Mild Valley Temps Drawing People Up...

'I suspect milder temperatures in the valleys are tempting more people on to the hills', said Lake District National Park Authority Chief Executive Richard Leafe after a day at work with the Lake District fell top assessors.

Richard, together with deputy chairman Vicky Darrall, climbed Helvellyn with former Marine commando Craig Palmer to see just what his day's work entailed and was greated with summit winds of up to 52mph and a healthy serving of snow and ice.

The daily fell top assessments provide data for the Lake District's Weatherline service which combines a detailed summary of conditions on top of Helvellyn with Met Office forecasts for the area's mountains. It's a very useful facility and a potential lifesaver, particularly coming into the busy Easter and spring periods when it's easy to under-estimate the severity of high mountain conditions from the shelter of the valleys.

"I suspect milder temperatures in the valleys are tempting more people on to the hills'" says Richard. "They are often unprepared for the conditions they may find and unaware weather patterns can shift very quickly."

He went on to say less snow cover and higher freezing levels will make a big difference to mountain ecology: "As frost declines, bracken will move higher up the slopes. The last refuges of high arctic alpine plants are also becoming smaller as temperatures rise."

You can find the daily weatherline summary at www.lake-district.gov.uk/weatherline or phone 08700 55 0575.