Pillar, Poor Visibility, and the Pull of Dore Head Screes

bootsandbanter
10 hours ago
9 min read

No chasing summits, just clag, cliffs, and Dore Head Screes

Date: 23 May 2026

📍Route: Wasdale Head Inn > Mosedale Valley > Black Sail Pass > Pillar > Wind Gap > Scoat Fell > Middle Scoat Fell > Steeple > Red Pike > Black Crag > Dore Head Screes > Wasdale Head Inn >

📏Distance: 17.5 km

⬆️Ascent: 1122 m

⌛Time: 8 h

Weather: clag, cold, sun and warm by the end

Mood: “absolutely not” slowly evolving into “well maybe just a little look”

The Dore Head Screes is steep V-shaped col dividing Yewbarrow and Red Pike, dropping into the Mosedale valley. The scree run is largely stripped away, revealing loose, slippery bedrock and rocks. Once a famous "scree surfing" run, heavy erosion has left the chute unstable and denuded, making it highly challenging.

Day 1 of 3 - Back to the Lakes and Straight Into the Clag

This was my first return to the Lakes since finishing the Wainwrights in October 2025. You’d think I’d get a nice welcome back like sunshine, views, gentle reintroduction.

Yeah, no.

A Forecast You Want to Believe

The forecast said fog until 11 AM, then sunshine. Easy. My plan was ambitious - Pillar via Shamrock Traverse.

I rolled into Wasdale Valley later than usual, around 9 AM, parked at the free car park at Wasdale Head and every single peak was buried in thick clag. Not just summits, low cloud, everything swallowed. Still, I trusted the forecast.

So instead of rushing out, I decided to go for a coffee at Wasdale Head Inn. They do breakfast for campers between 8 and 9:30. There’s a one-page menu stuck outside...entirely meat-based 😂. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

So I asked: “Anything not meat-based at all?”

The guy paused, properly paused. I don’t think he gets that question often.

“Well, I can do you an egg butty, double egg butty?”

Perfect. Done.

So I sat there on the outside bench eating and sipping on my coffee, staring towards Mosedale, hoping the clag would start lifting. After about 50 minutes (patience?), just before 10, I thought, right, let’s go. Surely by the time I gain height at Black Sail Pass, the sun will come out.

The Idea That Wouldn’t Leave My Head

I had plotted a route - Pillar via Shamrock Traverse, a few extra Wainwrights, then descend via Dore Head Screes. Not the obvious way down. I didn’t want Yewbarrow again, and definitely not the Overbeck valley road walk. Done that before.

I wanted something new. I’d seen one or two videos of that scree years ago. All I knew was that it exists on OS Maps (with contour lines so close together that it looks like the fell is trying to fold itself in half), it's steep, loose, and people do it. That’s it. As I walked into Mosedale, I kept looking left the entire time scanning the slopes and then I saw it poking through the clouds. I actually stopped. “This looks impossible! That cannot be it!”

Got my phone out, zoomed in without recording, just to properly look. I could make out a gully and some scree, but it looked like the whole slope was just... ridiculously steep. Turns out later, a very small part is actual scree. Still it looked bonkers. I kept doubting myself. Is that even the right place? It just didn’t look doable.

Black Sail Pass

Got to Black Sail Pass, turned around again…and VOILA! Cloud lifted just enough to reveal the slope properly. I actually laughed.

Made a video: “Yeah this was the plan but F*** NO am I doing this. This is totally bonkers. Impossible.” Took a few photos, mentally filed it under: “Fair play to people who do this. Not me.”

(I'll come back to that 🙃)

High Level Route

At the Pass I turned left towards Looking Stead, and found the faint path for the High Level Route after a bit of wandering. Dropped down and within 10 metres, completely lost it. Gone. The ground was soaked from the torrential rain the night before. Slippery, steep, with serious drop-offs. Not the place to guess.

I went back up a bit. Tried again and still couldn’t make it out. Looked across Ennerdale and saw clouds rolling in thick. That stubborn voice kicked in: “Just go. You came for this!”

But this time, self-preservation surprisingly won. I turned back and that might be one of the best decisions I’ve made in the mountains. I started heading up Pillar.

Within 10 minutes of abandoning that route, I got completely engulfed in thick white fog.

Pillar in the Clag - Familiar Territory

I’ve done Pillar this way before, about 4 years ago. I know what it’s like. Scrambly, rocky, hands-on in places. I was SO glad I wasn’t on that High Level Route. Clag doesn’t bother me. I’ve done enough of it:

10 hours of it on that “Mordor day” in July 2025 where I summited tens of peaks in rain and zero visibility
30 km in fog around Great End
Martindale round, 12 Wainwrights, mostly in clag. The list goes on.

This wasn’t new, but a narrow path with exposure in wet fog? No thanks, so I carried on up.

No one around on a Saturday, on a famous mountain, not a single person?!

I just laughed: “Of course. First hike back and this is what I get.”

The Magic of Clag (Even If You Didn’t Ask for It)

It was cold enough for gloves, a proper clag walk. As always I found myself switching from “I want views” to “This is actually… kind of magical.”

Cliffs appearing out of nowhere. Drops disappearing into white. Everything muted, quiet, surreal. You can’t see gradients properly either. Weirdly, that makes climbs easier. You don’t know what’s coming.

I reached the trig. No wind. I sat in the shelter and had my sandwich. Just for fun I checked the weather apps - all of them. “Full sunshine right now.” Right. Sure 😂 My hair was wet from the air. Apparently the heatwave has started in England. I must have teleported to Mordor, again.

