Ingleborough: First Wild Camp

Camping in 'The heaviest April snowfall in Yorkshire for 30 years'
April 2nd to April 4th

This is only a brief summary of my two night stay, mainly because it was a few months ago... But I'm trying to record all my wild camping trips on this blog, so I am able to look back through them in the future.

Photograph by Jacob Hammond

We arrived at Horton-in-Ribblesdale after a 4 hour train journey, it was myself and 3 mates (Jacob, Dan and Tom) - I had planned the first day route; walking south along the River Ribble to the Dry Rig Quarry, then walking along Moughton Scars to Gaping Gill and then up Ingleborough to set up for the night. After reaching the Scars it became clear how unfit we all were, it was apparent we weren't going to make it up Ingleborough that day... And I had became 'the wanker that took us the long way round', we pitched at the foot of Ingleborough, hoping that we'd be able to get up there the next day... HA.


Before we had left, the weather predictions were slight rain, and possible sleet - I don't know how many of you reading remember 'The heaviest April snowfall in Yorkshire for 30 years' But that's what we got caught in, and we were not prepared.



The first night went well, slight wind and rain, but not strong enough to affect my tent (the tent used was a Blacks own, unfortunately I don't know the model - who cares about gear anyway, right?!). Although I was slightly chilly in my 1 season sleeping bag... The morning soon came around and we all woke to the rain still coming down hard, we made the decision to leave the tents and gear to collect water and visit Gaping Gill from there we would return and make a decision about whether to move or wait. Unfortunately 3 out of the 4 tents pitched inner first, so we decided to wait to see if the rain cleared up. As the day continued so did the rain, there was a brief 30 minutes where it stopped completely; around 4pm, we all scrambled out our tents to take pictures of the camp and surrounding area, and then if the rain held off we would consider moving before dark.


The rain began... Again. This time the wind picked up, just as we reached the tents the rain had turned into sleet. The sleet grew heavier, soon turning into thick snow, combined with tent crushing winds - for the next few hours we sat in our tents; trying to shout to each other. I should also mention the state of my tent at this point, the zip; which I thought I had repaired before leaving, had broke, resulting in me having to make small holes and tying the door shut, fortunately half the zip was still working, also the ground I had pitched on wasn't the best, rocky ground meant the pegs were rather shallow. When we had initially set up, the wind was coming down from Inglebrough, now the wind had changed and was hitting 3 of the 4 tents from the side, Tom claimed his tent had 'broke' and snow was getting in... Yeah sure... Being the nice guy I am, I let him come in my 2 man since I was freezing my bullocks off anyway with my light sleeping bag. There we waited in my wet, crushed tent for 10 hours, where the sides constantly slapped you in the face to make sure you weren't going to sleep.


Initially we had planned our trip to be 3 nights (2nd to the 5th) but we decided we'd had enough, the snow was still pelting it down in the morning, along with strong winds. We packed up our kit and painfully walked back to Horton-in-Ribblesdale in that crap weather... the short way I must add ;). The snow was up to our knees in some parts near Ingleborough, but by the time we reached Horton-in-Ribblesdale the snow had pretty much disappeared. 4 hours and £30 later and we're back home, some possibly put off by the experience, some excited to get back out there as soon as they can.


So much for being brief... That ended up being a lot longer than I was expecting, but if you made it this far thanks for reading. Jacob has kindly let me use his pictures, as I accidentally deleted mine.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17617002 - BBC Aerial Footage of the Yorkshire Snow

Me Walking Down the River Ribble.
By Jacob Hammond

Before pitching it's important to prepare...Nature calls at the foot of Ingleborough.
 By Jacob Hammond (I'll be keeping an eye on you next time boy)

Our camp set up for the next two nights - 1 Blacks Unknown, 2 Gelert Solos and an Apex Octane
By Jacob Hammond