The Frozen Lake District

[Yeti]

I went to the Lakes yesterday (Grasmere). As usual, the countryside never failed to stun and it was unbelievably cold. So much so, that Rydal Water in the valley was frozen, and Easedale Tarn, at 290m, was absolutely rigid, meaning people were walking all over it - an amazing scene. Apart from that, there were frozen rivers and waterfalls, as well as massive pieces of ice on the paths, giving them all a 20cm+ glaze in ice. At a guess, there was about 25-30cm of ice on the lake itself. A the end I was reminded how treacherous it was - a lady had fallen badly and the mountain rescue arrived on the scene in a helicopter.

I apologise for the poor pics - the weather was terrible for photos and the sky just came out white.

Note the ice on the path - just a small, thin piece here!

In the valley, and the rivers are starting to freeze - note this is 80m asl!

Up to 150m and the rivers are more frozen

Easedale Tarn, 290m. 25-30cm of thick ice, right the way across the lake. Note the frozen waterfalls on the back wall of the corrie.

An interesting ice formation

Ice sliding?

A stream, 100% frozen :o

Nice one of the fells

Mountain rescue:

Descending again to 150m, and there is a large, semi-frozen waterfall. Note the frozen plunge pool at the back:

Enjoy!

[Beverley Lass]

Lovely scenic set of pics, thank you.

I've only visited in the summer myself.

BL :o

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Nice pics Yeti,

I've done the Easedale tarn walk on school camp a few years ago, it was very wet and there were some parts where it just looked like grass with a bit of surface water on, but when we walked on it, we were falling in up to and above our waists! Had a nice thunderstorm that day too.

Again good photos, and thanks for bringing back the memories :o

[trickydicky]

Certainly was cold while I was up there over xmas and new year, even Basenthwaite was frozen one morning. What a pity the mild spell prior to xmas had to wash all the snow off the tops, otherwise it would have been perfect winter conditions. Can't have everything I suppose...

[Yeti]

Certainly was cold while I was up there over xmas and new year, even Basenthwaite was frozen one morning. What a pity the mild spell prior to xmas had to wash all the snow off the tops, otherwise it would have been perfect winter conditions. Can't have everything I suppose...

I know! So annoying! All that snow in the Dales has gone too. From what I could make out while driving there were a couple of snow patches on Sca Fell and Whernside, as well as a few other peaks but I don't know the Lakes very well. Apart from that, nothing.

[phil nw.]

They are very good pics,thanks for posting.

Liked the frozen waterfall at the end.

Just shows how severe and lengthy this frosty spell is becoming.

[disco-barry]

Brilliant photos but i want them of people on the ice! do you have any of them? Thanks, Aaron!

[Yeti]

Brilliant photos but i want them of people on the ice! do you have any of them? Thanks, Aaron!

Sorry! I didn't take any of people walking on it, I didn't think of it at the time. But I promise you people were, it was serious thick ice!

[disco-barry]

I believe you!

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

Wow very nice pics!

[Cookie]

amazing images mate

[Chrissy]

Very nice pictures yeti.

[James M]

Great pictures Yeti, it's good to see such cold weather again after so long.

Edited January 5, 2009 by James M

[Storm Animal]

Nice pics, well done!! although you can never go wrong in the Lake District, its such a beautiful place ;o)

[JRMcLeod]

Just curious but was the ice strong enough to walk on? Or were you brave enough to try it out?

[johnholmes]

nice photos, brings back memories of the Lakes in most seasons, although rare for me to be there in winter.

Puts the knockers on those who say this cold spell has not really been all that cold.

The lakes you show cannot often freeze I would have thought.

[JRMcLeod]

nice photos, brings back memories of the Lakes in most seasons, although rare for me to be there in winter.

Puts the knockers on those who say this cold spell has not really been all that cold.

The lakes you show cannot often freeze I would have thought.

I like that...i hope there isn't anyone on here that has thought this winter hasn't been that cold because its been one of the most continual cold winters i can remember. A rough guestimate i would say we have had about 14 days since the beginning of november where the temperature has been above 5oC, it has been very cold, just not very snowy since mid december...roll on the scortching summer with lots of thunderstorms...

[Yeti]

Just curious but was the ice strong enough to walk on? Or were you brave enough to try it out?

Yes, loads of ppl were walking on the ice and I reckon it was nearly a foot thick. Pretty impressive.

[Troubleatmill]

great photo's Yeti

call me a fool but i was camping at sprinkling tarn between scafell & great gable on saturday night and i can vouch for the ice thickness's you speak of!!

temp recorded 5:30am sunday morning -14

temp scafell pike summit 10:00am sunday -7 without wind chill!

ps only a couple of old snow patches above 900m which were not worth putting crampons on for, but like you said earlier it would of been great fun but for the mild spell on the run up to christmas

Edited January 5, 2009 by arron123

[jimben]

Ice and climbing in the Lake District

[Doc]

The frozen waterfall is stunning - lile a little person climbing a cake or something

[MeteoMadrid]

Nice Brigante (yeti) .

[Grimsby Snow Lover]

Those pictures are truley magical and are stunning. It just goes to show how cold it has been over the last 2 weeks. I just love these long cold spells, hope we don't have to wait too long for the next one. Just to add when I dropped my wife off in Grimsby town centre this morning there were foot long icicles hanging from the Wilkinsons building and thats 1 mile from the sea!!!

Edited January 10, 2009 by Grimsby Snow Lover

[Beverley Lass]

The frozen waterfall is gorgeous to see

Lovely set of icy pics.

Cheers.

BL

[trickydicky]

Awesome. Faux cold my hairy xxxx