Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fairfield Horseshoe - 19th March 2008






















Bright, cold March day with light winds and excellent visibility. Perfect weather for a walk around the Fairfield Horseshoe. We (me and Nick) opted to walk it in a clockwise direction so we would get the steep climb up Nab Scar out of the way at the start and then enjoy the long descent from Dove Crag back to Ambleside. Above 700m there were patches of snow, the summit was cold but only a light breeze. The views across towards Helvellyn and down into the plunging cliffs and coves of Deepdale were superb. A straight-forward walk along good paths with only a couple of steep sections along the way. The summit of Fairfield (873 metres) is a broad plateau of grass and loose rock, with sheer cliffs on its north and east face - in good visibility the route off is fairly clear to follow and well cairned BUT in mist the summit is confusing and potentially dangerous so a map, compass and a bearing is essential to avoid problems. This walk took us just over 6 hours (around 12 miles).

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