We started walking along the path that runs under Scales Fell towards Doddick Fell and Hall's Fell. The path was very muddy and it made for hard going. Being relatively level it gave us a chance to warm up the leg muscles a bit. Passing Scaley Beck we caught a glimpse upwards towards the tops, it looked very dark and intimidating in there. Lots of water in the beck made for an interesting choice in crossing and soon we came across the first problems of the day. Getting out of the Gill here involved a bit of a scramble up some slippy rock, and then a nice little path around the shoulder below Doddick Fell.
The path above Doddick Farm was fenced off and a notice indicating a diversion was in place. We followed the diversion that ran slightly higher up the fell side before reaching Doddick Gill. Doddick Gill was another interesting crossing, all the time watched by sheep that had seemed to have congregated in the gills rather than on the ridges for some reason!

From here on the fun began in earnest. A great big green pathway headed straight upwards onto Hall's Fell. Why bother with walking around the shoulder and then turning back on yourself as the path starts to gain height on the ridge when a direct shortcut was right in front of us? The fact that this grassy track did not go all the way up did not seem to bother us as we looked at it, it was not until we walked up it that we realized how steep it was, straight up steep grass is not my favorite thing now! At the end of the track with still a fair amount of height to gain before we joined the proper path we had to walk through heather. With the wind getting very noticeable this was very hard work! I was asking myself why we do this sort of thing when there is a perfectly useable path that goes exactly where we want to go just around the corner, again! It was time for a breather and a cup of coffee and bar of chocolate now. We sheltered behind a small rock and enjoyed some nourishment. I decided that I needed some help in balancing so I got out a pair of walking poles. As a rule I do not normally use poles but as my parents keep buying pairs for me and I keep either losing one or breaking one I now had an odd pair left, a bit like the bottom of my sock drawer! I thought that I might need them today and I was glad I brought them along.
I still cant make my mind up whether they were a help or a hindrance. One minute they helped me stay upright as the higher we went the windier it got, the next they were a hindrance as they kept dragging in the heather! This was hard work; even John was struggling to stay upright at times as the wind just got stronger and stronger. Eventually we reached the path and what a difference it made. It felt like we raced upwards now after such slow progress, that was until we reached the ridge line and met the full fury of the wind! This was mad, I was leaning against the two walking poles, bracing myself as firmly as I could and still managed to be pushed sideways by the wind for a few paces until the gust died down, John was not doing much better than me either, we just kept looking at each other and smiling, it was great fun to be toyed with by the elements in such a way!

The path was relatively easy to walk up apart from the wind. The thing that I always remember about Hall's Fell ridge is that to my way of thinking the first bit is the hardest part, the long steep trudge up the shoulder with nothing much to see in front. Only when the ridge narrows does it become much more entertaining. Just about that point the wind grew to such a force that we had no choice but to huddle behind a rock and sit it out for a while. By now there was a fair amount of snow and hail lying on the ground, if fresh hail was not being blown in horizontally the wind picked up what had already fallen and just threw it about, it was wild!

As wet sat there the couple that had been getting ready in the car next to us came into sight below, they had taken the “proper” path after watching us struggle up the grass and as a result had been able to catch us up. It was quite amusing watching them slowly struggle upwards against the wind, we just sat and smiled at them knowing how they felt. They joined us behind our little rock and after a bit of rearrangement all four of us managed to enjoy the shelter. We chatted amongst each other (shouted) about the weather and they told us about a recent trip up to Glen Coe in similar conditions when they climbed Aonach Eagach, at least I think it was that, with the wind affecting my hearing it could have been “Ben Eagach Stob Munro Chailleach Dearg Corbett” or something, I was not sure!. Anyone who can pronounce such a place never mind climb it gets full marks from me. They were asking questions about the ridge ahead and whether the path followed the ridge line or one side of it. I searched my memory and told them that I was sure that for the most part the path followed the right side and would be out of the wind, I hoped!

