Great Langdale to Great End • Walking the Cumbrian Mountains

Name of walk	Great Langdale to Great End
Date of walk	2007-11-13
Distance walked (miles)	10
Duration of walk	7 hours 0 minutes
Weather	Blue skies and sunshine
Peaks on walk	Rossett Pike, Great End
Walked with	Ged and blind Kas
Parking	Old Dungeon Gill car park

The gritter lorries were out on Sunday night indicating that it was going to be clear and frosty. So Ged, Kas the blind Border Collie and me went to Great Langdale in order to hike to Great End (2984ft). We set off from the Old Dungeon Ghyll car park at about 11. Sunset was at 4.20pm so we knew we would be coming back in the dark. The walk is just over ten miles with the detours to Rossett Pike (2106ft).

View towards Rossett Gill. Rossett Pike is just to its right. It takes about 45 minutes to reach the Gill path

Pike O` Stickle.

Now we get a clear view down the valley.

Rossett gill is steep and stoney, good views back down the valley. As the route was in shade there was lots of ice about so you had to tread carefully.

View to our first destination of Rossett Pike.

It took 2 hours and 20 minute to reach Rossett Pike`s summit cairn. Good visibility this morning as you can see the Pennines in the distance.

Ged, Kas and me.

Looking east down the Langstrath valley.

Looking over Angle Tarn to Esk Pike (2903ft), and in the sunlight, Great End. We had to be back here by four in order to make sure we got down the bouldery section of Rossett Gill before darkness

Angle Tarn outflow.

Last time we were here the tarn was frozen.

Esk Hause Shelter. We stopped for a drink here. It was cold and windy, so we didn`t stop for long. So we made the push for Great End. We would need to give Esk Pike and Allen Crags a miss which was a pity as they were both so near, but daylight hours were too short.

Route up Allen Crags (2572ft).

Esk Pike (2903ft)

Great End.

View into the Eskdale Valley and out to sea.

View to Borrowdale and Derwent Water.

From the Col, the view to Ill Crag, Scafell Pike (the cairn can be seen on the summit) and Broad Crag.

Heading towards Great End`s summit cairn.

Superb panoramic views! Lingmell and the Wasdale Valley looking over at Yewbarrow and Red Pike.

Kirk Fell with Pillar beyond.

Great Gable and Green Gable and Styhead Tarn. We we last climbed them we went up the middle by Aaron Slack, a horrible scree run visible from here!

Looking down the Borrowdale Valley out to Blencathra.

Glaramara.

On the summit it was now ten to three so we set off back for Rossett Gill. Angle Tarn always looks so bleak

Rossett Gill..

We managed to get most of the way down Rossett Gill before the light levels got too low. We walked along the valley floor in the dark. I needed to use my head torch in order to not trip over large rocks. We got back to the car at six o`clock. The walk had taken us 7 hours but the views had been worth it. It had started to cloud over in the afternoon so a lot of the ice had thankfully melted which made for a safer descent.