Hold your horses Spring - Winter's not done yet! After a couple of frustrating weeks weather wise, it was ace to finally get some luck with returning client Jake. Jake attended our winter skills course that became a summer skills course the other weekend and so was still keen to get out this season with some sharp pointy things. We ventured up towards Helvellyn as despite most of the hills being green at the moment it is indeed holding a lot of snow once up past the tarn. We climbed up to Swirral Edge from the back end of the tarn and focussed on footwork as we went. Swirral Edge was ace fun, but a little spicy as the top (very banked out) exit ramp was really catching the wind. We got to the summit and went to peer down onto Striding Edge. The exit ramp here is also extremely banked out and cornices guard most of the descent options. As Jake was proving to be a natural we carefully down-climbed the exit ramp to Striding Edge. Striding Edge itself is in pretty much 'Summer' condition, with any snow not causing any real hazard (however a drop in temperature would soon change this). We took our crampons off in a bid to not trash the place and carefully traversed the edge. Technical Winter kit, winter skills and sound judgement all still required up there right now. #LivefortheNow