The couple sat there and discussed what lay ahead, we could see that the bloke was up for it but the lady was a bit unsure. While they had a serious talk, it was amusing for us eavesdropping because I am sure we have all been there before , a sort of “I will if you will”, but I won't talk to you for weeks if you do, sort of conversation, or am I being a bit harsh! We watched a shaft of sunlight traverse across High Rigg down below. I have seen many of these before but for some reason today with the cloud moving so quickly it looked very impressive as the shaft of light sped across. We all watched it pass across St John's in the Vale and by the time it touched Clough Head it all but disappeared. This disappearance also coincided with the wind dropping enough for me and John to think about heading upwards once again. We wished the couple well and left them to their discussions.
We managed about five minutes of walking before the wind picked up again and it was time to find shelter again. Luckily this coincided with reaching the proper bit of the ridge, the point where rocky bits stick up! The path bypassed the ridge line to the right and gave us some shelter. We waited here for a while, we could still see the heads of the couple in deep discussion before they decided to turn back and give Hall's Fell ridge a miss today. In a strange twist of fate as they headed down the wind dropped again and stayed at a manageable force for quite a while, I half expected to see they come racing back up the ridge!

With the wind calming down, I am not sure if it was the wind loosing some of its force or us being sheltered by the ridge of Gategill Fell, we felt much happier about the possibilities of us carrying on. Although we had not discussed it openly I think we both realized that if the wind had been as strong up here on the ridge as it had been down on the shoulder we would have no choice but to turn back ourselves, we were in "suck it and see mode!". We both felt much better out of the wind. Perhaps this gave us a bit of overconfidence as John managed to slip on an icy patch on the path a few minutes later! I was using my two walking poles and testing each step at the time. This suited me down to the ground as I normally walk slowly uphill, the conditions underfoot made me even more cautious and I was literally taking one step at a time, my sort of pace! The odd gust of wind made sure that we concentrated fully, it was probably a gust that made John slip.

We followed the path upwards which became harder to follow due to the increase in snow on the ground. One minute we made quick progress, the next we would have to stop and look around for the path. At times the path crossed over the ridge line and continued upwards of the left of the ridge. We followed this with a bit of trepidation as we knew that if the wind picked up we would have no shelter. All in all I think we made good time going up here. I kept glancing upwards to try and see how much further we had to go, for most of the time all I could see was the ridge getting steeper and narrower but occasionally I saw the skyline between Scales Fell and Hall's Fell top appear, it was not that far away really but the conditions made it seem like it would take us forever to reach.

Upwards progress became slower as we struggled to follow the path. At times we just followed the ridge line. We each had our own view on which route to take. For most of the time I was following John, but then I would reach a point that I just did not like the look of and after stopping for a few moments I would either retrace my steps until an easier, perhaps easier is the wrong word here, safer to my mind, is probably more appropriate, route appeared. At times we were on opposite sides of the ridge. The weather was playing games again as the visibility cleared and then disappeared again. It was very strange really, we would spend ages slowly walking up part of the ridge and then the visibility cleared and looking down we would think what all the fuss had been about!

We seemed to spend less time on the path and more on the top of the ridge now. Due to the walking poles I was beginning to feel a bit unsafe. I found myself wanting to hold onto rock with my hands and sort of crouch as I was walking upwards, walking is the wrong word as this part of the ridge is basically a scramble. I found the poles a hindrance and decided to undo the wrist strap and just hold them. This seemed to do the trick and I felt much more confidant. That was until we reached a point where the drop below became really noticeable, the ridge was at its narrowest point and although John seemed to find it easy to make progress I was very, very slow. At one point I forgot to hold onto the pole in my right hand and I saw it fall away directly down the ridge! It stopped only about ten feet down from me but that ten feet might as well have been a mile, there was no way I was going to retrieve it, the angle of the ridge must have been about 45 degrees, it was all snow and one slip would have been goodnight Vienna as I remembered AW's description of a thousand foot ascent of loose scree out of Doddick Gill, it was indeed Doddick Gill down there and I would have been quite happy to have a solitary walking pole to complement the bottom of my sock draw! John meanwhile had other ideas as he retraced his steps and made his way down to retrieve my pole, I was having kittens! I was torn between not looking and the morbid fascination of what happens to a human body as it falls a thousand feet downwards! This was a very sobering moment for me as it all came home what a precarious situation we were in, GULP!

John of course retrieved my walking pole and attempted to give it back to me without a care in the world! It was at this moment that I recognized where we were. Last time up her was John's first introduction to some serious exposure on a ridge. While I looked around and thought nothing of it John found it a bit of a challenge and had a “moment”. Now I was kacking myself and John was in his element!. This was one of those moments that you look back on and realize that you have nothing left to teach someone. A parent being beaten by a child at a game or sport, a teacher realizing that the student knows more than he, it was one of those times, I had this thought before but now it was confirmed, John has more bottle than me!

