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The Fellwalker by Peter John Farnworth
WALK 29 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 29th 1985[[The ascent of Scafell. A lot of fell walkers go from the Wastwater side via Brown Tongue, but for me this is very uninteresting. In my opinion, the best way is to leave the Wastwater Hotel and follow the path going to Styhead Tarn by following Lingmell Beck, which is on your right. From a point mid-way along this path you will see Piers Gill, which you cannot miss from where you are standing; it is a deep gorge with very large crags on each side. One very important thing to remember is to keep to your left of the Gill on ascent because, as the path goes further up the fell the gorge goes deeper, and if you were on the other side there would be no way across where danger lies.
What a fine summit Lingmell is, with that beautiful cairn to match the magnificent views to Great Gable and Wastwater. When traversing across to Scafell via Lords Rake, you come across a place called Hollow Stones and you will know all about them as you pass over them. These are small stones, and as you walk up two feet, you will slide back one foot. When you pass this point, you will be standing at the foot of Lords Rake; some would called this a chimney as it is very steep and very narrow with crags on each side. Care should be taken in wet conditions, but if it's dry there’s no problem. From the summit of Scafell there are good views down towards Eskdale and the surrounding mountains. Beware on this summit if the mist is down as it can be very, very dangerous indeed with crags to the front and the back of you, and if the mist is down then follow the path towards Burnmoor Tarn. I left this summit and followed the ridge of the fell to Slight Side, from where I picked up the path that would lead me to Rakehead Crag. I thought it would get me down more quickly than going to Burnmoor Tarn but, going down, it was very steep here with loose stone and I was very sorry I came this way back. On this occasion I walked alone as Mark, unfortunately, had a previous engagement. However, we revisited these summits on 20th July 1991 for Mark to log up. Mountains walked that day: Lingmell 29 Scafell 2 Slight Side 58 [[]] Diagram & Stats
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