Something Shifted on That Summit

I wandered around the summit for a bit and then it hit me. This is the first time I’ve been in the Lakes without chasing summits. The first time for years with no list, no pressure, no ticking. I can stay, I can leave, I can wander, go to random rock, chat as long as I want, skip things. I felt lighter, smiling to myself. Free as a bird.

I didn’t realise how much that 214 list defined my days until it was gone. There is no nostalgia. It’s freedom and I don’t think I truly understood that until that exact moment.

Across the Tops and a Voice in the Fog

I started to descend Pillar via the usual steep scrambly bit. No views, but comfortable terrain.

Started seeing fell runners in shorts and vests, basically wearing nothing 😂, absolute machines. Meanwhile I have three layers on, plus gloves and hood up!

On one particularly steep rocky descent, I heard someone shouting above me. Couldn’t make out what they said. I shouted back “Hello, are you ok?”

Nothing. I waited a bit. Silence. I carried on.

Scoat Fell, Steeple and a New Idea Brewing

Moved across Scoat Fell and onto Steeple. More runners. On the way back from Steeple I met a couple, had a longish chat, then drifted towards Red Pike. The clouds were lifting then coming back again.

At Red Pike, the same couple caught up. I casually said “I might have a look at that crazy Dore Head scree for the descend”. The guy was interested too. Turns out he’s done loads, including a Bob Graham. They went ahead of me and I messed around a little on Red Pike, pictures and all that. However, I can see them on the junction of Yewbarrow and Overbeck they were waiting for me.

Ahead in full glory Stirrup Crag was rising. I have fond memories of descending this last September. It is such an majestic yet intimidating looking side of Yewbarrow. If you fancy a read about this the link is here.

So the three of us headed towards Dore Head Screes, OS Maps out trying to locate it properly. Thankfully the forecasted sunshine has arrived at last and it was nearly 17 PM. The drop off looked exactly as intimidating as it had earlier from the other side of the valley.

Standing at the Edge of a Bad Idea

Now, Dore Head Screes was once revered as the best and fastest scree run in the Lakes. The impact of I guess 1000s of people and time have made their toll though. I found later that the elevation drop is massive, i.e. 350 m in 400 metres 😅! There is not much scree left either.

From where we stood, it looked like there were three options:

Far right
Middle
Gully on the left

All of them looked unsafe, horrid and questionable 😂. I walked to the edge of the grassy ledge, scanning the entire slope and didn’t like it at all. Then we spotted two people already in the left gully, moving very slowly.

The couple I was with decided to take the grassy slope to the left of the gully instead. Sensible. They left, I stayed. Another couple I met earlier came up behind me. They thought that this was the route down. I said to them that this is A WAY down, but not the one they want to take. They didn't need much convincing after a glance over it.

“You’re not thinking of going down that, are you?”

“Well...yeah. I might”

They said something, maybe good luck, I am not sure as I was too invested in my thoughts, and headed off the proper way. I said something back and waved.

Decision time.

Commitment

I knew one thing that if I go down I’m committed. Going back up that loose steep mess? Not happening. So, I took off my backpack, took the poles out, composed myself and...dropped into the gully. That gully runs at least 3 metres deep into the fellside.

The Gully - Not Fun. Steep.

The gully - it's intimidating, loose, big rocks, small rocks, erosion, everything moving. Not really scree. More like a chute of unstable rubble. Because it’s so enclosed and deep, you can’t really escape it at first. Progress was slow, very slow, careful and controlled. Heart in mouth at one point where I had to throw the poles down and negotiate a steep rock with water running over it.

I was very cautious also because I knew those two people were somewhere below and I didn’t want to send anything down. Eventually, about a third of the way, I saw a chance to climb out of the deep channel. I took it immediately and honestly I was so glad to get out of there. That part was not enjoyable. I could see the two people in the gully now. They kept in it for the whole descend!

Scree Skiing?!

Near the bottom of the scree looking towards the valley

What came next was completely unexpected. Actual scree. It was loose, small stones, flowing, moving under your feet. I put the Gopro on. Suddenly I was sliding with it in a controlled way.

I was laughing out loud “This is SO much fun”. I’ve never done anything like it before.

It’s short-lived, just the lower section, then back to grassy steep slope. But that moment was unreal. Proper childlike joy. And the views were unreal. The whole Mosedale valley bathed in bright sunshine. Kirk Fell rising majestically just opposite me. Warm and unforgettable.

My brand new La Sportiva Mutants? Covered in Wasdale geology, they looked like I’d owned them for months. Nope, this was their first day and a proper introduction to their new life.

Full Circle at Wasdale Head

Eventually I made it back down to Wasdale Head Inn for a well-earned pint. The couple who took the grassy route left of the scree were already having their drinks.

“Where did you go?! We thought you’d follow us then we watched you for a bit from below on the scree!”😂. We compared notes, which is always interesting when three people have seen the same mountain in three slightly different emotional states.

🔍 Final Thoughts - Was It Worth It?

The highlight of the day was not Wainwright peaks for the first time. It was the scree slope.

Whatever that slope used to be decades ago I will never know but even that small section gave me something completely new. Something I’ll remember. Maybe this was my first and last time on a scree run.

The gully at the top? Yeah I might forget that bit on purpose 😂

That moment of sliding down, laughing to myself, completely in it, that’s staying.