Navigating in Cloud
Navigation error in poor visibility is one of the commonest reasons walkers need rescuing in the Lake District. Some fells make it far easier to go wrong than others — a broad, featureless plateau with no fall-line to follow; flat ground perched at the lip of a crag; a maze of rocky ground ringed by drops. This is the Clag Index: a score for how hard each of the 214 Wainwrights is to stay found on when the cloud comes down, computed from the shape of the ground itself and checked against the fells everyone knows are traps.
Read this first. This is an experimental, relative score for the shape of the ground — deliberately cautious, and not a promise. On the higher-scoring tops, poor visibility is genuinely dangerous: carry a map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save the day for clearer weather. The site can’t navigate for you, and a low score never means “safe” — only that the ground gives you more to work with.
The three ways a fell gets you lost
Our terrain model takes three readings on every fell, each on a scale of 0 to 1. A fell’s score is the highest of the three, and the Why column in the table names which one that was. Each reading measures the shape of the ground; none of them counts where walkers have actually gone wrong.
Get-lost
How much near-level ground there is around the summit: the area of the walkable top gentler than 10°. The walkable top is the ground around the summit no steeper than 12°, no more than 40 m below it and within 800 m of it, so it can take in a broad shoulder below the summit as well as the top itself. Highest readings: Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Mungrisdale Common, High Tove.
Walk-off
How much of the walkable top lies within 90 m of ground the model reads as 35° or steeper. Highest readings: Swirl How, Helvellyn, High Spy.
Maze
How much of the ground within half a kilometre of the summit is 35° or steeper, reduced where the walkable top is a thin crest rather than a compact top. Highest readings: Pillar, Great Gable, Crag Hill (Eel Crag).
What fifty metres of visibility actually leaves you
The three traps above are easier to see than to describe. These are drawn from the same elevation model the index is computed from — the ground within about fifty metres of twelve summits where the trap is confirmed, at the scale a walker in cloud is actually working at.
Dollywaggon Pike Severe
The path skirts the top; the east face is immediately beyond, and the plateau tilts you toward it on the descent line to Grisedale Tarn.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
Ground the model reads as steep lies inside the walkable top itself. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Helvellyn Severe
The summit shelter and plateau sit within metres of the corniced east-face rim — in cloud the drop reads as flat white ground.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
The walkable top comes within 42 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Scafell Severe
The plateau funnels naturally toward Broad Stand — which is a climbers' descent, not a walkers' one — and the mist makes it look like the way off toward Scafell Pike.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
The walkable top comes within 42 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Swirl How Severe
The Prison Band arête and the Broad Slack drop sit right off the summit cairn; the level ridge invites a fast walk-off in the wrong place.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
The walkable top comes within 30 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Great Gable Severe
The summit dome is a boulder maze where the Westmorland Cairn side drops to crags and the tracks between shelters look like paths off.
This drawing cannot show this fell’s mechanism. The trouble here is boulders and false paths at arm’s length, and a 30 m elevation model cannot see either. Read the circle as ground shape only.
The walkable top comes within 42 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Grasmoor Care needed
A flat-topped fell whose north and west faces are serious crags; the summit shelter is close to the Dove Crags rim.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
The walkable top comes within 60 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Scafell Pike Serious in cloud
A boulder-field dome where every direction looks identical and cairns lead to more cairns — bearings feel wrong because the ground fights your feet.
This drawing cannot show this fell’s mechanism. The trouble here is boulders and false paths at arm’s length, and a 30 m elevation model cannot see either. Read the circle as ground shape only.
The walkable top comes within 60 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
High Raise (High White Stones) Severe
The centre of the Central Fells plateau — big, gentle, and identical in every direction, with the Langdale edges a long way from obvious.
The circle is nearly empty, and that emptiness is the mechanism: nothing inside it to take a bearing from. That is about height change in these fifty metres only — the measurement below counts something else, and steep ground can lie near the top without showing here.
The model resolves no ground that steep anywhere on this top. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
High Street Severe
A racecourse-broad summit where the path braids and the eastern edge above Blea Water arrives abruptly.
