Kinder Downfall

On Friday morning Richard sent me a message: “Kinder Downfall is in nick. Want to go?” I agreed straight away. That evening, we drove up to the Peak District after work. By the time we arrived, it was dark. We hiked over the moor with the moon lighting the way.

When we reached Kinder Downfall, we could see the waterfall was indeed frozen and the best we had seen it for many years - a rare sight. We were not the only group there was a party infant of us. We abseiled down and setup to clim, our axes and crampons crunching into the ice. The dark made the experience feel even more thrilling being only lit by head torches.

The ice on the upper section was not as good as the lower part, but it was enough to climb. A little bit warmer and it would be unclimbable. When we reached the top the stars shone overhead. It felt like a true adventure, and I was glad we had dropped everything for this rare chance to climb Kinder Downfall at night.