Arnison Crag and Hexamid Trial

It's after tea when I get parked up in Patterdale and head up Arnison Crag behind the hotels. Instead of keeping to the wall side I stupidly head for the ridge and pay the price of wading through deep bracken. It's getting dark but I need to keep going to finally find water below  Trough Head in Hag Beck.

Dawne has given me some pre cooked stew to heat up for my tea .  This is not a success as my cooking system is designed for boiling water, pouring it on a dried meal and leaving it in the pot cosy for 20 mins.  Thin titanium pans and thick stew don't work on an uncontrollable meths stove.

The tent performs well as it's quite windy in the night.  It has an open mesh floor which is  draughty.  So maybe if it was raining it would blow through.  The draught did seem to prevent condensation on the single skin Cuben Fibre.  At 500g the tent is very light.  I've used my Leki pole as the support, but had to lengthen it with a home made section from an old Black Diamond pole.

Next morning after 2 bowls of porridge I power up into the mist on the east ridge of St Sunday Crag.

No views off the summit but as I head towards Birks I get a super view of  Nethermost Cove.
A knee jarring descent off the end of Birks sees me quickly back at the car and home in time for dinner and cutting the grass in the afternoon.

Cam Crag Ridge and Z Packs Hexamid.

A bright and breezy morning and heading up Langstrath for Cam Crag ridge.  The idea is to drop down into Comb Gill and put up my new tent.  Have n't had time to sleep in it yet but want to see what it's like in the field.  It will be somewhere to eat my sandwiches in.

I head left off the path to scramble up a little gill.

The ridge ahead is a classic grade 2 scramble originally classified as a moderate rock climb.

I've just done the introductory buttress and am sat having a rest when a head appears over the rocks and it's an old friend: Murray.
He's with some other lads and they've bivvied in the shelter below the crag.

After a chat I let them get on with the next buttress as they will be far quicker than me.

As I reach the top it's already clouding over and I make a steep descent along the edge of  Dove's Nest into the Combe.

The bottom of Combe Gill.

 So I ordered this tent/tarp from the USA earlier in the year.  It took 5 weeks to come but is an incredible piece of technology.  I've gradually lost weight with my tents, Akto 1600g , Power Lizard 1100g,  but Z Packs Hexamid above is only 454g.
So I'm just having my dinner in it and seeing what it's like.

 I've got the beak, the cuben ground sheet and complete bug protection.  It probably does not cope with wind like the Trailstar but  for summer use I'll give it a go.
I could not see the point of forking out for  the Trailstar as  according to my reckoning by the time I'd added a nest or bivvy for bug protection and included the stakes I might as well use the Powerlizard.

So I'll need some practice at pitching it correctly as I had a crease in the back.

I may need to find a way to extend the trekking poll as it was way beyond it's limits.

Well it didn't leak, I just need some time to try it for real.