Striding edge

How scary is it really? Non of this macho guff, is it scary?

might be if you rode it, irrate walkers and all that 😮

no, but lower your saddle

Not that bad..

Just pray for no cross winds.

Oh, and their right.. Lower yer saddle.. 😆

It’s all extremely subjective of course, but it’s really not that scary. Certainly much less exposed and easier than the other classic Grade I scrambles in the Lakes like Jack’s Rake or Sharp Edge on Blencathra. Also not as interesting imo but still fun.

There is basically one step that involves very easy downclimbing, but it’s pretty small.

Here’s a pic of it from winter, the step is on the left of the rocky outcrop in the middle of the picture.

Great photo there grumm!

In wet, rainy and poor vis conditions it’s really quite dangerous…otherwise it’s all good.

It also has routes just of the ridge, but I think they’re more dodgy as it can be tricky to navigate back up in poor conditions.

You could try Swirrel edge first and give yourself a little warmer. I find it more fun anyway 🙂

Cheers

If you do it, do it properly and actually walk the “edge”. The path itself it some way (a few metres) to the side for a lot of the way. Far more interesting that way.

I took a goups of 9 14yr olds up it in September (with another ML). It was my first time up it in years and it was fun. The kids found it fine (and we did it properly).

Grumm
Is that pic taken from Nethermost Cove climb?

A couple of winters ago I followed Chris Bonnington down that difficult step, in full winter conditions like grumms photo, and he walked down like it wasn’t there, he must be 70 odd now aswell.

Cheers snowslave.

Agree with convert about sticking to the ridge line, much more rewarding and probably safer than some of the paths off to the side. You can see one of them going underneath the rocky outcrop on my photo.

B.A.Nana – was taken from around there but I’m not sure what exact route we did – came up an easy neve slope/gully. Here is a pic of me at the top near where we came up.

And here’s Swirral Edge in great winter conditions:

I got most of the way up swirral last easter but had to turn back due to frozen snow and lack of spikey feet 😀 Keep meaning to do striding edge but it seems the weather is always against me. Now having read that a group of 9 year olds have done it makes me feel like a right spoon.

It is all relative. Striding Edge really is at the lower end of the scrambling scale, but if you’re bad with heights, then it may still worry you. Actually the bit that seems to freak most people out isn’t the ridge itself, but the steepish broken ground leading up to the summit plateau. They’re currently renovating that area btw.

If you have a decent head for heights, I’d say Striding Edge in non-winter conditions is generally fine, though like all ridges, can be awkward in high winds. It’s not particularly narrow and there are no massive vertical drops unlike, say, Crib Goch on Snowdon or Sharp Edge which are nominally the same grade, but a lot more exposed.

i’ve got some nice pics of striding and swirral, similar to grumm’s. i’ll stick them up when i get home later on. 🙂

I’m currently not good with heights. Im working on that!

The first time I did it, was as a 11-12 year old and I can tell you it bricked me!

Not sure if its still there, but remember a tomb stone that you had to hang onto and swing round along that edge.

The last bit onto the peak onto Helvelin had a snow wall which we crawled up, very scared at the time, but the feeling I had once we got to the top was simply amazing.

Sorry about the pic, but its me crawling just over the top of the snow wall, taking on a 110 camera remember them!

Me – with woolly hat, must not look down, must not look down 😉

Looked nice from here, but when you got to the wall of snow, with no ropes or crampons, I can tell you for a 11 year old it is serious bricking it time 😉

I walked it all with my hands in my pockets, apart from one step down as I recall

Haha – fair play ski!

The bit we did was quite scary at the top when we had to get over the wind-lip, and we had ice axes and crampons!

Ski, I’m with you on that. When I was 14 we went to Howtown Outdoor centre with school & on one occasion went from Red Tarn straight up to the top! All roped up with crampons, I think thats what gave me a taste for the outdoors. Never did either edge though.

I love the fells! Going there in July. Can’t wait.

Sharp edge was nasty at the end when you scramble up the slippery slab of smooth rock.

great day out. it’s not too scary, just stay close to anyone who’s nervous to offer moral support!

My wife says it is very, very scary and will never go back again… she is scared of hights though! Me, I did it donkeys years ago and don’t recall it being anything overly worrying 😉

That the one with a sign half way across stating a man died here, and his dog waited with him?

My wife is fairly scared of heights and she did Striding Edge without too many dramas. To be honest it looks far worse than it is. Slightly tricky step down at the end of the ridge. Then an easy scramble up to the plateau which felt like the most exposed part of the whole climb.

We cheated though and did the path just below the ridgeline.

You’ll be fine.

Well it nearly killed me when my GF and I tried it in December in canvas desert boots nearly 20 years ago. I kissed the top of the snow ridge and gave thanks to all the Gods I could think of. We were very young and stupid and nearly a statistic.

Impossible question to answer.

Depends who you ask. Depends what you are used to. Depends on the weather. etc etc

In the grand scheme of things, climbing and ridges etc it’s nothing, a bimble hardly worth a mention. If your horizons are smaller or you’re new to it then it’s an epic and a good day out.

Go and find out. Have fun

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See what i mean about it depends on the weather…
vid

Will admit i bottled it. Went back round and did Swirral instead, though that was hardly a walk in the park! Perhaps I need larger testicles.

I had heard lots of stories about how hard/scary it was aswell.

Me and a couple of mates walked it and its icredibly easy. The hardest bit was having to wait about for around half an hour before the final ascent to the top, because there were a load of pussies who’ve never been out of the city before blocking the route.

I did most of it with my stereo in one hand and a spliff in the other. However you may find using both your hands to help you up the steep bit to the top helps.

Seriously though, its not scary at all, although it gets a bit windy up there. I imagine in ice it could be quite tricky.

misty misty!