It was incredibly icy when we arrived (could barely stay upright in the carpark!) and the forecast for the following day for the higher hills was for heavy snow and wind, with no sun. When we awoke though it was the opposite, quite calm, blue skies, and the ice had melted a little from the night before. Only the high hills had a dusting of snow so we decided to head up Kinder Scout. We'd had a late start due to the late night the night before, and long drive round to Edale (to avoid the more slippery hilly roads) so it was a relief that there was space to park.
We followed the usual route up to Grindsbrook joining the beautiful path which follows the side of it until the water gets less. and the boulders get bigger.
We got in the stream bed as soon as the bigger boulders appeared and enjoyed some easy scrambling. We were surprised the rocks weren't icy to begin with as it had felt like such a cold night. We got to the split after not much time, and took the right fork which is less frequented. Annoyingly there were only short icy patches barely worth using the spikes for (although a necessity for one awkward step), but it did mean we had to keep an eye on ours and Emma's footing at all times. It was almost disappointing when the scramble ended as were all enjoying it.
It was pretty cold on the top in the wind, but thankfully the weather was still fine, the snow showers seemed to be missing us. We headed to the top of Grindslow Knoll before continuing on. There were quite a lot of large groups on the hill and we were keen to get a head (or I was anyway!) I was glad of my multiple layers and felt a bit sorry for some of the chillier looking groups!
We reached the top of Crowden Brook and had a bit of a scramble in the upper section - we managed to lose the map down a hole (retrievable thankfully) a lesson in keeping the map away when scrambling!
Our next stop was the Woolpacks where we spent quite a bit of time scrambling about and exploring. It had got quite cold in the wind by this point and we had a chilly lunch stop in which we all froze. Both pairs of my thinner gloves had got wet scrambling & I'd lent Emma my warmer gloves for the same reason so I was glad to get moving.
We were aiming to reach Kinder Low before descending but we got to the top of Swines Back just as the snow and wind rolled in. I was keen to get to Kinder Low (which is unlike me as I'm generally more mountain sensible) I saw sense in the end remembering how much of a drudge the route back to the car can be esp in poor weather.
(Emma trying to duck out of the photo, not being blown over!)
We headed down Jacobs ladder then followed the long route through fields back to the car. Thank goodness for the kind soles who have paved most of the route back as the ground was sludgy and horrible and it was good not to have to think about navigation with tired brains. The Cheshire Cheese Inn by the Hostel in Castleton provided some excellent stodge to refuel that evening.
Full photo set
A great route I remember well from my younger days, one of my first ever hill walks when I was 14 was up Grindsbrook and across Kinder to the downfall
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