Watching the rugby on Saturday evening I managed to convince Matt that the turf would be frozen up at Red Tarn, Helvellyn. The freezing levels for the previous two days had been above the summits, however it was forecast to drop and be well below the summits overnight. As neither of us had anything planned for the next day, we decided to go and have a look.

Matt Balmer starting up Blade Runner

We arrived in the clag at Helvellyn the next morning and as we made our way up towards Viking Buttress it was apparent that the rock was, predictably, black. Instead we peered around the corner and went to check out Blade Runner, the turf was frozen, the neve firm, and the route pleasant (even if the difficulties were a little short-lived). We then popped over to quickly do V-Corner (again) and had a bit of fun finding our way up the crag seeking out and climbing bits of ice and good looking bits of mixed terrain.

In the end it was nice to get something done on a weekend where crags elsewhere wouldn't have been in nick.

Weatherline (Helvellyn conditions)