Wainright Seven Summits

After a long winter of training in the wet and the dark followed by the lockdown not long afterwards, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve tried to run something that has left me collapsed on the floor in a physical and mental heap. To rectify this, last weekend (30^th May 2020) I decided to go for an attempt at the Wainright Seven Summits in the Lake District.

Starting the day up to Easedale Tarn

The round starts in Ambleside and takes in the highest fells in each of the seven Wainright books: High Raise, Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Grasmoor, Skiddaw, Helvellyn and High Street. Unlike some of the well-known rounds (the Bob Graham) the W7S is characterised by big climbs and lengthy running sections through the Lakeland valleys. Although I've got my sights on a BG sometime in the future, for now, I wanted something more relaxed that has seen less footfall in recent years.

Quick snap before setting off

The majority of the route is probably more of a trail running round than technical fell terrain with only the initial sections between High Raise and Great Gable being particularly rough underfoot. For the remaining hills, rather than taking in a significant amount of road running between the long ascents and descents, I opted for some of the more scenic paths through the valleys. The overall result was a 105km route with 5800m of elevation gain and a quality sunrise to sunset day out.

Stickle Tarn in the early morning light

Living in Kendal, I could make the most of an early start to be in Ambleside for kick off at 04:15. On the ascent to High Raise, the sun came up over the Hellvellyn range and I knew that in a few hours’ time the clear and cool morning would come to an end. My line was less than optimal on the traverse to Angle Tarn and I missed the path that skirted Rossett Pike so I had to bog bash for a kilometre or so. There was a rare moment of solitude on Scafell Pike before the quick dash down the Corridor Route to Great Gable. On the way, I met my first walkers of the day and managed to fall head over heels right in front of them, cutting up my hands and smashing my phone. 14 hours to go with nothing but my own thoughts for entertainment – grand. 

A slightly wonky photo of Great Gable on the way up Scafell Pike

Down from Gable I took the more scenic route over Haystacks and the track alongside Buttermere into the village. On the ascent over Whiteless Edge, I started to feel the elevation in my legs for the first time. Despite this, once Grasmoor was ticked I arrived in Braithwaite still feeling pretty good even as the midday heat started to set in. The footpaths I took across the valley to Skiddaw were less than clear so I was already starting to move onto the back foot as I began the climb up Carl Side. One walker could clearly sense my looming struggle and felt the need to tell me "It’s still a long way to go!" as I passed. If only he knew! The heat was baking, so much so that I almost didn’t make it out of the valley before the cool air hit on the approach to the top. I took a few minutes to recover from my very close brush with heatstroke before starting the run down to the river for a much needed swim.


After the crossing, I played with the idea of running down the road through St John’s in the Vale but instead went for a track that ran down the western hillside and through the woods. Continuing with the less trodden paths, I kept to another track that paralleled the edge of Thirlmere to Helvellyn car park. By this point I was pretty knackered and was still teetering on the edge of dehydration on the trudge up. In need of water, from the top of Helvellyn I headed down Swirral Edge to hit the stream from Red Tarn before taking in the long (yet fun!) path to Patterdale.

Striding Edge was tempting but I needed 

water, so Swirral Edge it was.

With the end in sight I started up High Street from Hartsop and despite telling myself I would try, I struggled with a full run all the way up the final flat-ish section to the seventh top. After a sit down and a bite to eat the evening was setting in. The air was getting colder and it was home time. A final push to Kirkstone over Caudale and nothing but the run in along the road was left. Just as I had hoped and with the sun setting, I collapsed in a heap in the Ambleside car park where Victoria had dropped me off that morning.

Me in a heap

TOTALS:

16 hours 42 minutes
105.88 km total distance
5750 m total ascent
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3540017830

Location Split Distance Total Distance Split Elevation Total Elevation Split Time Total Time Ambleside 0 0 0 0 00:00:00 00:00:00 High Raise 12.55 12.55 821 821 01:38:41 01:38:41 Scafell Pike 9.5 22.05 633 1454 01:32:32 03:11:13 Great Gable 2.78 24.83 457 1911 00:38:47 03:50:00 Buttermere 9.84 34.67 139 2050 01:19:33 05:09:33 Grasmoor 4.33 39 811 2861 00:57:37 06:07:10 Braithwaite 7.89 46.89 7 2868 00:46:09 06:53:19 REST 0 46.89 0 2868 00:21:40 07:14:59 Skiddaw 9.08 55.97 847 3715 01:34:45 08:49:44 River Derwent 7.65 63.62 26 3741 00:48:10 09:37:54 REST 0 63.62 20 3761 00:09:28 09:47:22 Helvellyn CP 11.86 75.48 385 4146 01:32:15 11:19:37 Helvellyn 3.2 78.68 634 4780 00:55:37 12:15:14 Hartsop 10.69 89.37 75 4855 01:25:51 13:41:05 High Street 5.33 94.7 656 5511 01:13:53 14:54:58 REST 0 94.7 0 5511 00:08:07 15:03:05 Kirkstone Pass 6.39 101.09 226 5737 01:07:12 16:10:17 Ambleside 4.8 105.89 9 5746 00:31:57 16:42:14