4: The Southern Fells (Page Four)

1. The EASTERN FELLS
2. The FAR EASTERN
FELLS
3. The CENTRAL FELLS
4. The SOUTHERN FELLS
5. The NORTHERN FELLS
6. The NORTH WESTERN
FELLS
7. The WESTERN FELLS

Wainwright's Southern Fells

The Southern Fells • 4

THE FELLS IN THIS AREA:

ALLEN CRAGS • BLACK FELL • BOWFELL • BRIM FELL • COLD PIKE • CONISTON OLD MAN • CRINKLE CRAGS • DOW CRAG • ESK PIKE • GLARAMARA • GREAT CARRS • GREAT END • GREEN CRAG • GREY FRIAR • HARD KNOTT • HARTER FELL • HOLME FELL • ILLGILL HEAD • LINGMELL • LINGMOOR FELL • PIKE O'BLISCO • ROSSETT PIKE • ROSTHWAITE FELL • SCAFELL • SCAFELL PIKE • SEATHWAITE FELL • SLIGHT SIDE • SWIRL HOW • WETHERLAM • WHIN RIGG

SCAFELL PIKE
Height: 3210', (978m)
Grid reference: NY 216072

Scafell Pike was the first Lakeland summit I climbed, way back in the mid-seventies. I probably did it wearing flares, though I'm pretty sure I wasn't wearing stacked heels. Still, being the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike gets a lot of passing trade. I've seen people climbing it with shopping bags. Mind you, I took a TV up there on New Year's Eve so to each his own. Most people just visit the main summit, though a small subsidiary summit about a hundred yards to the south gives good views into Eskdale. The mountain was originally known as the Pikes of Scafell because an there are two other summits which get a page each in the Wainwright book, these being the boulder strewn Broad Crag, and the little visited Ill Crag. The main path up from Esk Hause passes within a few minutes of these summits and they are well worth a visit.

Two other tops are worthy of mention. Walkers using the corridor route pass close to the summit of Round How, which rises in front of an amphitheatre of crags between Great End and Scafell Pike. In most views it isn't noticed as it blends into the surrounding slopes. The little amphitheatre is a good spot for camping, and rarely frequented. The other top is Pen, a neat rocky cone on the southern eastern flank of the mountain above Upper Eskdale.

My most recent trip to Scafell Pike was on Millennium Eve, when I spent the night in a bivvy on the summit.

TOP

Scafell Pike

SEATHWAITE FELL
Height: 1970', (601m)
Grid Ref: NY 229102

With its low altitude and rather prosaic name, Seathwaite Fell is one of the more under-rated fells in the Lake District. It lies at the heart of the great 'Borrowdale Volcanic' range, which takes in The Scafells, the Glaramara ridge, and the Gable Gable range, and many of the features of those mountains but on a smaller scale. Though visitors to the fine Sprinkling Tarn are common, very few carry on to the recognised summit, which is situated about a half mile north along the ridge and is therefore rather off the beaten track for most people. This is a pity as the plateau has many hidden charms, quite reminiscent of Haystacks with its rocky tors and minor tarnlets.

The highest point and thus the true summit of Seathwaite Fell is a prominent rise on the west bank of Sprinkling Tarn, known as Great Slack (2073', grid ref 227097). Wainwright chose the lower summit as the focus of his chapter, probably because that was the only place which had a spot height recorded on the older maps.

TOP

Seathwaite Fell (centre) with Sprinkling Tarn, flanked by Great Gable and Glaramara, as seen from Great End. (Click for large panorama)

SLIGHT SIDE
Height: 2499', (762m):
Grid reference: NY 210050

In his closing notes in Book 7 (The Western Fells), Wainwright puts Slight Side in his list of the finest six summits in the district. As a separate fell there's not much to it though, being little more then a bump on the southern slopes of Scafell.

TOP

SWIRL HOW
Height: 2633', (802m)
Grid Ref: NY 273005

WETHERLAM
Height: 2502', (762m)
Grid Ref: NY 288011

WHIN RIGG
Height: 1755', (535m)
Grid Ref: NY 152034

The name of Whin Rigg will be unfamiliar to many, though it shares one of Lakeland's most impressive features with its neighbour Illgill Head, namely the Wastwater Screes.

The ridge that links the summit with the higher Illgill Head follows the line of the precipice northwest, passing two peaty tarns en route. The views down the crags and gullies are phenomenal throughout.

View towards Buckbarrow from the top of the
Wastwater Screes between Whin Rigg and Illgill Head.

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