As always the Met Office website had been thoroughly checked in the proceeding days and surprisingly for this time of year (Spring) there was a fierce winter storm forecast with temperatures set to plummet to -14 degrees Celsius and winds forecast to be gusting upwards of 50mph. This would mean packing the full winter camping gear, so a pretty heavy pack would have to be carried. I packed carefully on Sunday morning and set off later than expected at about 2pm. This meant arriving at the start of my hike for about 4pm, a little later than I'd like but given the longer spring evenings now I would still have about 4 hours of light left to hike to my camping spot and set up camp.

The proposed route took me from my parking spot at Dunmail Rise, up Raise Beck to my serene camping spot by Grisedale Tarn, perfectly placed between the summits of Seat Sandal, Fairfield & Hellvelyn. I intended to hike to the summits of Seat Sandal & Fairfield on the Monday morning to enjoy the views as the sun crept above the horizon, little did I know that a wild night among these fells would bring a premature end to these plans.

My hike started out well, after several months away from the fells, my legs, heart & lungs felt surprisingly strong as I hiked up the somewhat steep path following the route of Raise Beck. I had planned to shoot a short video of my trip and once I was about half way up this climb I decided to stop to shoot a short clip. This was where I discovered that my tripod was not in the pocket of my bag where I distinctly remembered packing it just 30 minutes or so earlier. I thought it must have fallen out on the hike up the slope. Not wanting to climb this section again with a heavy pack I decided to ditch my kit and proceed back down the path to see if I could find the tripod. Eventually I found it a mere 20 meters away from the car, it had been pushed out of the pocket of my bag as I squeezed through a fairly tight stile with my enormous pack on. I was pleased to have found it and this helped me swiftly back up the climb for the 2nd time that day. I shot my video, put my pack back on and headed up towards the tarn.

I was greeted with a wonderful view once I reached Grisedale Tarn, the fells were snow capped and clouds swirled around them frantically giving the scene an ethereal feel to it. Due to the delay caused by dropping my tripod I was now short of time to set up camp. There was a tent in the prime position by the bottom end of the tarn and so I had to proceed a little way further down the valley to find a nice firm and flat section close to the river that drains out of the tarn. I pitched my tent and got my food on as darkness crept in.

Settled in the tent the temperature began to plummet, the forecast had predicted that come 2am the wind would pick up and things would get a little more serious. I had my trusty Vango Mirage 300 tent with me which I recently reviewed. It is a good performer in the wind so I was confident it would handle what was to come with no problems. I was awoken several times in the night by fierce winds and the tent being battered by snow but all was well and I was soon back off to sleep.

I got up early in the hope that there might be a chance to do some photography at sunrise but the conditions were bad, snow covered the ground and filled the porch area of the tent. The peaks were enveloped in dense cloud and the air was thick with spin-drift. Abandoning the photography idea I started to get dressed and assessed the state of the tent. All seemed well apart from on the left side of the tent the door had unzipped in the strong winds. Brutal gusts continued to batter the tent and at this point one of the guy lines on the front corner where the door had unzipped detached itself from the tent but luckily remained in the ground. This allowed the tent pole on that side to start intruding into the main tent area when heavy gusts came through. I was very lucky this hadn't happened during the night. I got out of the tent to try and fix the damage but the weather was getting worse and I decided the best course of action was to pack everything down as soon as possible and start to head back to the car.

This was a good call as the weather continued to deteriorate as I began packing down. This is always awkward in high winds as mother nature attempts to snatch all of your gear and tent parts away with ever increasing ferocity. I have, over the years developed the technique of placing bags, hammers and other heavy items on various parts of the tent as I pack each part away in turn. The hardest part is the final step of rolling up the tent to pack it into the rather tight fitting bag it lives in. On this occasion the winds and snow were so strong that I was completely unable to pack it down so that it fit back in it's bag completely. Instead I got it kind of in the bag and was then forced to carry it under my arm until I reached an area of shelter where I could work on getting it packed away and attached to my backpack.

I should say that this weather was truly fierce, some of the worst conditions I have ever camped in. The wind was not only strong but it was seriously cold, biting any exposed skin. I forgot to mention that in my haste to pack and get on the road I had left my warmest down jacket hanging up by my front door with my base layer gloves and hat in the pockets. This meant that I was a layer down and had to don my thick mountaineering gloves and Nordic style hat at all times. I was warm enough but had no other additional layer of protection in my bag should it get colder or god forbid I had an accident and was forced to sit tight in the snow whilst awaiting rescue. I put these thoughts to the back of my mind as I traversed the steep and now snow covered path back down Raise Beck.

I made it back to the car, threw all of my gear in the boot and set off for home where I would sort through everything and fix the damage to the tent. Once I got a closer look I could see that there were 3 small issues, firstly the zip of the tent door had separated, this was easy to reattach and then tighten with pliers. Secondly the guy line had detached, again, very easy to tie back on, ensuring it was double knotted this time to avoid it happening again and thirdly the tent pole that had been swinging free once the guy line detached was slightly bent, I've done my best to straighten this but it still has a bit of a bend and I will just have to live with it.