Camping in the snow…

It was an adventure and it was a disaster in some ways too!

Were we mad to head up the mountains in snow planning to stay up there over night? Yeah probably. But we were well kitted up and we had everything we needed to make it through safe, happy, and warm. Or so I thought.

There were items that were on my kit list as essentials that Louise didn’t seem to agree with and left them out to make space and save weight so she could take extra stuff for the dogs. These were things like a spare pair of socks, spare pair of gloves, and an extra hat. In the event that the originals get wet…spares are definitley handy to keep you warm. Gaiters, to keep feet and legs warm are a pretty big aid too, but as we’d just purchased a new pair of waterproof trousers…Louise decided these weren’t needed either. But she didn’t tuck her normal trousers in properly and spent the whole day walking on the bottom of her pants and therefore encrusting them with durt and ice, and aslo letting the water in underneath the lovely waterproof pants, soaking socks and thermal long johns through. Not really noticable while hiking…but as soon as we stopped she was frozen. Much like her clothes were in the morning. Frozen stiff to be exact. But the dogs had a wonderful sleeping bag and sleeping mat, plenty of dog treats…including Jumbones…to keep them happy all night while hypothermia set in for Louise. At one point through the night she bit her tongue in her sleep, sat bolt upright in her sleeping bag hyperventilating, convinced she was going into anaphylactic shock, and that her throat was closing shut. I gave her a Piriton and told her to go back to sleep. She isn’t allergic to any substance known to man. Call me heartless but it was late and I was tired.

Camped up at Innominate Tarn…Merlin’s head poking out of the bottom.

This is the extra sleeping bag Louise carried up for the dogs instead of her own kit.

The planed route was changed on the morning of the second day. We’ll be nice and blame it on the snow and icy conditions, and we took the path over Fleetwith Pike, Honnister, and Dale Head to spend the next night at Dale Head Tarn. It was pretty uneventful by comparison. Only the sound of chattering teeth and snoring Merlin’s accompanied my sleep, and then on Monday we made our way down to the cottage in the Newlands Valley.

But views like this as we were heading over Fleetwith Pike towards Hoopers Quary…they do make it very worth the effort. The first lake is Buttermere, with Crummock water behand it. The mountain in the background is the Mighty Grasmoor. It truly was lovely to see and we really were the only ones out there. Can’t think why?

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