Mist and murk hang in the valley bottom as Jon Bennett starts his ascent of Helvellyn – again.
When he reaches Striding Edge for the umpteenth time in his life he looks down at the cloud on Red Tarn and, with the sun behind him, he sees the natural phenomenon known as a Brocken spectre.
It is his abiding memory of a 16-year career as a fell top assessor, his shadow cast large on the cloud as the light refracts through water droplets to form a rainbow glow.
“It sometimes forms as a halo around your shadow head but on this occasion it was right around my body for the whole time I was on Striding Edge,” says Jon, of Ambleside, who has just retired as the longest serving fell top assessor after 16 years and 778 800m ascents of Helvellyn. “It was a truly magical experience.”
Since 2008 Jon has climbed the Lake District’s third highest peak on average three times a week, one of a team who assesses underfoot winter conditions for walkers.
Regardless of the weather, from December to Easter Monday, each of the assessors takes hours out of their day to climb to the summit to monitor temperature, wind speed, windchill and ice and snow conditions, posting their findings at lakedistrictweatherline.co.uk.
The service is believed to have saved countless people from injury and even death over the years by making them think again about tackling the peaks in conditions that can be so different from those at ground level.
“I did meet one woman one day who couldn’t believe how tricky it was under foot at height because of the ice and snow,” recalls Jon, 61, who is also a boatmaster for Windermere Lake Cruises.
“So I asked her when was she last up Helvellyn and she said in May. And that’s the issue, people can’t imagine how different the fell tops can be in the winter when they are used to climbing them in warmer weather.
“They don’t appreciate how slippery it can be, how quickly feeling cold can turn into hyperthermia and the need for the right kit, including ice axes, crampons together with the experience to use these tools effectively and food for energy. We can’t really quantify how many injuries have been avoided because of the service but I genuinely believe it has saved lives.”
Originally from Amersham, in Buckinghamshire, Jon studied hotel and catering at the University of Surrey before securing a job with Trust House Forte working in England and Europe. He was made redundant and because of his love of hill walking he decided to seek employment in the North, being taken on by English Lakes Hotels and working at the Wild Boar Inn, at Crook, as deputy manager.
He was working as manager of The Waterhead Hotel, in Ambleside, for six years when he decided upon a change of direction and worked at Brockhole, the Lake District National Park visitor centre, after which he saw a job advert for a fell top assessor.
“I’d used this service a lot over the years, so I decided to apply not expecting to get it,” he says. “But I got an interview, which involved walking up Blease Fell, near Blencathra. I was taken up by Pete Barron who was a fell runner and after we talked about navigating the route at the bottom he shot off – I couldn’t keep up with him and had to meet him at the top.
“I was feeling quite relaxed about it as I thought not being able to keep up meant that I wouldn’t get the job. But he offered me the job because he’d deliberately sped on ahead to see how independent I was.
“At first there were just two fell top assessors and we used to work seven days on and seven days off. For the past five years there have been three of us to report on the winter underfoot conditions and how they might vary at differing altitudes, between December 1 and Easter Monday.”
Kitted out in La Sportiva outdoor gear and boots and with Petzl ice axe and crampons, courtesy of sponsors, the role is paid for by the Lake District National Park Authority.
In the old days Jon had to record his findings on to the telephone line by 5.30pm with the message going live at 6pm. Today he can upload the winter information instantly onto the website. In the spring, summer and autumn months the website just features weather forecasts provided by the Met Office.
“I’m on my own a lot but that’s the same as if I was out on the fells for a walk lost in my thoughts,” he says. “But on Helvellyn you tend to meet other people. That said I have been on my own much more this year which must be down to the bad weather.”
Snow can be hard, soft, stable or unstable. It can slip down a fellside in a mini avalanche. The time of year can turn what is a grassy slope during the summer into a potentially dangerous ice rink with a 45-degree gradient, a completely different prospect that requires specialist equipment and skills to traverse safely.
Not by chance Jon has managed to avoid injury and incident himself by knowing when to turn back. “Sometimes it’s just not safe to do it especially when there is snow and bad visibility,” he says. “If you can see your feet but not where you are putting them then it’s time to head down.
“But winters are much less severe than they used to be. When I started this job the snow would last but nowadays it has gone in a matter of days. Now we just get horizontal rain and hail. When you set off and get caught in the rain it’s not so bad but when you have to begin in the rain it’s not great for your motivation.
“Plus, the gradients were beginning to feel a bit steeper and what used to take two hours going up and an hour and a half coming down is now taking ten minutes longer. It’s also trickier in the wet as when you are in snow you wear crampons and carry an ice axe.”
Now it is time to retire Jon is expecting to be replaced in short order – 1,000 people applied for the role when it was last advertised.
He will continue to work as a skipper on the lake. “I got that job the month after the fell top assessor appointment even though I knew absolutely nothing about boats,” he reveals.
“I was trained how to drive a boat and passed tests set by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as well as survival training. I really enjoy it as it is so peaceful and great to be doing a job making others happy.
“I love the Lake District and with these two jobs I’ve either been on a boat looking up at the Lakeland fells or on the fells looking down at the lakes. It’s great working with the public, showing and telling them all about Windermere. We get such lovely feedback from passengers which makes it very rewarding.”
A keen cyclist too, Jon plans to spend more time riding and also paragliding, which he took up after being wowed by the sport while visiting the Alps near Chamonix 30 years ago.
To see him off on his very last shift, Lake District National Park Authority colleague and Mountain Rescue Team member Kath Jackson wished him well.
She says: “Thank you to Jon for all his hard work over the past 16 years. As a Mountain Rescue Volunteer, I know that the Lake District rescue teams really appreciate the contribution that the fell top assessor team make, helping people to plan for safe winter adventures.”
Jon adds: “Being a fell top assessor has been an incredible role to have. When people realise who we are they come over, shake our hands and say thanks for the service we provide. It has been a hard decision to make this my 16th and final season, but I will still head out onto the hills on a regular basis.
“I once met a man climbing Scafell Pike on his 80th birthday and thought what an incredible way to mark that milestone. It stuck in my head and that is exactly what I wa
