Brown Cove Crags, Helvellyn

Good day running a mountaineering course today for http://www.mountainguides.co.uk/

After a few days of the freeze-line being above the summits there was a temporary dip last night to below 700m.  The wet snow had hardened up reasonably well in places but did vary a bit, the turf was not frozen except for in some of the most exposed places at the crag top.  Very windy today but warmed throughout the day with overnight ice starting to melt by mid morning.  Gully’s still have plenty of snow in and there is some good cover high up, though a lot less than last week now.

Looking warmer tomorrow again so only a temporary return to full winter up high, Snow Forecast reckons 1750m for the freeze-line potentially tomorrow night with some rain so likely to soften everything again and cornices will be worth staying clear of.  Turf will need a full freeze again and the rock is fairly black on the crags now.

Snow Forecast – http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Raise/6day/mid

Still loads of good cover though for a winter walk or for skiing with some tactical route choice!  Raise no doubt will still have plenty of cover.

Today there were lots of people climbing the gullies and various snowy link ups on Brown Cove Crags.  We linked up some of the small gullies and snow slopes in the Stepped Ridge area taking in a couple of the rock steps higher up.  None of the mixed sections with turf were in condition really and so we avoided, plenty of good snow cover still so easy to skirt around.  Proper winter blast up top today, fairly wild with hail!