Running Helvellyn Area 12-12-11

There is still plenty of snow cover around the Helvellyn area, the old snow that had a thaw is starting to freeze again and firm up on the surface.  There was a little new snow blowing about from last night with some pockets a bit deeper in places.  The turf up high was also showing the early signs of a freeze and there is some ice coating the exposed rocks up high.

The effects of the rapid thaw were clear to see with a number of large full depth avalanches, one into Brown Cove from the headwall between Helvellyn and Lower Man in particular had left a massive amount of debris all the way into the Cove.  There was also a fairly large one into Keppel Cove with a crown wall of about 2 metre (see photo below).

 Piles of wet snow and grit washed across the path from the stream

Large full depth avalanche in Keppel Cove

The Helvellyn Ridges are still really good, the rock now has a thin layer of ice coating it meaning a bit of care was needed without crampons.

Running down Swirl Edge

See also Steve Ashworths report from today at - https://www.facebook.com/EpicentreAmbleside?ref=ts