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Walk and Travel in Cumbria and Beyond

Beyond the Comfort Zone

Beyond the Comfort Zone

From a solitary stroll one day to the exhilaration of a Grade 1 Scramble the next.

No one can complain that there is lack of variety in the Cumbrian hills.

Having completed ‘The AW List’  I need  to be seek out new challenges.

When I first moved back ‘Up North’ I walked up to Pavey Ark with friends who scrambled up, I didn’t and thought I probably wouldn’t ever.

Suffice to say the older you get the dafter you get and yesterday, with the encouragement of a friend or two I reached the top of Pavey Ark via Jack’s Rake.

Perfect Easter sunshine accompanied us the mile or so up Stickle Ghyll.

Stickle Ghyll

Stickle Ghyll

Pavey Ark looking quite small and manageable,

waterfall

as we hiked up past the waterfalls fed by the tarn.

Stickle Tarn

Stickle Tarn

Stickle Tarn is always beautiful, even on days when you can’t see from one side to the other it has mysterious serenity. Light bouncing off the clear still surface, surrounding hills and wonderful back drop did make sitting on the side for the afternoon rather an attractive proposition.

bottom

But there was a hill to climb!

ashtree

Which grew in stature as we moved round the tarn.

Pavely Ark

Scree tumbles now from the start of the gully and was difficult to negotiate as the gully itself.

Pavey Ark

Don’t be deceived by the view from the start, the tree is not at the top,

stageone

merely a convenient photo stop!

StickleTarn

Stage two was a little shorter

stage2

with another convenient photo stop,

higher

before the final face

Last face, Pavey Ark

and the top.

DSCF4842

The mountains allowed us a dry lunch but by the time we had arrived at Thunacar Knott

PikeOfStickle

Pike O Stickle

the rain and cloud descended so  we turned back to Harrisons and a relatively short route back by Pike Howe and the side of Dungeon Ghyll.

DungeonGhyll

Dungeon Ghyll

Degree of difficulty?   I am not that experienced but would say it was less nerve wracking than Sharp Edge, because of the openness of the edge. It is longer, more strenuous and being not a very tall individual, there was quite a bit of stretching for foot and hand holds.   I was with friends way more experienced than myself and I have them to thank for telling me where to put my feet and hands.    For the most part I didn’t feel that exposed, as the gully provides security and there are a couple of good wide ledges to stop and rest.  Wide enough to take my camera out and enjoy the view!   The last face was probably the most challenging but even this is rough rock with lots of grip, not like the slate face on Sharp Edge.

west

And nothing can take away the exhilaration of reaching the top!

The Route

JakesRakeMap

A mere 4.26 miles, 2134ft of ascent.

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3 Comments

  1. A great day with great company 🙂

  2. Looks amazing x

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  1. Twenty Fourteen - […] snow had all but gone and I eventually made it up the notorious Jacks Rake, with a lot of…

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