Ralph & I visited Brown Cove Crags on Helvellyn today.  Top tip; the crags are not in Brown Cove ! The approach from Swirls car park is relatively painless and there were a good number of folk around, walking, learning winter skills, the odd skier and not too many climbers. We climbed Stepped Ridge (lll). It's in good condition, properly wintery with just a little soft snow over hard snow and turf. We reckon its at least twice the 100m the guidebook suggests and the photo-diagram hasn't got it quite right - where the red line goes straight up after half-height and then curves right, it should diagonal right and then curve left - easy to figure out in the good visibility we had because in this section you find the ‘window' in the picture. A top day out.