The shading is the mechanism here: it is how much height the ring holds, so a dark side is ground falling away within fifty metres. How far off the nearest steep ground sits is the separate measurement below.
The walkable top comes within 42 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Robinson Fewer traps in cloud
Buttermere Moss lures you onto a bog plateau with no features, and the northern edge (Robinson Crags) is closer to the summit than it feels.
The circle is nearly empty, and that emptiness is the mechanism: nothing inside it to take a bearing from. That is about height change in these fifty metres only — the measurement below counts something else, and steep ground can lie near the top without showing here.
The walkable top comes within 42 m of ground the model reads as steep. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Great Dodd Fewer traps in cloud
The Dodds are grassy domes with vanishing trods — between summits there is often no path at all and few features to correct against.
The circle is nearly empty, and that emptiness is the mechanism: nothing inside it to take a bearing from. That is about height change in these fifty metres only — the measurement below counts something else, and steep ground can lie near the top without showing here.
The model resolves no ground that steep anywhere on this top. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
Mungrisdale Common Severe
Featureless grass in every direction; the 'summit' is barely a rise and every bearing looks like every other.
The circle is nearly empty, and that emptiness is the mechanism: nothing inside it to take a bearing from. That is about height change in these fifty metres only — the measurement below counts something else, and steep ground can lie near the top without showing here.
The model resolves no ground that steep anywhere on this top. “Steep” means ground the model computes at 35° or more across its 30 m cells, and the distance is measured from the nearest point of the walkable top rather than from the summit, cell to cell — so it falls on the 30 m grid (30, 42, 60 m and so on) and is model geometry, not a surveyed cliff edge. Mist is rarely a neat circle — the ring is illustrative. Drawn from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells), a surface model, which holds trees and walls as well as ground: the ring is 3.3 cells across and holds 12 of them, drawn at the model’s own resolution rather than smoothed into detail the data does not hold.
All 214 Wainwrights, ranked
The full list, sortable by any column and filterable by band or region. Top of the list is where getting lost matters most — Helvellyn, Great Gable, Pillar, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Swirl How, High Raise (High White Stones) and the rest of the 38 fells in the top band. Without JavaScript the table stays readable and sorted worst-first.
A briefing on how easy that top is to stay found on, drawn from the same grade as the table below. It is not a verdict on whether to go.
| Severe | Helvellyn | Eastern | 950 | Walk-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Severe | Great Gable | Western | 899 | Maze |
| Severe | Pillar | Western | 892 | Maze |
| Severe | Crag Hill (Eel Crag) | North Western | 839 | Maze |
| Severe | Swirl How | Southern | 802 | Walk-off |
| Severe | High Raise (High White Stones) | Central | 762 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Sergeant Man | Central | 736 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Thunacar Knott | Central | 723 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Loft Crag | Central | 682 | Maze |
| Severe | Loadpot Hill | Far Eastern | 672 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Wether Hill | Far Eastern | 672 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Great Sca Fell | Northern | 651 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell) | Far Eastern | 638 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Mungrisdale Common | Northern | 632 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Haystacks (Buttermere) | Western | 597 | Maze |
| Severe | Whin Rigg (Wasdale) | Southern | 537 | Maze |
| Severe | Arthur's Pike | Far Eastern | 533 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Bonscale Pike | Far Eastern | 524 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Eagle Crag | Central | 523 | Maze |
| Severe | High Tove | Central | 515 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top) | Central | 475 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Barf | North Western | 469 | Maze |
| Severe | Dollywaggon Pike ∗ | Eastern | 858 | Walk-off |
| Severe | High Spy | North Western | 653 | Walk-off |
| Severe | High Crag (Buttermere) | Western | 745 | Maze |
| Severe | Ullscarf | Central | 723 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Nethermost Pike | Eastern | 891 | Maze |
| Severe | High Street | Far Eastern | 828 | Walk-off |
| Severe | Whiteless Pike | North Western | 660 | Maze |
| Severe | Rampsgill Head | Far Eastern | 792 | Walk-off |
| Severe | High Stile | Western | 806 | Maze |
| Severe | Great Crag (Stonethwaite) | Central | 449 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Hart Crag | Eastern | 823 | Maze |
| Severe | Pavey Ark | Central | 702 | Get-lost |
| Severe | Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell) | Western | 841 | Maze |
| Severe | Scafell ∗ | Southern | 964 | Walk-off |
| Severe | Bowfell | Southern | 903 | Maze |
