Facing a fear on Striding Edge, ending with a wild camp

We all have our fears, some more extreme than others. Heights is the fear for Helen, so attempting Striding Edge was going to be a challenge. Would we succeed?

We were told to attempt Striding Edge in perfect conditions, but what are perfect conditions? Wind, rain, mist and heavy back packs apparently aren’t the perfect conditions, but that is what we were dealing with. This was not our choice, these were the conditions of the day.

So, we parked up and headed to a café for a quick drink before starting the route.

We knew we wouldn't be driving home that evening so why not have a beer, maybe I needed a little courage to get me over that ridge!

The start of the route was quite steep, a little cloudy and very warm. We were greeted almost instantly with rolling hills, streams, waterfalls and vast open countryside. Even carrying the 15KG backpacks wasn't too strenuous. We topped up our water supply half way up to the ridge not knowing when we would be able to fill up our water. The stream was surrounded by sheep, luckily we had remembered to pack our water filter so we weren't worried about using the water from the stream.

We had a break at the foot of the final ascent to the ridge. We stopped by the lake and had some lunch, a hot drink was needed but the wind had picked up at the this point and we didn't have a wind deflector to protect the stove flame...this went straight on the 'to buy list' for when we got home.

The lake was peaceful and a good potential spot to camp for the night. We opted for a different camp spot once we had summited, more about that later.

We left the lake and headed to the path that would take us up to the ridge, at this point the wind started to pick up and so did Helen's nerves. From the ground, the ridge looked imposing and higher than expected to Helen, but her determination and 'never give up' attitude kicked in. Mate thought Helen might need a kick, or several, to get her across the ridge. Would he be correct?

As we approached the start of the ridge, the weather changed again. The air was full of mist. We now had wind, clouds, mist and the dreaded heavy back packs. We did our best to spread the weight across both packs to complete the ridge in the safest possible way. Now it was time to navigate the ridge, yes there is a path on the right but this would feel like the easy option, even Helen was not willing to take the easy option.

The ridge itself was narrow, but didn't look too difficult. We both know it would have been easier in perfect conditions. Mate decided he would go first, allowing Helen to go at her own pace and take her time. This was the plan, but when there's a significant difference in stride length this wasn't going to be the case. We both took our own route across the ridge, some places were a lot easier than others but we were determined to get across. Helen told herself 'once you get half way across you will have to finish it' after all, it was carry on and turn back neither option filled her with confidence. 'Don't stop, keep going' was the phrase while crossing the ridge.

Finally, after what seemed like forever we made it across the ridge. The final ascent looked steep, slippery and not inviting. However, this felt like the easiest part of the entire hike. And, the views were incredible.

Thankfully the weather began to improve to allow to take in the views and scenery and view the route we had taken. The view of the ridge looks a lot worse than it was to cross, even Helen agreed! The summit was now in view, we picked up the pace a little bit to make sure we weren't descending Swirls Edge in the dark. The main reason for this was we needed to find a camping spot for the night, somewhere off the main path and out of view. But first, we needed that summit photo, after all if you don't have the photo did you actually make it to the summit?

We remained on the summit for a short period of time, until once again the wind started to pick up again. The descent was relatively easy, the path wasn't too steep but the ground was wet and slippery. Stepping around, and in some cases over, sheep did not help but we were invading their space.

As we descended we kept looking for a camping spot, we knew we could go back to the lake but we wanted somewhere different, somewhere off the main path, somewhere that (hopefully) no one else would venture. The perfect spot was viewed, now we just had to get there. For once we did the opposite of what we usually did, it wasn't 'Straight to the Summit' it was 'straight to the bottom'. The spot was perfect, but the climb down was slippery, wet, windy and covered in sheep poo!

The camp spot was perfect, we chose well. Not another person could be seen for miles, the only company we had were a lot of sheep but they left us alone and we left them alone. We cooked up a bolognaise with noodles and admired the view until the sunset and we headed to bed. The wind died down quickly which made for a peaceful night and a well deserved sleep!

The route back to the car the next morning offered fields, streams, mountains and even a small waterfall. The weather conditions were totally different, bright blue skies and glorious sunshine. We are very much looking forward to returning and hiking the ridge with more confidence and less weight on our backs!