Sunshine, Mountains and Cloud Inversions!

The Lakes in early February

The Lake District trip earlier this February was one of my favourite UBES trips. We were lucky to have beautiful sunshine all weekend, basically no wind and the not-yet-melted snow from the flurries the week before to play in (a great combo).

Saturday morning’s drive from Thirlmere to Glenridding was spectacular: low morning light and misty fields. From there, a group of us tackled Striding Edge, bumping into another group at the summit of Helvellyn who’d walked up from Thirlmere. Striding Edge was in basically summer conditions, with no ice and patchy snow; we felt a bit silly in our crampons!

We met a woman who reminisced of her student days, when her university hiking club would hire a minibus from their union for £5 for the weekend, fuel included! How times have changed.

Looking down onto Red Tarn from Red Tarn Cove (spot the UBESters!)

…Some things will never change, and we stopped at Red Tarn, after descending via Swirral Edge and a snowy, bum-slidy gully, for an inevitable lake bag. This involved hacking through 4’ thick ice and very little dignity. Luckily, Hugo’s Jetboil restored some warmth to icy limbs.

Alex’s pleasant afternoon dip

In the midst of these naked antics, we spotted Laurence, Ben and Duncan on V-Corner (III) on Red Tarn Cove.

The boiz on V-Corner (III) on Red Tarn Cove

Another group had a brilliant day on Blencathra, via Sharp Edge (involving equally heroic *assisted* (people lowering other people into icy water holes…!) lake bags), and another an ‘awesome’ epic, doing a long loop encompassing Langdale Pikes, Bow Fell and Crinkle Crags.

Team Sharp Edge

On the Sunday, Striding Edge and Sharp Edge were revisited, along with some some lower level walks. It was another beautiful day, with stunning cloud inversions.

What a weekend!

For more photos check out our Flickr page!

Peaks (Walking)

On Friday 21st February, 27 of us headed up to North Lees Campsite for 24 hours of UBES fun. This was actually a contingency plan. We were originally going to Snowdonia but the avalanche risk and 100mph gusts meant that this was no longer (quite sensibly) on the agenda.

Camping was nowhere near as cold as the last time UBES visited (Nov '13 climbing trip), The lack of communication about eating utensils meant that a number of us enjoyed coco pops and rice snaps out of service station paper cups!

9 of us walked around the Kinder Scout Plateau (18.36km, 650m ascent, 6hrs) and the rest spent the day climbing at Burbage Edge just north of Hathersage. The visibility considering the forecast and awful weather expected was in the end very good with fantastic views of Manchester(!) and the dark, desolate bog that is Bleaklow. Memories of D of E 2010 were most certainly rejuvenated with Edale Rocks, Kinder Downfall basking spectacularly in the February sun. The waterfall at Kinder Downfall was actually being blowing back upstream, making picking a dry and sheltered lunch spot all the more difficult. This was the scene at the top of the plateau: peat bog!

Afterwards we all enjoyed a well deserved hot meal in The Little John Inn, The liver, bacon and Brownies were quite a treat! After a late departure (8.15!) we all returned in Bristol at around midnight (Anna drove the minibus all the way!). Just shows that you can have a successful 24hr UBES trip.

Ceilidh

The UBES ceilidh in late February saw over 90 UBESters and friends descend on the Bristol Folk house on Park street.  The annual ceilidh has always been a UBES favourite and this year didn’t disappoint! The dances were well choreographed, with sporadic Tartan and heavy doses of UBES clumsiness thrown in.

Throughout the evening we were treated to excellent ceilidh music and calling, performed by Zero East, and Really Potcheen , who were both excellent!


Naturally we received good feedback from the Bristol Folk House, who are more than happy to host us again in the future!

Hugo.
 

Peaks 2 (Not quite Snowdonia)

The weekend of the 22nd Feb saw, due to adverse weather conditions, a merry band of UBESters
heading to not Snowdonia but to the dizzying heights of the Peak District. We were met with a
stunningly clear night of which its appreciation was short lived as we pitched our tents and slept for
the day ahead.

Saturday began with a cornflake breakfast out of paper cups and a short drive (for many) to the
Burbage North area where a fun filled climbing day ensued for all.

The group split into smaller four person teams
to maximise the volume of climbs done.
Climbing on gritstone involves lots of
standing on not very much and trusting the
sticky rubber on your shoes which can by a
daunting experience if not expected. For many it
was also an introduction into crack climbing – a
skill not required particularly in the Avon
Gorge but one which can be exceedingly
rewarding (despite being painful!)

As the sun started to set, we trudged back to the cars, removed our harnesses and set off for a well
earned pub dinner in Hathersage before the long drive home.
It was a good first experience of crack climbing and one, I am sure, many will wish to repeat.
Thom