Gable Crag 20th Dec

With heavy snow in the east on Saturday afternoon, our trip over to Borrowdale took (3hrs) twice as long as usual.
After a few beers in the Scafell Hotel we headed up Honister pass in icy conditions, and parked at the mine for the night.

Sunday morning started clear and cold. But by 8am the snow and wind had started.
By the time we reached Gable a couple of inches of snow had fallen.
We decided to give Engineers Slab VI 7 *** a go. Nathan taking the first pitch, but with worsening weather and spin drift covering every crack and ledge he cleared, we decided to call it a day.
At least 4/5 inches of snow had fallen in the few hrs we were up there, with drifting on the way out of 2/3 ft.

The Crux of the day was getting the car back down Honister Pass. Fortunately we had the snow chains, but it was still scary on the steep bits, with a deep ravine to our right.

Top day out. Back out later this week.