Mountain magic

Taking its name from The Broken, the highest summit in the Harz mountains of Germany, where conditions result in frequent sightings, there is something magical about the Broken Spectre phenomenon. Rainbow glory rings circle the shadowy figure, which at times seems to shift independently as the clouds on which the shadow has been cast, drift across the hills.

The highlight of an extremely cold day on the fells, we had run to the summit of Crag Hill via Tower Ridge – an easy scramble though on this day, thick weeps of ice and hard névé approaching the summit ridge added a degree of difficulty – emerging in brilliant sun above the cloud.

Turning for Grasmoor and then Hopegill Head, my shadow was cast across the cloud, running with us in giant bounds for a few moments of mountain magic.

Returning via Grisedale Pike to complete the classic horseshoe, Skiddaw rose as a wall beyond, wind-scoured frozen slopes falling to the dark heather below.