St Sunday

St Sunday Crag, Lake District, UK

The summit of St Sunday Crag was my aim for sunset as I ran down after a morning of photography on Place Fell back to my car in Patterdale. The short daylight hours this time of year can be a real problem especially when the weather is good. I could have chosen somewhere more accessible but decided to have a quick lunch and set off again at 12.30pm straight back onto the footpath ready for the 700 meter accent. Fortunately a fair few people had been up after the snowfall and I had a compacted path to follow but the going was still tough. I was down to my baselayer and I was still sweating buckets! Whilst in Scotland a few days before I was persuaded to buy a pair of walking poles and no matter what you think of them they really DO make a difference. I'm a big guy and when trying to power up and down hills especially with a heavy pack stability can be a problem but after using them a few times they've certainly helped me.

The snow on the final 100m had frozen over so I clipped my crampons on and reached the summit at 2.20 feeling pretty proud of my efforts! I had just under 2 hours exploring the area and found some great shapes in the snow and ice formed by the wind (know as 'sastrugi') I waited for the sun to set before setting off on the return trip before it got too dark!