Always take a compass

Takakkaw Falls - the startpoint of the walk Friday 21st September 2012 - The Ice Line trail from Takakkaw Falls Our walk around the Ice Line trail started from the car park at the foot of the amazing Takakkaw falls.  Getting there from our campsite in Lake Louise was fairly simple, taking Highway 1 up to Field and then following the Yoho Valley Road (around 3km past Field) for another 12km or so until you reach the Takakkaw Falls carpark - you'll know it when you get there as the road stops! The falls themselves are stunning (you can read more about our trip to the falls and Lake Louise on an earlier post - CLICK HERE ) but the aim of today's walk was to head over to the other side of the valley and walk along the high level "Ice Line" trail which passes to the East of the President mountain range (topping out with " The President " at 3,138m above sea level) and skirts the icy edges of the massive Emerald Glacier - hence the "Ice line" mo

Caw summit - I'm sure that normally the views are lovely! After a short (15 minute ish) drive from Woodend cottage where we were staying during our two week stay in the Lakes we arrived at the small village of Seathwaite, the start point of our  circular walk that would take us to the summits of Caw (529m) and Pikes (469m). There is a small car park near the church that we'd picked as our starting point and the weather on arrival here was fairly grey and breezy but at least it wasn't raining - so we kitted up and headed off along the footpath which leads initially through Newfield Wood before passing onto more open ground and and following Old Park Beck (stream) up to the crags around Brock Barrow. The walk up to Brock Barrow is fairly steep and we decided to make life slightly more interesting and navigate our way up through the rocks of Goat Crag (which lie on the Westerly slopes of Caw) on the last few hundred meters to the summit rather than follow the main pat

Pen-y-Fan summit - and not much else to see! A weekend of walking in the Brecon Beacons - on Pen-y-Fan to be exact, at least I'm pretty sure that it was Pen-y-Fan because the visibility on both days was so poor that seeing 3 meters in front of us was almost impossible. The plan for months had been for Marcus and I to head up to North Wales over the weekend of the 23rd/24th of March for 2 days of walking/climbing and wild camping - but the recent weather foiled that and we decided that a 5 hour drive up to North Wales only to have to turn around and come back would be a waste of both time and petrol! We decided to ditch the wild camping part of the weekend and head to the Brecon Beacons for some winter walking on Pen-y-Fan for 2 reasons; 1) it's a 2.5hr drive over a 5hr drive to N. Wales and 2) I've walked the Pen-y-Fan horseshoe a number of times in both summer and winter conditions - a much "safer" bet than the wilds of North Wales with a walking partner

It's cold, there's snow on the hills & I'm in the Lakes - hence the smile! Sunday 30th December 2012 Despite really strong winds over night the 30th of December dawned a much more promising day than the previous few (or any that would come!) - there was snow on the ground and on the hills so we headed out to Wrynose Pass for our planned walk up to Pike of Blisco (705m) and Cold Pike (701m). We parked at a small pull in off the Wrynose pass road (GR NY 277,027), next to the 3 Shire Stone  (a stone to mark the historic boundaries of Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmoreland) and the start of the most direct path up to the summit of Pike of Blisco - which we didn't take! We decided to head down the road to (GR NY 231,080) a point just before Wrynose Bridge and the beck of the same name then headed up, past Green Crag and met up with the main path which we followed up to the summit of Pike of Blisco . The wind on the top of Pike of Blisco was picki

The ascent of Yewbarrow with Wast water in the background 26th December, 2012 Starting from a small car park half way between Wasdale and Wasdale Head, on the side of Wast Water, today's "planned" route would take us just under 16km, gaining 1000m, over the summits of Yewbarrow  (628m) and Red Pike  (826m) with the option (depending on weather) of making a slight detour to the summit of Haycock half way round. The sky was already looking ominous when we pulled into the car park but the forecast was for rain later in the day so the waterproofs stayed in the bag in favour of my Rab Baltoro Guide jacket which would keep me warm while allowing heat to vent and would keep off the wind and light rain with the waterproofs being reserved for heavier downpours. An ominous start... The steep path up towards Yewbarrow We headed off from the car-park, up the steep path that passes Dropping Crag and Bell Rib before arriving, slightly warmer and out of brea