Harrison Stickle

It had been a while since we had climbed Harrison Stickle by the popular route, via Stickle Ghyll up to Stickle Tarn and Shen the loose scree directly to Harrison Stckle. This was our planned route for today. The weather forecast was for heavy rain but we started off in theory but low cloud on the tops.
The Ghyll was remarkably dry but, spite this, some schoolchildren were having a wonderful time Ghyll scrambling. The path to the tarn is now paved in stone steps more or less all the way. It was a quick ascent, not as tedious as I had recollected. Once at the tarn we followed the path to the left and again, stone steps took us through the loose rock to the col just below the summit.
By now the wind was strengthening and the rain was falling.We stopped for lunch below the top taking shelter from the wind and put waterproofs on.
On the top the wind was fierce and the rain heavy so not a place to stop for long. With no visibility, a compass bearing towards Pike O'Stickle got us got us safely down below the cloud and the reassurance the Pike O'Stickle was directly in front of us.
We now has good enough visibilty to head towards our intended descent route, avoiding Dungeon Ghyll, instead, taking the path from below Loft Crag, clearly marked with cairns.
A lovely descent back to the car completed an excellent round trip.

Time 4hrs 15mns
Memories

• Wet and very windy on top
• Compass navigation required in the mist
• Schoolchildren Ghyll scambling

Grade. Excellent

Completed 140 To go 74