Stair Hut 2017

Overall a very successful, if rather damp trip to Stair Hut in the Newlands valley. No major disasters thankfully, some juicy scrambles on the last day in the drizzle made for a little excitement, and Justin Gorbold brought Claire and Amber into the mix to be offended by our schoolboy humour and lack of social graces. Most people arrived on Thursday, with James getting in his own walk in on Clough Head just south of Blencathra. Peter and Richard had a quick zoom up Cat Bells as it was a lovely sunny day. Friday was pretty wet unfortunately, but we tried a new route for nearly everyone. Saturday saw the group splitting into a longer adventurous route and a still pretty lengthy shorter route followed by a few drinks in the pub with some food before heading back for games and chat. Sunday morning we lost Rich H and George, with the rest gently striding up to Robinson from Newlands church. After that Toby, Richard and Peter left and I’m not entirely sure what the rest did after that.

Attendees

James Malden, Gareth Sylvester-Bradley, Richard Wilson, George Lewis, Toby Matthews, Richard Humphrey, Peter Wilson, Rowan Sylvester-Bradley, Sarah Witt, Justin Gorbold, Amber, Claire

Walks

Friday 10th March

From the hut we walked down through Stair, then up Rowling End with some going for the full scramble and others heading up the easier route. Along the ridge to Causey Pike which was easier than it looked. On the other side of Causey Pike Rowan decided to head down and Sarah and Gareth motored on over Sail to catch the rest of us on the climb to Crag Hill (839m) the high point of the day. We then dropped down to Coledale Hause where we split into two groups with one heading down the valley route to Braithwaite and the other group (James M, George, Rich W, Justin and Claire) heading up to Hopegill Head and Grisedale Pike before dropping down to Sleet How and into Braithwaite. We all reconvened in the pub for a few refreshing beverages.

Saturday 11th March

We drove over to Buttermere and parked above the village, then after an amusingly slow start by Toby, we walked along the south side of Buttermere to Peggy’s Bridge where we split into two groups, the smaller group of Rich H&W, George and Toby heading up Warnscale Bottom up to the bothy neary Little Round How, then past Blackbeck Tarn and up to Hay Stacks in thick cloud down to Scarth Gap. The other group took the shorter route up Warnscale. The two parties then followed the same route but not at the same time, up the thigh smashing steps up to High Crag and along the ridge to High Stile and Red Pike. From Red Pike, the larger group (and Toby splinter from smaller group) headed down the steps to Buttermere. The trio of Rich H&W and George headed off along Lingcomb Edge and down to Scale Force falls. The path is inaccurately shown as on the north west side of the stream when the only one we could find was on the south east side. The path was pretty ropey in places with some reasonable drops so not great for some (me). Then along a very bouldery and boggy path back to Buttermere where we met the others and enjoyed some light beverages and food.

Sunday 12th March

With a minor time pressure of some people driving home we set off to the car park in Little Town, walked past the small church and up Scope End to Hindscarth. Plenty of light scrambling, occasional bits of ridge and some great sunshine and views for a change! We then dropped down Littledale Edge to the col, then over to Robinson which was a bigger down and up than we were expecting but Robinson was wide and open on the top. It then dropped in a fairly dramatic way with a few fairly serious scrambles and some people needing Justin to assist with footing. Not helped by the persistent drizzle. Once down, an easy stroll along High Snab Bank before a final knee and quad punishing drop to the valley and an easy walk back to the car.