Distance

6.7 km to summit

16.7 km total

Elevation

90 m start

960 m max

Vertical

853 m gain

Time

3 hr 34 min to summit

7 hr 11 min total

Was feeling very, very fatigued after a full week hiking and climbing in mostly serious windy and wet weather. Also made worse by the 2hr drive in from the North due to closed roads. I did debate about my choice of route and final mountain of the week. I'm glad I ticked off my final English 3000er, but by the time I had started descending, I was feeling pretty miserable. Also due to the amount of persistent rain over the last few months, descending Scafell via Foxes Tarn and the waterfall gully was both fun, ridiculous and at times down right stupid. To be safe, there was no getting around things with the amount of water flow and green slimy rocks. Had to shimmy down on my backside on some of the sections to prevent a nasty injury, meaning a lovely flow of water down the back of my trousers. All in all a very sketchy descent which is more suited to summer than the back end of winter! Also, without the hiking poles - I'd have probably slipped and smashed my head on some of the sections. By the time I was below Cam Spout Crag, I was well and truly beaten up and tired. From there it seemed to go on forever getting back to the car through many many bogs and lots of streams and standing water. The day was both a good and bad experience ;-) The final thing worth mentioning, I was solo on this one and lost GPS whilst in the gully. By the time I reached the bottom my phone needed charging, but wouldn't due to moisture protection. Nobody knew where I was that day, dumb mistake to forget! There was a lot of none existent trail on the way back and for the inexperienced or person with a terrible sense of direction it would be easy to get lost in the type of claggy weather I had to deal with.

Route name

Scafell 16.7 km route

loop
Obstacles

routefinding, stream crossing, rockfall/loose rock, weather

Key gear

trekking poles, GPS device

Other peaks climbed on this trip