Helvellyn has to be Englands ‘favourite’ mountain. With glorious vistas of Ullswater, the Paterdale fells and out towards the Central Fells and Conistone the summit’s views are beautiful. I love the privilege of being able to coach and guide people along its two famous edges: Striding and Swirral Edge.

My approach to guiding Striding and Swirral Edges is all about developing confidence through the development of good footwork and balance skills. Saturday was no different, we headed up via a quiet route from Lanty’s Tarn up and onto the Grizedale Side toward Hole in The Wall. The emphasis here is about enjoying the quiet valley’s and views into Grizedale or over toward High Street. This route is always much quieter than the usual Miresgill route onto Birkhouse Moor. We had the mountain side to ourselves!

After reaching Hole in The Wall for a lunch spot in the glorious sunshine we headed toward the ridge, practicing movement skills by playing ‘floor is lava’ and other games to develop Lisa and Scott’s confidence before hitting the ridge proper.

By the time we’d reached the ‘bad step’ their confidence was such that Lisa and Scott easily down climbed and were ready to scramble up the front face on the other side, avoiding the loose and chossy path.

After a short break on the Summit for food and photo’s we headed down via Swirral Edge and onto Catsycam before descending back to Glenridding.

A great day for all!