The path upwards wasnt steep but it was filled with snow and ice and was fun in places to wade through. The higher we got the more the views opened up and we spotted some hand gliders setting up on a flattish bit of ground below looking and testing for the perfect wind.
The last path to the first of the false summits (there were a few!!!) was so packed with snow we had to get our ice axes out to give us another point of contact. It was hard slippy snow and one slip could have been an ankle turner!
Finally after 2 or 3 false summits the trig point came into view. We met a runner on the top who was doing a recce of the fells for some race later in the year. He'd just popped up Clough Head and was on his way to Helvellyn. He wasnt even out of breath. Grrrrrr!
The views from the summit were amazing. Right over to the Northern Pennines and we spotted Mell Fell and Little Mell Fell which we'd been up a few weeks before.
Time to go down and the path was exceptionally good. No shale, scree, just a well defined path, steep in places and packed with snow and ice in places but good all the same. It wasn't long before we were back at the path that would take us back to the car and the start point of our walk.
On the way back round to the car we spotted this wee cloud, abandoned by its bigger inversion big brother and just left there all on its own at the side of Blencathra.
The end of the walk and the sky still bluer than blue !