I refused to take the pole back for some reason and after passing over the serious part of the ridge I just wanted to have a smoke and calm down! We just stood there and chatted away, thankfully no mention was made of retrieving the pole. It was very calm here and we just stood and talked about something that I have no recollection of at all. It was one of those times that you realize you have just done something different, you have overcome a hurdle or achieved something special. We both realized that the ridge in these conditions was very taxing, not physically but mentally. It was one of those surreal moments in life that you always look back on. John was having fun and I was trying my best to calm down! As we stood there the wind picked up all of a sudden and produced a whirlpool effect of snow that it picked up. We watched this whirlpool of snow slowly head downwards and realized that the wind was picking up and visibility was dropping again.

The weather seemed to set into this pattern now, alternating between whiteouts as the ground was nearly totally white, snow and hail coming in from the grey clouds, and then it would suddenly clear and we could see all the way down the ridge. Progress was very slow as we headed upwards. We both took turns at leading and trying to find a safe way up. As the ridge started to get steeper we began to struggle finding our way. It looked ridiculously easy to get up but as soon as you tried to place your feet on a bit of rock a warning bell went off saying “DANGER DON'T DO IT!” John found a way upwards then had to stop. I traversed over the ridge to the left and managed a bit more but then had to retrace my steps back to John who was waiting to see what it was like, we were getting stuck! We spent a fair amount of time just looking around at either side of the ridge trying to figure a way up. To the right there seemed to be a very long drop and the ground was slippy. The line straight up the ridge looked easy until you tried it. On the left of the ridge and slightly lower down was a small gully, gully is the wrong word, it was more of a slight depression that had an accumulation of snow in it. It headed straight up and looked like it would be the best route up. We slowly made our way down to it and then started to head up it. At first it was great as our boots sank into the soft snow; handholds on either side helped and up we went. It was not without incident as the little gully obviously held some loose scree that the snow had covered, this occasionally slipped as we went up making for another interesting experience!

As John was leading up here he was able to point out the problem areas to me and although at times I struggled it felt much better than being on the ridge. At the end of the little gully it was only a few feet to the path again. Here the path was obvious and easy to walk on. Again we had limited visibility but the wind had dropped again and it was as if our whole world just comprised of the small distance that we could see around us. We were concentrating so much on our surroundings that no other thoughts crept in to distract us, a very nice feeling I thought at the time, no distractions, nothing to disturb our thoughts, just the here and now on Hall's Fell ridge in winter conditions, it was a fantastic feeling! One step after another we headed upwards. I started to remind John about our last trip here. That time John was in front and after doing some great scrambling I can remember him stopping a short distance in front of me and saying that he had reached the top. From where I was I could only see him from the waist up and fair enough within a few steps there was the summit, very sudden and very welcoming. In a strange sort of déjà vu thing, the same thing happened today, as I was talking about that day all of a sudden I was at the summit, and turned around to tell John what he told me last time, a very, very surreal moment!

That is the great thing about Hall's Fell ridge, all of a sudden you are at the top. I felt a real sense of achievement at completing the ridge in these conditions. On two occasions I was tempted to turn back, the first due to the wind that had blown both myself and John sideways for a few steps and the second when we came across an icy step with a huge amount of exposure below it. We took our time and eventually we succeeded but I think that this was our limit in these conditions.
As I reached the summit trig point, which was not easy to spot, I felt a great urge to hold my walking pole above my head a shout out very loudly “YEAH !”. I reminded myself that I was an Englishman and that understatement was a byword of all the great explorers and mountaineers, so I desisted! I turned around to John and shook his hand. This was a strange thing to do but at the time it just felt like the right thing to do. It went someway to explain how we felt at the time, the sense of achieving something a bit out of the ordinary, something special that had taxed us not so much physically but mentally. We were well chuffed and could not stop smiling! I think I now know what it must feel like to be presented with the FA cup or receive an Olympic Gold Medal, it was that sort of feeling!

The weather on the top was different from what we had recently experienced, it was back to the wind. I walked around a bit mainly to keep warm and we began to talk about what to do next. I took the opportunity to take a few photos when the visibility improved, it was a case of “now you see me now you don't!”, but the camera started to complain about the state of the battery. I changed the battery and managed a few photos looking along the summit ridges, before they disappeared again. As I was doing this we spotted a couple of walkers heading towards us.

When these walkers reached the summit we chatted for a while. The bloke said that he and his brother had tried to get up here a week or so ago but had not completed the walk. He was chuffed now and said something about “ticking off Blencathra”, a peak bagger perhaps! We said our goodbyes and decided to head off along the summit ridge to see what we could see before returning back and heading downwards, a sort of while we are here thing!

