Start point: Lay by opposite Swirls Car Park (NY 315 170)
Swirls – Browncove Crags – Helvellyn – Helvellyn Lower Man – White Side – Raise – Swirls
Distance: 6.3 miles Total Ascent: 920 metres Time Taken: 4 hours
Weather: Cold and clear with temperature inversion. 5°C
It ended up being a day of two halves with the weather, but I really couldn’t have expected anything better than the cold and clear weather complete with a temperature inversion that covered the whole of the south Lakes that I managed to see from the summit of Helvellyn. Later the inversion lifted and completely enveloped me making it a completely different walk during the latter stages.

As soon as the snowline was reached it was time for the crampons as everything was iced over making the going slippery. This is the view from where I put them on and all is clear to the north over Skiddaw and Blencathra.

Great Gable is clear towards the left but there is cloud forming now on some of the other fells around it.