Ghyll scrambling & canyoning day in the Lake District. June 2nd 2011.

At Kendal Mountaineering Services, it's been a busy week for Iain who has, since a week Saturday, spent four days doing ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions. Mind you - with this current spell of summer weather, it's no surprise that the general public want to cool off and there really is no better way than to do so than a ghyll scrambling and/or canyoning session with us!

It is not often, however, that we get asked to provide a full day of ghyll scrambling & canyoning - unless we are doing the Esk Gorge Descent.

Yesterday, Iain worked with Torben Schneider and Chrystele Scariot who had chosen to come to The Lake District from London to celebrate Chrystele's birthday and she had chosen to spend it by a whole day of getting wet!


It was a good call though. Saturday was a fantastic warm day with blue skies & hot sunshine meaning that even if you got soaked in the ghyll, you weren't chilled when you were not immersed.

For the all day ghyll scrambling & canyoning session, Iain took the pair first to Stickle Ghyll in Great Langdale - a popular ghyll scrambling venue. This ghyll starts immediately behind the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel and finishes at Stickle Tarn. Generally an easy scramble, there are a few deep pools and a number of roped waterfall climbs before the ghyll peters out above a steep and often slimey rock slope. Both photographs one & two were taken in Stickle Ghyll and show the pair enjoying themselves.



After doing what we could in Stickle Ghyll, Iain and the pair got changed, had some lunch and then drove over to Coniston for their second and more challenging ghyll scramble - Church Beck.

Conditions were perfect and we rapidly made progress up the ghyll and then headed to the top to do the canyoning descent.

With reference to the previous post on which Iain mentions the upper part of Church Beck being often avoided by other user groups, photo three shows Chrystele being lowered down the first waterfall.

Doing this shorter lower first, is good preparation for what is to come further down the ghyll beyond Miner's bridge. However, it must be stressed that this lower should not be attempted in high water conditions and care must be taken as the slab upon which Chrystele is stood can oftern be slippery.






This final shot - taken in the upper part of Church Beck is the waterfall immediately below the first lower.

Jumping in to the pool at the waterfall end must be avoided - there are large rocks at the base of the fall and getting in to the pool should only be attempted immediately below where the party are in the photo.

The water is surprisingly deep at the get in to this pool - you will go in over your head, so it is a good way to cool off after the walk up from below Miner's Bridge.

Below here it is an easy walk downstream to Miner's Bridge where the next waterfall awaits and the session gets much more exciting.

Torben & Chrystele thoroughly enjoyed their full day of ghyll scrambling & canyoning with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services. All of the photographs taken on their session with us can be viewed here. To book your ghyll scrambling & canyoning session in The Lake District - contact us.

Iain's next post will be about today's caving trip in The Yorkshire Dales National Park!