They call it "social climbing" and yesterday more than 30 of its enthusiasts added the fourth highest mountain in England to their list of peculiar meal venues. Sipping champagne and toying with forkfuls of wild mushroom and lamb, a group of doctors, engineers and pensioners spent two hours enjoying fine dining 3,000 feet above the Lake District.
The lofty temporary restaurant, which reopens for a second and final day today because so many £35 tickets have been sold, follows a tradition established by a group of young Australians 20 years ago.
Calling themselves the Social Climbers, they moved from picnics on tower blocks in Sydney to a four-course meal in evening dress at the summit of Mt Pisco in Peru.
Elevated dining is also a Lake District speciality, said organiser Cheryl Frost of the Keswick Mountain Festival. "Wordsworth and Southey had a meal on Skiddaw in 1815 to celebrate the battle of Waterloo," she said. The poets and a party of friends tucked into roast beef and plum pudding, washed down with neat rum.
Yesterday there were toasts, brief speeches and general merriment round the six tables. "Why do we do it? Because there's food here," said sales and marketing director Tony Lewis, 46, who had driven from Warwick to start the five-mile hike up Skiddaw at 9am. Marching beside him for three hours was London doctor Jonathan Aboshiha, who had been practising on Primrose Hill.
Perfect weather blessed the initiative by Keswick restaurateur Peter Sidwell. On the menu, after aperitifs on a makeshift terrace, was rump of lamb and diced vegetables followed by Grasmere gingerbread and white chocolate cheesecake.
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