Finally, we made it! A weekend away without the little chaps for our tenth wedding anniversary, at the end of a long lockdown period, combined with weather that was better than forecast, allowed Mummy and Daddy to return to the Lake District. A chance to polish the skills we could still remember (!) ahead of what we hope will be a summer of adventures.
Our weekend revolved around Troutdale Pinnacle (3* Severe and also where we got engaged - right on the Pinnacle!) and
Gillercombe Buttress (also 3* Severe) but this blog is not about us and sitting outside the van with the both climbing and scrambling guides in hand we couldn't help but plan ahead looking at routes we could do as a family.
A wedding anniversary is a great time for reflection and so I'm going to take this opportunity to go back to September 2020 and some great weather and our first "proper" Lake District weekend with the Little Chaps (by proper, I mean good weather and our first attempt on one of the larger peaks)....
Jack's Rake:
A weekend in the Lake District lay ahead. As the week went on the weather forecast remained good (dry and maybe a little wind on the tops) and we realised that this could be the time to utilise all the training that we had done so far (I will return to this in the future) and to be ambitious. We were going to go for a classic 3* Lakeland scramble - Jack's Rake on Pavey Ark, Langdale. Now all we had to do was work out what gear we needed and how to get the Little Chaps there and back again.
We were not too concerned about the getting up there. The Chaps have grown into strong walkers and my theory was that we just needed to compensate for the extra climbing by reducing the distance. So a round route of just over 7k with 750m was, at best, a complete guess that we would be okay - in mid-September, amount of daylight was still not an issue!
Equipment-wise, the plan was to use the alpine-technique of all roping together with the Little Chaps in the middle and us front and back to provide support where necessary. No need for any other climbing gear as the boys can still be easily body-belayed (or just pulled/pushed up!) hard bits. Basically, a confidence rope for all concerned. They knew they wouldn't fall anywhere and we knew it too! Note: don't forget the helmets next time, luckily not a route with a lot of loose rock but you never know!
I had the heavy bag, carrying in ropes and harnesses as Jenny is still building up following her leg issues and I was the one sweating as the Chaps romped up the path to Stickle Tarn (about an hour to the Tarn) and we made our way around to the start.
Left: making our way up to the start - you can see the diagonal line of Jack's Rake across the cliff face
Right: Easy terrace somewhere in the middle of the scramble
We roped up and set off. Mummy led the way with enough rope to set up a belay if it should be required and I took the back, slightly closer to Ben so that I could help him, particularly as he is a) the smallest and b) always needs a bit of time to "get his head in the game" when we climb.
It was a lovely couple of hours in the sunshine. We took our time, sometimes choosing the more exposed but easier climbing on the edge, at other times staying in the gully near the cliff. We were passed by loads of people - it is a classic, easily accessed scramble - and, whilst we expected that, the comments were the only annoying part of the day and one of the main reasons I started this blog.
Let's be clear, everyone who passed us was lovely. "Oh, how great to see kids up here" and "aren't you doing well?" followed by "how old are you two?" (Ben loved this and began to pre-empt all questions by telling everyone who passed their ages before they had even said "hi"!!).
And then the inevitable response from the, mostly, groups of dads "my kids, aged 8/9/10 (i.e. considerably older than the Little Chaps) couldn't/wouldn't do this." How I hate that!
Of course they could do it, of course they would love to be here sharing the experience with you, of course they would love it. Plus, you could have an amazing day out together rather than leaving them at home while you get your hill-fix.
Don't get me wrong, it isn't easy (which bit of having kids is?!) and it doesn't happen overnight. It has been a long process of building up and overcoming obstacles and investing some time away from the mountains we all want to be in but don't tell me your kids can't do it.
So this is the theme that I'm going to come back to. How did we get to this stage that we could all come and enjoy a beautiful family day in the Lakes. Where were the challenges and how did we overcome them. Hopefully the advice and stories on this site will help you (if you are still reading!) to start the process with your own little ones - or bigger ones as it is never too late - and help you get your family out to enjoy your own Wild Day.
For us, all that remained was lunch on the summit of Pavey Ark and to follow the path around onto Harrison Stickle (which has a couple of scramble routes of it's own) before dropping back down to the Stickle Barn car park. Then it was back to our accommodation for everyone's favourite part of the hill day - cake! (Beer later for Mummy & Daddy!)
Thanks for reading and let us know in the comments below about your own family firsts in the hills...
Route info: Jack's Rake, Pavey Ark & Harrison Stickle
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