Start point: Wasdale Head (NY 186 084)
Wasdale Head – Moses Trod – Skew Gill – The Band – Great End – Ill Crag – Broad Crag – Scafell Pike – Lingmell Col – Lingmell – Wasdale Head
Distance: 7.8 miles Total Ascent: 1115 metres Time Taken: 5 hours 15 minutes
Weather: Sunny spells, warm. 12oC.
Some walks are pretty and some are easier than others but today’s walk is best described as a gnarled and hard going. I climbed Skew Gill to reach Great End and that was a hard scramble (Note: to repeat, Skew Gill is a hard scramble and in no way is it a ‘walk’) and had a look at Cust’s Gully before climbing Great End and walking the Scafell Pikes. It was really quite pleasant at times too, warm and spring like and not too many people about either.

Great End ahead. Skew Gill, the route of ascent can be seen as the dark diagonal line to the left of the highest part of the fell.

Casper leads the way in Skew Gill. It is best to stay in the middle with the gill rather than climb the sides, which become very steep.

Suddenly you pop out from the top of the ravine, blinking into the light. The top part of the gill almost looks as though there is now way out when you turn the right angle corner and a bit of a climb is required to escape the steep sided ravine. Here's a bit of sunshine on Great Gable and Kirk Fell from the head of Skew Gill.

Cust's Gully. I had a look and made it as far as the black rock sticking through the snow about a third the way up. The snow was part frozen and treacherous so there was no way I would risk going any further today, similarly the branch gully to the right was snow filled too so it was the pedestrian route further round to the right for me. When I reached the top and looked down Cust's Gully, there was a big cornice of icy snow there so that would certainly have been tricky to surmount. I think I will have another look in the summer.