Great Gable

Great Gable and Green Gable from Sprinkling Tarn

Great Gable from Kirk Fell

Scafell Pike from Great Gable

Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Ascent:      800 metres
Distance:    11 kilometres
Time:         3 hours 43 minutes

Grey Knott        697m     30mins    
Brandreth          714m     49mins
Base Brown      646m     1hr  25mins
Green Gable      793m    1hr  56mins
Great Gable       899m    2hrs 17mins

On wet days in the school holidays when I was 8 or 9 years old and only the test card was on TV, I began to examine the books in the house. My favourite was a Lake District book lavishly illustrated with black and white photos of the famous views. Alongside Yew Tree farm in Coniston, the Langdale Pikes and Friars Crag in Borrowdale was a photo of Napes Needle on Great Gable. By the time I was beginning to foray into the hills it became an obsession to climb Great Gable and visit the Needle. I did it several times during my student years, usually from Wastwater and once from Langdale. I continued to climb Great Gable every now and again after the family arrived. The year before retiring I climbed it from Honister pass on a true summer's day and enjoyed the route which was less crowded than the normal ascent from Wasdale.

Gregor was coming close to finishing the ascent of all the 'Wainwright hills': 214 arbitrarily selected hills by Wainwright that provided the subjects for his inimitably sketched guides to the Lakeland fells. The biggest clump of Gregor's unfinished hills were located between Borrowdale and Langdale and included Great Gable. We collected Mark from his new residence in Ambleside and drove up to Keswick, down Borrowdale and on to the top of the Honister Pass. Parking there is now £5 per day with the former slate quarry having a monopoly. There is an easy path towards Fleetwith Pike that turns southwards and follows a gentle graded climb up Moses Trod. But that was too easy for my companions so we decided to take in 4 other hills before reaching Great Gable. We set off up the steep grassy slopes to Grey Knotts; a good way to stir the body into action.

Grey Knotts has two summits about the same height so we took in both before beginning the gentle and easy walk across to Brandreth. The day was getting noticeably warmer and there were indications that the sun would not be long before arriving. Views were good particularly towards Buttermere but my camera focusing began to play tricks so I was bereft of photos until Gregor sent me a couple of his shots of Great Gable when he arrived home. We dropped down from Brandreth and decided to contour round the head of the Sourmilk Gill valley. Unusually for the Lake District there was no path and the going was more like a day on the slopes of a Scottish hill, traversing across a steep hillside that was all loose scree and wet vegetation. The final stretch to Base Brown from the col was easier going on a slightly boggy path.

We returned to the col and then pottered along the next section to Green Gable as we made plans. Gregor had decided to climb Kirk Fell first and then head back over to Great Gable on his way to Langdale. Mark was time limited so we decided to climb Great Gable and head back to Honister. The rocky path up from Green Gable was heavily eroded but provided a straightforward ascent to the summit. There were only 2 other walkers there unlike last time on a summer Sunday when there must have been over 50 folk milling about.

We had some time to spare so scoured our rucksacks for food before descending down to Beck Head, the col between Great Gable and Kirk Fell. There are several parallel paths, all eroded and in need of some pathwork. We saw Gregor descending from Kirk Fell but we were ahead of him at the col so continued back by Moses Trod towards Honister. There were several groups of teenagers going through their paces and a mountain leader who was whistling them as if they were sheep. It was an annoying intrusion to the peace of the fells, particularly on a day when we were undisturbed by low flying aircraft.

We were down before 1pm, I dropped Mark in Ambleside and I was back in Langdale by 2pm. At 3pm I had a call from Gregor who had climbed another four hills including Glaramara and was heading back down Mickleden to the Dungeon Ghyll. He was totally dehydrated by the afternoon heat and had already consumed a pint of water and something stronger by the time I arrived. He had done the sort of walk I really enjoy in the lakes: 6 hours walking across the fells from Borrowdale to Langdale taking in 10 hills. More than enough justification for us to head for some evening beer outside at the Britannia Inn.