Christmas Cheer

BMC Christmas Meet at George Starkey Hut in Patterdale 1-3 December 2023:

We had 26 attending this meet, which is always the most popular of the year, mostly due to the presence of Brussels sprouts I’m sure.  It was especially nice to have a couple of young families attending, lovely to meet new people and the children were a delight (honestly!). 

Apart from the outdoor activities, the main focus of the weekend is the Christmas meal, which as always came to just £6 per head, a real bargain.  We are by now a practised team, with everyone contributing and taking on a task. It all went smoothly this year, with no burnt offerings, although there was a bit of a panic that we might not have cooked enough brussel sprouts.  There were a few members of the Alpine Club using the hut, so thank you to them for putting up with us noisy lot!

We came up early on Friday to deliver to a gallery in Ambleside, after which I drove up The Struggle (fun) and parked at the top of the Kirkstone Pass on a gloriously sunny day.   Robert, Wendy and I walked up the steep and icy ascent  to Red Screes and were blown away by the clear blue skies and wonderful views.  Other early arrivals had done various things in the afternoon, including walks, a gallery trip in Kendal (Mike) and even a bit of gear shopping (Pauline).  

The people who still have to work arrived at different times in the evening and joined in Karl’s cheese feast!

The forecast on Saturday was for snow later, so various smaller groups ventured into the hills, equipped with lots of cold weather gear.  

Robert and I were up and out first I think, with Harry joining us to bag a few Wainwrights, so we ploughed on to Angle Tarn, Rest Dodd and The Knott, whilst Harry went off to one side then the other, bagging peaks.  When we arrived at the summit of The Knott the weather took a turn for the worse and it snowed, on and off, for the next few hours. We decided to descend to Hartsop and walk back along the valley, but we found the service road from Hayswater was a hard sheet of ice, covered by an inch of dry powdery snow – not a good combination.  I think all of the various walking groups had members who had fallen over at some point.  Everyone was ok, apart from Adrian who twisted his ankle a bit, although thankfully still able to drive later on.  Meanwhile the two family groups had gone up to Angle Tarn and had a thoroughly good time making huge snowballs.

Sunday morning (with some of the group nursing slight hangovers I’m sure ) dawned cloudy but clearing, a thin fresh covering of snow on the road.  So again, we split into smaller groups and went out to enjoy the snow. Place Fell is usually a favoured shorter route, which on this particular day had tremendous light snow conditions and fabulous views.  The mist was rolling and flowing in all the valleys around us, apart from our own, we felt blessed.  The sight of the cloud inversion South of Kirkstone Pass, with a thin tongue of fog rolling down the road towards us was a truly magical sight. 

According to the news the snow conditions around Ambleside and Windermere had caused traffic chaos and real local problems, whilst Patterdale just a few short miles away, experienced mostly clear roads and a beautiful covering of snow.  

All in all a wonderful weekend which I’ll remember for a very long time. 

Written by Paul S, Photos by various