirk Fell.

The scree path down the Tongue of upper Ennerdale

Glimpses of Great Gable

First view of Kirk Fell

Kirk Fell from Beck Head

Glimpses of Wast Water

Great Gable now emerging from cloud

It was starting to get dark by the time I reached Kirkfell Tarn so after filtering some water I headed off to the Wasdale side of the fell where there was a flat grassy area and set about making camp. It didn't take long. Just a simple matter of rolling out a ground sheet, inflating the mat and then unpacking the sleeping bag and bivvy bag. Five minutes later, water was on the boil ready to reconstitute a much awaited chilli con carne. I had a tarp with me but didn't use it as it was a calm night with no rain forecast. I fell asleep gazing up at the night sky which by now had cleared to reveal a beautiful star studded scene within which the milky way was clearly visible and odd shooting star streaked across the blackness.

My Bivvy

I woke with the brightening sky at about 6am to find my bivvy bag soaking with morning dew, both inside and out. The sleeping bag was wet on the outside to quite an astonishing degree. In retrospect I should perhaps have pitched the tarp as a lean-to, not to provide any weather protection but to act a 'dew sponge' by having moisture condense on it rather than me. Lesson learned, I made breakfast before enjoying a magnificent sunrise between the 2 'Gables'. By 7am I was packed up and heading off up to Kirk Fell summit, a few hundred yards away.

A nice view to wake up to

There was a lovely view from Kirk Fell summit. Its a great spot from where to survey some of the giants of Lakeland. 

Kirk Fell western panorama

The summit shelter overlooking the Scafells

Great Gable from Kirk Fell

 The next target was Seathwaite Fell around the other side of Great Gable. There is a traverse path which circumvents the apron of Great Gable. It has a reputation for being difficult to follow and a bit precarious but taking it would mean avoiding significant height loss if I had to drop down to the main path.  

Great Gable : there is a traverse path on there somewhere!

Wast Water from the scree slope

Great Gable's iconic shadow on Kirk Fell

 The traverse route was just visible skirting across the flanks of Great Gable as I descended Kirk Fell. Once down, I wandered up the scree slope to pick the path up. It is an exhilarating route, a little like the climbers traverse on Bow Fell but longer and more convoluted. At some points it seems to fade away, only to reappear 20 yards later. Thankfully there are a few well placed cairns along the way to help with navigation.

There is path there ... honestly !

Not the best angle to view Napes Needle but its up there

The Wasdale valley

The traverse path

Views over to Scafell Pike

Eventually the traverse joins the main path by the stretcher box at Sty Head. From here I took the main path up to Sprinkling Tarn before heading along to Seathwaite Fell. For a change, there were no tents around Sprinkling Tarn but there was plenty of evidence of previous camping activity, with discarded gas carts and litter pushed between rocks. Its a shame that a few mindless morons have to spoil the reputation of the majority of responsible wild campers. Sprinkling Tarn does unfortunately tend to attract these types though. I therefore filled up my litter bag and headed on, now with the extra burden of 'chav campers' garbage.

Sty Head

Styhead Tarn

The other side of Great Gable

Sprinkling Tarn

Great End : aptly named I always think

 Seathwaite Fell is a little gem of a hill, nestled between much higher neighbours but offering a great vantage point for admiring them.

The 2 Gables from Seathwaite Fell

Looking back down the Seathwaite valley

Seathwaite Fell panorama

 On the map there is no obvious path off Seathwaite Fell to the north, so I decided to follow a water course which was fairly steep and a bit precarious in places but I managed to pick my way down until eventually joining the main Sty Head path down to Stockley Bridge. Half an hour later I was back at the car and happy to have satisfied my 'fell fix' for the next few weeks.      

It was a steep descent !

The Styhead path

Stockley Bridge

A last look at Base Brown

Grains Gill and the way back to Seathwaite

 Kit List 

Total Pack Weight = 8.5kg (excluding water)

Bivvy Bag : Mountain Laurel Designs 'Superlight Bivvy' size large (silnylon) 190g Mat : Exped SynMat7 UL LW (595g) 
Groundsheet : Integral Designs solo ground sheet (140g)
Sleeping Bag : Rab Alpine 400 (970g) and Rab silk liner (132g)    
 
Stove : High Gear Blaze titanium stove (48g)  + Primus 100g Gas Cart    Pans : Evernew Solo-set (250g)
Rucksack : Osprey Talon 44 (1.18kg)
 
Fluid : 600ml Sigg bottle (100g empty), 1 litre Nalgene collapsible bottle (45g) + Sawyer Squeeze filter (84g)  Food : Fuizion chilli con carne, Buttered Bread, Supernoodles,various sugary snacks.
 
Bits & Bobs : headtorch and spare batteries, Iphone + Anker 5800mHh battery,  victorinox knife, map & compass, basic first aid kit and Petzl e-lite, spork, various fold dry bags, flint & steel, plastic trowel.   Camera : Panasonic DMC-LX7 & lowepro case.   Clothes : Ron Hill wicking T-Shirt, Rab 100 wt fleece (250g), Montane lightspeed jacket (160g), TNF Meridian Cargo Shorts (190g), ME beany, Rab phantom grip gloves, sunglasses, Buff, Innov8 short socks. Hard Shell = Mountain Equipment Firefox jacket (320g) not used.
Trail Shoes Meindl Respond GTX (820g pair)
Poles : Black Diamond Trail Compact (488g pair)
Tarp (not used) : Backpackinglight solo tarp (278g)

Kit Thoughts

The only thing I used for the first time was the MLD bivvy. This really is appropriately named as it is indeed 'superlight'. It is easily big enough to swallow the mat and sleeping bag with plenty of room left. The only issue I had was with a significant amount of condensation/dew on the outside and inside of the bivvy and as such my sleeping bag was damp. It was one of those nights though. No wind, about 10 degrees and a clear sky. Having camped in these conditions before, any shelter (tent flysheet or tarp) would have been soaking wet. As I didn't use a shelter, my bivvy was essentially the outer layer and therefore got wet. Talking to others on twitter about this I reckon that if I had pitched the tarp, it would have 'collected' most of this moisture and left me much drier. The alternative might have been to use a more 'industrial bivvy' like my Rab Ascent, which is an Event bag designed for stand-alone use but it does weight 600g. Any other thoughts about this would be appreciated though.