At first we could see Gategill Fell top and it looked quite different from the usual view of it. With visibility ending just after the top and all the snow lying just below the top, it looked like it was the end of the world! The wind was extreme up here, walking directly into it made me feel like Scott of the Antarctic or something, each step forward was hard work but the feeling was one of great satisfaction at being able to brave these conditions and still feel comfortable. Something that the photos can no way reproduce is the sight of loose snow being blown across the area at a speed that frightened us, we somehow managed to walk forwards whilst protecting our faces, the only uncovered parts of our body's from the wind, either by turning them away from the wind or holding a hand up in front, when we removed that hand or looked forwards it was like being sandblasted, or shaving with a blunt razor, ouch!

The visibility kept coming and going and once we reached Gategill Top we could not really see much of anything, time to turn back then. At least now we had the wind behind us and we could safely look to the front without bothering about facial deformation! The ground up here was frozen but the path had a small amount of gravely bits sticking proud of the frozen bits that the grip felt quiet good. This was easy walking, in fact I am sure that if we stood still and just jumped up in the air every now and again we would have soon reached Blencathra's summit again, about three jumps away with this wind speed! Visibility cleared for a moment and we could see the surrounding area much clearer. Away to our left was John's favorite of all time, Mungrisedale Common. Behind that the cloud base covered the higher fells so it looked like it was enclosed by a ring of higher fells, all looking down and sticking their tongues out at the “Field” to coins John's phrase for it!
I just managed to take one photo before the new camera battery started complaining, I have noticed this before about batteries and cold temperatures, they just pack in! The GPS had given up the ghost ages ago as I always carry that strapped to the outside of my rucksack (hence no GPS log for today). I have no idea how cold it was but removing my glove to take the camera out of an inside pocket was hard work, as soon as my fingers touched the metal of the camera they felt like they were going to freeze to the metal and stay stuck to it, it was a very strange feeling, painful and worrying at the same time!

As we approached the summit again we saw two people come up from Hall's Fell ridge and head over the summit to sit down slightly out of the wind. At first I thought it might have been the couple we had waited with much earlier but it turned out to be two blokes. They were putting on crampons and once those were on they started running around and testing the grip out, very strange! With the wind still blowing we walked past them and just waved at them.
Heading away from the summit we followed the path down following the ridge line. Within a few steps I was reminded of the Winter Olympics and Torvil and Dean, I'm not sure who was playing who but me and John did a cracking impression! The path was sheet ice and with arms and legs flying around, a pirouette, a couple of quick turns and that funny trying to run on ice thing we headed away from the ridge and the path and jumped onto the grass, the grass was frozen but at least it offered some grip, phew! We looked at each other and just laughed, a scary moment made funny by our ice skating impressions, no marks for technical merit but loads for artistic impression I think!

To my way of thinking it was OK to come up any of the ridges today apart from Sharp Edge, but as a way down only the less steep ends of Blencathra were an option for descent. We headed down the path onto Scales Fell and discovered something great. This path has in the last few years been repaired. I always seem to go on about repaired paths but this one was OK, honest! No silly stone steps threatening to slip you up and break an ankle here, like the Romans did, this path was built to withstand feet and the weather. When they repair these paths they build them up with various layers of stuff ending with a gravel layer that is mainly smooth but still offers loads of grip, the big thing is the drainage ditch that runs by the side, this drains water away from the path so preventing a large cause of erosion. As luck would have it these drainage channels also collect snow and hail and make a perfect path down. Each step was a pleasure, as John later said it was as if we had a private masseuse giving our feet a rub at every step, for someone like me who suffers when walking downhill it was heaven! With the wind dropping, or more likely being sheltered from it, it became very quiet, something that was made more noticeable by being able to hear the sound of crunching snow at every step, a welcome change after the sound of the howling wind that we had had over the previous few hours!

As we dropped below the cloud base and carried on along the zig zags of the repaired path we spotted someone coming up towards us. The sound of a radio crackled into life and my thoughts were confirmed as we met a member of the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team coming up. We stopped and chatted with him. He asked us where we had been, who we had seen, when and where. As we told him you could see him mentally ticking off everyone that we had seen. I got the impression that he already knew about everyone, in fact I had a strange feeling that he knew everyone up on Blencathra and the routes they had gone up or down, I have to say that I was impressed. All the time we talked his radio kept him informed of the progress of the search. It turned out to be a call out in response to a call from a mobile phone reporting someone in difficulties somewhere on Blencathra. The KMRT had team members on every way up Blencathra within 45 minutes of the call being received, so while me and John had taken our time getting up here the KMRT had members on all of the ridges not only trying to get up but at the same time searching for someone in an unknown location in unknown difficulties.

