Dodgy road conditions meant a depleted turn out for this snowy meet. Parking up at John`s place, Sue and I piled into his car and headed for Glenridding. After a failed attempt to drive up to Greenside, we forked out a hefty £6.50 for the car park and steeled ourselves for the extra walk in.

It wasn`t long before Sue was cramponing up on the icy road, something John might have wished he had done after a nasty tumble.

Emerging from a blizzard, we struck up across the moor to the base of the gully, below Catsycam. One or two bits of attractive ice might have tempted us to stop but we were holding out for the gully and its offerings. Travelling light, we got to work with twin axes,crampons and helmets on the steep little entry pitch, then stuck to the stream bed for maximum ice fun.

John`s early tumble now revealed its consequences as he winced with pain at every move. He was clearly suffering, probably with bruised ribs, but persevered all the way to the top. We quit the gully before it developed into deep fresh snow and weaved our way up the face to arrive directly on the summit of Catsycam. With John labouring under his discomfort, we were able to pause on ledges and take in the splendid "alpine" scenery, Sue remarking on the beauty of the snow encrusted rocks.

After a quick lunch on the summit, as time was pressing, we dropped down to Red Tarn and out of the wind. This is when we bumped into the handful of climbers on the mountain....all hard types!

So it was a good effort and we enjoyed our walk back down. The winter hills still offer adventure even if it looks so unpromising from the valley.