# What's so far been the most unexpected journey you've ever had in real life ?



## KL70 (Apr 28, 2013)

What's so far been the most (serious and/or humorous) unexpected journey you've ever had in real life ?


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## Eledhwen (Apr 28, 2013)

The most serious was planned, but unexpected. It was when I underestimated a scramble up a mountain. It was called Jack's Rake; look it up. It was deemed 'easy', and so it was, so long as you didn't slip. If you did slip you fell several hundred feet to your death. It wouldn't have been a problem if it had just been me and my husband, but I did not realise it was dangerous until we had begun to climb, with our three daughters, then aged 9, 11 and 13. It was impossible to back-climb, so we had no alternative but to strike out for the top. The oldest daughter was healthily wimpy about it, but the youngest had my camera and though I kept shouting to her to obey the rule of three (3 limbs on the rock, while moving the 4th) she kept stopping to take photos. I couldn't get it off her as she was in front of her sister and it wouldn't have been safe. I also had to keep reminding her that jumping to the next rock was not safe either. Halfway up, we had to step across a fissure occupied by rope climbing mountaineers, who agreed that our route probably shouldn't have been classified a grade 1 scramble. We all made it safely to the top; which made us glad we'd made the ascent. It was a lovely sunny day, and we were greeted at the top of the mountain by a raven, not cawing, but clacking its large beak loudly. This is one of the photos my youngest daughter took, thankfully at a ledge where we could rest. I think the water (Stickle Tarn, elevation:1552 feet) was a few hundred feet downhill at that point: 





We went down via a different route. One reason is that if you met anyone on Jack's Rake at the wrong point, there was no room to pass them, so it's generally only used for ascent. The other was that I thought I'd risked my children's lives enough for one day.


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