Session 3- Langdale Pikes

The Langdale pikes are a set of 3 peaks not far outside Coniston, offering quite a solid challenge under normal circumstances, however, being the adventurers (clueless wanderers) we are the route we took was some what unorthodox and comes with an online health warning “ A fall from Jack’s Rake could result in death. Only go rock scrambling on Jack’s Rake, or elsewhere, if you are suitably experienced and confident in your abilities.” Confident (Too much so) Experienced (Nope). Anyway more about Jack’s rake later.

We attempted the Langdales walk on Saturday 10^th of April and for the first time we had fantastic weather, the sun was out and unfortunately the car parks were full. Finally we found a spot in the pub car park and were ready to set off with me in a slight panic having forgotten my sunscreen, never a good thing. I have been known to burn whilst wearing factor 30!

Anyway, onwards and upwards we started up the relatively straight forward path which was steep in places but nothing to challenging, for the first time seeing lots of other people, ranging from hardened campers with specialist kit to casual walkers out with the family.

A t the top of the initial path there is an open, grassy area and a tarn which in the stunning weather conditions were near idyllic, a quick scan of the map and with some guidance from the locals we headed off in search of the ‘safe route to the top’. We didn’t find it.

Instead we followed a group of hikers towards Jack’s rake, to be fair they were all old enough to be our grandparents, however, they were soon to discount the adage that age breeds wisdom as seemingly they had over faced themselves with the exposed and seemingly endless scramble where a strong grip was the only thing separating us from a rather messy demise.

At one point the path levelled out and we were able to pass them, although not before they had managed to strike Chris in the face with a dislodged rock. He still blames me! Several heart in the mouth moments later we finally had the relief of hauling ourselves up onto the open level ground which signalled the summit of Pavey Ark. The first of the 3 peaks. Pausing to take bets on how many of the golden oldies would make it alive.

The walk from there was fairly straight forward with a quick jaunt and easy scramble to Harrison stickle (the second peak) and then onwards to the pike of stickle (otherwise known as ‘the nipple’ thanks to its shape). A quick scramble and a brief argument about Chris trying to be too ‘arty farty’ with the photographs later we were ready for the long walk back and the pub.

Having run out of water on the top of pavey ark the descent was pretty miserable and I actually claimed that if I had a choice between the most beautiful woman in the world and a pint of water I would choose the water, it was true!!

For any that worry about these things we did see the older climbers again and I am pleased to report no pensioners were harmed in the climbing of this mountain.

training session 2- BLACK COMBE

Session 2 meant the 40 minute drive out to Black Combe just outside Broughton. This training session nearly didn’t happen with multiple texts being exchanged between Chris and I along the lines of ‘don’t fancy this weather’ and ‘looks a bit wet outside’.

Finally we found some resolve to go on what should have been a routine/easy walk up the gentle ascent of a hill standing just 600 m (1,969 ft) and hopefully a good hike to break in my new boots (having previously been soldiering on in old trainers!!

The guide we were following promised spectacular panoramic views and a wonderful walk, they obviously had made their notes in different weather conditions to the ones we were faced with. Even at the bottom visibility was poor but by the time we reached the summit (unexpectedly, we literally bumped into the trig point) visibility was reduced to about 10 feet maximum.

The shocking mist was complimented by a horrible drizzle and heavy wind encouraging Chris and I to tackle the descent very hastily until getting about half way down and into relatively calm weather, all of a sudden we were all smiles breaking into a particularly camp rendition of ‘Aint no mountain high enough’ (neglecting to reflect on the fact we had merely climbed a fairly unspectacular hill.)

By this point we were in the zone, ready to climb for ever and decided that a brief detour to one of the smaller peaks to explore the 3 crosses we could see in the distance was in order. A few photos and a bag of raisins later it was time to head home, wondering whether preparing a full Glee style dance routine for the top of Snowdon would help us raise more money. Thankfully this ‘performance’ has not been mentioned since and I hope it stays that way and we don’t end all our climbs in such camp fashion!!

