A group of us are heading to Keswick this weekend and are planning on walking up Helvellyn via Striding Edge. However, I’ve done this before and my legs suffer with walking down hills so I’d rather take the mountain bike.
Which route has the easiest accent where I’m more likely to be able to pedal rather than ‘hike a bike’?

Straight up the same track that bloke drove up??

Except he’ll then find himself at the top of Snowdon

they are all hike a bike in my experience

Don’t go up Helvellyn, it will kill you carrying a bike. Do the classic High Street route instead, you can ride for miles along the top of the mountain and the downhill is long and brilliant.

Email if you want to see the route we did last Sunday, with pics.

reedy at orchardhouse dot fsworld dot co dot uk

Kepple cove zigzags from Glenridding via Greenside will be the path of least resistance. Still a big old push / carry though.

Don’t want to be inflammatory but why not leave the bike at home and join the others walking up Helvellyn. I enjoy both mountaineering (in different forms) and mtb and have no desire to be exclusive…but there is something inside me that says mtb shouldn’t be on Helvellyn. Perhaps I am just a bit out-of-date but there are plenty of other places to ride in the Lakes. What’s the point of pushing a bike up. Better still, go and enjoy some of the more interesting scrambles in the region (Pinnacle Ridge, Browncove Crags etc) on foot and then mtb in other spots.

Yep your out of date you can if your fit enough, ride all of the zigzags on keppel cove which only leaves a 150m carry onto lower man. You can also ride all the dodds up. All the routes off are totally rideable dollywagon included. Brilliant mtbing fell, so long as the weather is right 😉 ie not much wind.

Yep your out of date

I know, but I find it hard on the fells with my Sturmey Archer gears, so I put on my tweed breeches, dubbin my leather boots, fill my vaccuum flask, put it in my haversack and head off in a wooly bobble hat 😉

(Still prefer not to see bikes on Helvellyn though!!)

Up – from Dockray, over Great Dodd, Watsons Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Whiteside Bank, etc.
Down – Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, Dollywagon and Grisedale Tarn. Above the tarn is a bit too stop/start because of the big water channels but the section from the Tarn down is about the best singletrack descent I’ve done in the area.

I know, but I find it hard on the fells with my Sturmey Archer gears, so I put on my tweed breeches, dubbin my leather boots, fill my vaccuum flask, put it in my haversack and head off in a wooly bobble hat

😀

(Still prefer not to see bikes on Helvellyn though!!)

Hayho 😛

Yep Team Huntmore is out of date. There are thousands of miles of footpath in the lakes (and elsewhere) which should be free of bikes. Many of the higher peaks of the lakes are bridleway free. It really is worth getting up high on the bike as long as you know what you are doing (ie would do the same route on foot)

Could I suggest some sort of a blindfold if the sight of bikes upsets you. Tweed one might be a bit itchy though.

[Up – from Dockray, over Great Dodd, Watsons Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Whiteside Bank, etc.
Down – Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, Dollywagon and Grisedale Tarn. Above the tarn is a bit too stop/start because of the big water channels but the section from the Tarn down is about the best singletrack descent I’ve done in the area.]

I agree with Eckey-Thumb. I did this in July and was great and amazing buzz when you finish…. but be warned… the ascent to the Dodds will be piss wet through now and possibly un ridable (it was still very wet in July) and the Dolly Waggon trail is very techy, very steep and you need lot’s of skill to get down it, so it does depend on skill levels of the group.

What’s the point of pushing a bike up

Because you can ride down Sticks Pass?

Ride/Push up Keppel cove is easiest.
Girizedale is a techy climb, Dollywagon: a carry
Dodds will be boggier than a boggy thing. No fun going up and a bit of a slog going down.

Of the 3 ways i`ve been up with a bike….Keppel Cove would be the easiest by far…..

Zig Zags is really not that bad at all imo, and I’m fat and unfit. 🙂

The way up over the Dodds is long, boggy and grassy – not worth it imo.

Being on Hellvelyn with a bike is great – you get some amusing looks/comments from walkers.

Brilliant teamhurtmore, you are either a very clever troll or share the kind of mentality that prevents bikes being able to access so much viable terrain.

Thanks for the info all. I went up the zig zags from Keppel Cove and down Sticks Pass. It wasn’t the best day for it, rain and strong winds. On a dry still day most of the zig zags would be rideable. Sticks pass was ok but lots of rocky and washed out parts that had to be walked around so didn’t flow very well.

lots of rocky and washed out parts

Those are the best bits 😉

Well done. Tick it off the list, but next summer try the route up the Dodds and down the Dolly Wagon. I loved it, one of the best routes I’ve done this year. Great banter with a group of Yorkshire men who’d just done striding edge and nearly choked on their tea when they saw me on the bike, and I had a race with a fell runner coming down the Dolly Wagon. All came together that day….. and then the f-in rain came !

I hate the dodds.

sticks pass however is heaven in a bike track

Pook is responsible for nearly a dozen people hating the dodds. And him.

dollywagon was good from the second half down. the steps for the top half were a laugh for a bit but got samey very quickly.

sticks is brilliant, a really interesting mix of flow and nadge.

I think I’m just spoilt with the great singletrack trails I have access to up here.
Did Drumlanrig red on the way home which was brilliant even in the pouring rain! Showers, cafe and free bike wash on site though, perfect.

its a completely different kettle of fish to a trail centre, granted.

never done drumlanrig, is that the natural, woodsy one? near the castle or something?