We left the team member to his search and set off down again. Now that we could see a fair way in all directions, being here on Blencathra started to feel quite surreal. Every where on Blencathra was white and every where else we looked was green and dull, it was if Blencathra was special today, I was beginning to think that we had been given a personal gift from the gods or something, it was our turn for a special day on a special mountain with some special weather, times like this are few and far between for us mortal walkers! Even the safe route off Blencathra looked very exiting today, on one side the gentle slope down towards Scales Beck and the River Glenderamackin and on the other the steep craggy drop over Scaley Beck. Life does not get much better than this!

As we completed the zig zags and followed the path above the crags we saw walking towards us more members of the KMRT. We stopped and chatted with the team members. As we talked the message came over the radio that the people had turned up safe and well. These guys deserve medals for turning out whatever the weather (and today there was lots of it) to assist, if necessary, people like us who venture onto the fells. We must have spent ten minutes chatting away with them. The two KMRT members were accompanied by a dog. John began to throw snowballs for the dog, the dog was made up and started chasing after them! We talked about the weather conditions and all agreed that the weatherman who said that conditions would improve as it warmed up tomorrow was barmy! Warming up meant no snow and rain instead, had the weatherman never been on the fells in snow? If he had he would not have been so upbeat about it “warming up”! We also chatted about Sharp Edge and we asked where the “usual” gully was. This was explained to us in great detail and about some of the incidents that have happened there in the past. With the return to base called the KMRT members started to talk on the radios about which way they would all go down, I think it was a case of “while we are here………..” They deserved their fun and we left them to it!

We carried on down and once again the weather worsened. The wind picked up and snow came down. Even though we did not have far to go once the weather closed in the distance back to the car seemed to get greater. The wind died down and I was able to get one last photo looking back up to the Doddick Fell ridge. The camera battery was working again no problem now we had warmed up! As we reached the broad shoulder of Scales Fell we somehow managed to loose the path, this coincided with the snow on the ground disappearing as well. We continued straight down until it got very slippy on the grass and then followed a sheep track that led to the left. We saw numerous members of the KMRT run down hill ahead of us and soon joined the path that they had followed, once again I have to say what heroes those blokes are, even if they are slightly daft and run downhill!
By now my feet were killing me going downhill, matters were not helped as John managed to slip on the wet grass and somehow managed to kick me in the “Jacobs” as he fell, a few minutes later when I slipped and fell my agony was complete! Down on this low level path all signs of snow had turned to rain, we spent the rest of the walk watching the cars seemingly creep along the A66 below us. Even thought it was raining nothing could dampen our spirits as we headed back to the car. The KMRT had long since disappeared and when we reached the car it was the only one left at the lay bye. It was hard work changing out of all our walking gear as it was still windy and raining, I wonder what all the motorists who passed us thought we had been doing as we got changed in the darkness? In another twist of fate (great planning on my part) as we reached the car the last of the light disappeared!

For the first time in ages we went to the Cross Keys in Tebay. Sat by the real fire we thawed out some more and enjoyed a cracking meal and a pint. When we had finished our meal I commented to John that he might as well shoot me now as life could not get much better than this! We had done a great walk up a great mountain in great weather and then enjoyed a great meal and a great pint, really, life does not get much better!
Traffic on the M6 was horrendous with all the people returning from north of the border after new year, I wish John had shot me! The only good thing about this traffic jam was that I had fun watching all the DVD's that were playing on the head rest's of the 4x4's stuck in traffic, I got quite annoyed with John as he could not keep up with the traffic and I had to do a bit of channel surfing as we came across another and then another TV screen in a car, father christmas must have mislayed mine!

Looking back at the walk we both said that it had been one of the best ever. Hall's Fell ridge in those conditions was right at our limit. A few degrees colder and it would have been treacherous. A few degrees warmer and the hail and snow would have been rain and we would have been soaked, in that respect we were lucky with the weather. As far as the wind goes it was as strong and blustery as I have ever encountered, again we were lucky with that as the wind did drop when we needed it to when going up the serious parts of Hall's Fell ridge. All in all a cracking day out in extreme conditions. Bring on the summer, I've done my snow and ice for this year!