Training session one- CONISTON OLD MAN

Coniston Old Man

Sponsorship going well, article in the newspaper, fundraising events being arranged. All that was missing from our 3 peaks preparation was actual training, despite the immortal line from Chris in the above mentioned newspaper article: “training has been going really well…I’ve been up the Hoad a few times.” For those that don’t know the Hoad is a diminutive little hill in Ulverston, Cumbria, that took us approximately 12 minutes to ascend, with difficulty. 3 times up and down and that was training session one!! Bear Grylls would not be impressed.

It was time to get serious and what better place to start than Coniston Old man? Standing  803 M (2634 FT), only around 100 metres shorter than Scafell Pike (The highest mountain in England and one of the three peaks). Chris, Brian Pears (Chris’ dad) and I set out to climb the old man with Sam (the dog) in tow on Sunday 28^th  March. What came next was a mixture of the heroic (kind of) and the farcical.

The plan was to meet at 9:30 am in Ambleside, 8:30 in real terms, as this was the weekend that the clocks went forward. For the first time since I met Chris (well over a decade ago) I arrived on time with relatively little drama, unfortunately, he managed to remain out of mobile phone signal until around 10 am, leaving me with an unsuccessful search for his Lodge, turning the wrong way at the entrance was my main mistake!

Eventually we connected and the three of us set out for the mountain, parking in Coniston village, leaving us a considerable walk up a steep hill just to get to the car park and the starting of the climb.

We had decided to print off a step by step route guide and hence felt confident enough to ignore the signs for the main path up the old man, after all paths are for sissies. Instead we needed to find an alternative route that started with some steps, ‘if you reach the bridge you’ve gone too far!’ Needless to say we reached the bridge.

The guide and Chris said we should have turned around and traced our steps back but Brian and I were in weekend warrior mode and decided we would just go up the mountain from where we were despite Chris’ protests of ‘danger’ we started to climb, me wearing old trainers and a rucksack with a carrier bag tied to it with extra clothes, looking every inch a numpty.

At first we made good progress, ploughing on towards the summit across all the terrain the old man could throw at us, 3/4s of the way up things went wrong!!! Brian went left, Chris and I went right, line of sight was lost, panic ensued.

“HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOO” “YOOOOOOOOO” Chris and I were shouting whilst nearly being blown clean of the mountain by strong winds, slowly making our way across to where we last saw Brian. No sign of him, we went round in circles not thinking to look up, whilst we were searching frantically Brian and Sam had taken a leisurely stroll to a point around 50 metres above us, finally we spotted him and then all that was left was a quick walk to the summit where we took 5 minutes to rest before the much less eventful descent back to the bottom, all in all it was a pretty enjoyable day and a good climb. Onwards and upwards, next time Black Combe…

donate at www.justgiving.com/james-irvine or www.justgiving.com/martinpears3peaks

3 peaks introduction

In July 2010 Chris Pears and James Irvine will be tackling the National 3 peaks challenge. I will be taking on the event in memory of Chris’ brother Martin Pears who tragically passed away as a result of Cancer in November 2008 at only 23 years of age. 

The event is to be held over 16, 17 and 18 July 2010.  The challenge is to climb the 3 highest peaks in the UK within 24 hours climbing time.  The challenge starts in Glen Nevis Valley in Scotland, from which we attempt to climb the largest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis, standing at 1,344m.  We then head to the Lakes to climb Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, and then on to the highest mountain in Wales, Mount Snowdon. 

More information on this challenge can be found at:  http://www.charitychallenge.com/expedition.html?id=1041

All money raised from the event will go to Martin Pears’ Fundraising Fund for the Young Oncology Unit (Y.O.U) at the Christie.    After being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Martin only spent a short time on the Y.O.U. before his sudden death and the care he and his relatives received was fantastic. 

Thanks again for reading and I sincerely hope you can contribute something towards such a worthy cause that provides so expertly for so many people and their families.

donate at www.justgiving.com/james-irvine or www.justgiving.com/martinpears3peaks

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