Lottie and Georg on Beacon with Coniston Water belowSun out at seaBlack Combe also catching the sunLottie eager to get to Beacon TarnNot so clean now, and only half way roundLottie is not keen on fording the stream
Middleboot Knotts and Lingmell
It must be one person in a thousand, or fewer, who announces that they are deliberately setting out with the primary objective of climbing Middleboot Knotts. It is a diminutive summit on the flanks of Broad Crag, itself a subsidiary summit of Scafell Pike, but it is in a lovely location, and has enough prominence to qualify on the list of Nuttall summits.
Ascending towards Sty Head with George and Lottie. It was about About minus 3 when we got up higher, feeling like about minus 12 with the wind.The Sca Fell massif, with our objective middle right above Piers GillNow heading along the Corridor Route, Middleboot Knotts is the diminutive just right of centre below Lingmell Col
The Corridor Route has this awkward almost vertical descent (heading east – an ascent heading west) – looking back after we are safely down, with my 1.3m trekking pole for scale. It was difficult for me, more so trying to get two dogs down here safely at the same time.
George shows he’s not afraid of a bit of snow and iceMiddleboot Knotts (beyond the tarn), below the cliffs of LingmellScafell Pike from the summit of Middleboot KnottsGreat Gable on the left, Styhead Tarn in the middle, looking down to a glimpse of Derwent Water with northern fells including Skiddaw and Blencathra in the background360 degree panorama from LingmellThe cairn on top of LingmellScafell Pike (left) and Scafell as we start the descent from LingmellWast Water as we start the increasingly, later extremely, windy descent
Some fabulous moments and a grand expedition into real rugged terrain. But a more challenging walk than I’d expected in respect of two elements – I wasn’t keen on that little vertical descent on the Corridor Route, remarkably not mentioned in books I’d read. But in particular the descent off Lingmell was really tough because the wind on the ridge descending was fierce, really fierce: it blew me off my feet several times, and I ended up adopting a crouch so that when I was blown over, I was already close to the ground so I remained safe, and I did deliberately do bits of it on my bottom – any journey done a bit at a time will eventually be complete, and I was cautious and took it really slowly, but that wind was the most challenging I’ve experienced on the fells, including having been out when the forecast was for walking to be “arduous”.
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