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John Paterson
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Sunday, 10 February 2008 |
The Monte Rosa ski area is an area of steep-sided, wooded valleys strewn with boulders large and small. Because of this the ski area, whilst huge, is only medium sized in terms of the number of runs - although some of them are several miles long with descents of up to 5,000 feet. The valleys are branch valleys off the huge Aosta Valley which stretches for many miles below the Swiss border. |
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| FORNSIDE CHRONICLES |
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Yesterday Jo, Angie, Jill and myself parked at Stoneycroft in the Newlands valley with the intention of adding three new peaks to Angie's Wainwright count. In the event Angie, together with Jill, added six peaks although Jo and I ducked out of the last one. |
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I must be mad - TWO Chronicles in one day! Today's walk was with Jill Rowland and Jo Hall up Troutbeck Tongue. It was a hot and humid day. After yesterday's ten miler I was glad we were not doing a long walk. |
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| FEATURED UNFREQUENTED WAINWRIGHT ROUTES |
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As anyone who has walked the ridge between Clough Head and the Dodds knows, it is a flat whale back of a ridge covered in peat. Many of the settlements in the valley below date from Norse times (1,000 years ago) as witnessed by the names. For example Fornside, Legburthwaite and Lowthwaite are all of Norse origin. So peat will have been an important fuel for at least since those settlements were created. Fornside and Lowthwaite have their peat tracks on which peat was brought down from the ridge above on wooden hand sleds. |
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Not one but two unfrequented Wainwright routes in one day - does it get any better than this? I think it was Andrew Mason who suggested that I climb Dollywaggon Pike via the Tongue and descend Nethermost Pike via its East Ridge - from Ruthwaite Lodge at the top of Grisedale. So - with a decent day forecast today, that is what I did. |
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"A big thank-you too to Peter for piecing together the latest Lost Sheep, I feel honoured to find a place in this extra special issue and serve AW's dearest cause." Mark Richards
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