Running Helvellyn Area 12-12-11

There is still plenty of snow cover around the Helvellyn area, the old snow that had a thaw is starting to freeze again and firm up on the surface.  There was a little new snow blowing about from last night with some pockets a bit deeper in places.  The turf up high was also showing the early signs of a freeze and there is some ice coating the exposed rocks up high.

The effects of the rapid thaw were clear to see with a number of large full depth avalanches, one into Brown Cove from the headwall between Helvellyn and Lower Man in particular had left a massive amount of debris all the way into the Cove.  There was also a fairly large one into Keppel Cove with a crown wall of about 2 metre (see photo below).

The Helvellyn Ridges are still really good, the rock now has a thin layer of ice coating it meaning a bit of care was needed without crampons.

See also Steve Ashworths report from today at – https://www.facebook.com/EpicentreAmbleside?ref=ts