Area: Skiddaw, Lake District
As with Langstrath, it's been decades since I was last on Skiddaw. I do remember being a little uneasy about whether I had actually been to the true summit or not that day in the 1990s, as the clag was very thick (and it has to be said that it's not the most exciting mountain). Today, going via Little Man, I realised that I had almost certainly only climbed the forepeak of Little Man that day so had actually never properly done Skiddaw (although the memory is naturally hazy). After another nice evening and breakfast with Vic in the Borrowdale Hostel, I set off for the car park at Latrigg above Keswick and Applethwaite. The weather seemed to be clearing a little after a wet night, although there was a lot of hill fog around. I adopted a jogging approach, intent on a fairly quick trip to the summit before driving home. The huge path is pretty steep initially, and after one spectacular clearance to the east when the sun broke through the mist, I re-entered the clag which remained set in. After the initial steepness, it all eases as it continues upwards. I took the left-hand branch towards Little Man, where I realised this was very likely where I had actually got to all those years ago. I realised this because, in the mist, it seems a very distinctive peak. In reality, there's a fairly long descent before a long section of treacherous sheet ice/neve in the col between the two peaks. The final haul to Skiddaw proper takes some time and I reached the trig in 56m from the car. I descended direct down the quickest possible line, superb running, in 27 minutes. About 1.23 in total.
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