Ever since watching a TV show on the best walks in the UK which had Striding Edge as number 1, I’d been wanting to give it a try. I mean, it was the most popular walk in the UK, so how hard exactly could it be?
So one day in April 2019 I found myself in a car on my way to the Lake District to climb Helvellyn via Striding Edge. Not knowing what to expect, excited but – if I’m honest – also scared because this was something I’d never done before and I was completely out of my comfort zone.
When my friend parked the car at the foot of the mountain and we looked up, we realised there was snow at the top. We talked about what we were going to do but to be honest: I hadn’t come all the way to go back without doing what I’d set out to do, and so off we went, up-up-up, all the way up!
After walking up via mountain paths, we stopped at the start of Striding Edge and I have to be honest: I was asking myself WHY I’d ever thought it was a good idea. It had looked a lot easier on TV than it turned out to be in reality. It’s not a path, it really is a mountain ridge: rough, rocky and with up- and downclimbs to get to the other side. If I’d never been intimidated by nature before, I definitely was when I looked at the route ahead. But . . . we’d come this far so no matter how scared I was, I wasn’t going to back out now.
Striding Edge turned out to be quite a challenge for me as I’d never done anything similar in my life. Once we started scrambling over the rocks, there was no time to think about anything else except where to put your hands and feet without slipping and falling, which – let’s be honest – could have been quite catastrophic. Slip and fall and it could easily be game over.
Once we got past Striding Edge, we weren’t quite there yet. There was one last bit to go before we reached the summit – except that final stretch was covered in snow and ice. Now . . . if there’s one thing I don’t feel comfortable with, it’s icy surfaces, and if the idea of crossing Striding Edge hadn’t stopped me, the thought of scrambling up an icy, snowy slope definitely did. So, this was the point where I froze – only a few meters away from the top. I didn’t know what to do: I didn’t want to climb the slope to the top but I also didn’t want to go back down the way we came and cross Striding Edge again. Besides, I really wanted to get to the top now that we’d come this far. So for a number of minutes (I can’t even tell you how long exactly – I completely lost track of time!) I just sat there, having a conversation with myself in my head.
Until . . . I saw a guy coming across Striding Edge on . . . sneakers (I kid you not!) who then climbed the icy slope without getting into trouble. That was what I needed in that instant to give me the final push and I decided to find my last bit of courage, to stop thinking and to just go for it.
It was fine, I made it past the ice without any problems. In fact, looking back at it now, it even feels a bit ridiculous that I crossed Striding Edge but I was scared to go up that final slope. I realise that my photos of the snowy parts of the mountain aren’t very good but that was mainly because my mind wasn’t exactly on taking photos at that stage. It definitely looked quite daunting to me at the time.
The top was covered in clouds that day which made it extremely cold and windy and meant the view wasn’t as amazing as it no doubt is on a clear and sunny day. For me personally that day was all about conquering my fears, though, getting out of my comfort zone and doing something I never imagined I could (or would) do.
Now that I know I can, I’ll definitely give it another go – both Helvellyn as well as a couple of other places. It just shows that most of the limits you face, are in your head.
Believe you can and you will.
Confessions of a Running Freak 