| Severe | Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor) | Far Eastern | 764 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top) | Western | 511 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit) | Southern | 601 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Calf Crag | Central | 537 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Burnbank Fell | Western | 475 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Wandope | North Western | 774 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Buckbarrow | Western | 423 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Illgill Head | Southern | 609 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Fairfield | Eastern | 873 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell) | Central | 553 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Brae Fell | Northern | 585 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Kirk Fell | Western | 802 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Sail | North Western | 773 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Scafell Pike | Southern | 978 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Gray Crag | Far Eastern | 698 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Bannerdale Crags | Northern | 684 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Caw Fell | Western | 697 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Red Screes | Eastern | 779 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Red Pike (Buttermere) | Western | 755 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Fleetwith Pike | Western | 649 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Tarn Crag (Sleddale) | Far Eastern | 664 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | The Knott (High Street) | Far Eastern | 739 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Thornthwaite Crag | Far Eastern | 784 | Walk-off |
| Serious in cloud | Great End | Southern | 910 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | High Hartsop Dodd | Eastern | 519 | Maze |
| Serious in cloud | Hart Side | Eastern | 756 | Get-lost |
| Serious in cloud | Hartsop Dodd | Far Eastern | 619 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle) ∗ | Southern | 859 | Maze |
| Care needed | Glaramara ∗ | Southern | 783 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | High Raise (High Street) ∗ | Far Eastern | 804 | Maze |
| Care needed | Mardale Ill Bell ∗ | Far Eastern | 761 | Maze |
| Care needed | Rest Dodd ∗ | Far Eastern | 696 | Maze |
| Care needed | The Nab ∗ | Far Eastern | 576 | Maze |
| Care needed | Walla Crag ∗ | Central | 379 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Maiden Moor | North Western | 575 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Branstree | Far Eastern | 712 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Brim Fell | Southern | 796 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Selside Pike | Far Eastern | 655 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Silver How | Central | 394 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Bleaberry Fell | Central | 590 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Sheffield Pike | Eastern | 676 | Maze |
| Care needed | Tarn Crag (Easedale) | Central | 549 | Maze |
| Care needed | Grey Knotts | Western | 697 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Base Brown | Western | 646 | Maze |
| Care needed | Kentmere Pike | Far Eastern | 730 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Grasmoor | North Western | 852 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Grange Fell (Brund Fell) | Central | 417 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Ill Bell | Far Eastern | 757 | Maze |
| Care needed | Blea Rigg | Central | 542 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Crag Fell | Western | 523 | Maze |
| Care needed | Yoke | Far Eastern | 707 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Yewbarrow | Western | 629 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Slight Side | Southern | 762 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Shipman Knotts | Far Eastern | 587 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top) | Eastern | 637 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Brandreth | Western | 715 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Knott | Northern | 710 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | White Side | Eastern | 863 | Maze |
| Care needed | Red Pike (Wasdale) | Western | 826 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Gibson Knott | Central | 420 | Walk-off |
| Care needed | Watson's Dodd | Eastern | 789 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Hopegill Head | North Western | 770 | Maze |
| Care needed | Harter Fell (Mardale) | Far Eastern | 779 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Lank Rigg | Western | 541 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Graystones (Graystones North Top) | North Western | 450 | Get-lost |
| Care needed | Grisedale Pike | North Western | 790 | Maze |
| Care needed | The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man) | Southern | 802 | Maze |
| Care needed | Rossett Pike | Southern | 651 | Maze |
| Care needed | Clough Head | Eastern | 726 | Maze |
| Care needed | Sergeant's Crag | Central | 571 | Maze |
| Care needed | Dove Crag | Eastern | 792 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Ullock Pike ∗ | Northern | 690 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Carrock Fell ∗ | Northern | 662 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Binsey | Northern | 447 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Birks | Eastern | 624 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Grike | Western | 488 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Dale Head | North Western | 754 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Sour Howes | Far Eastern | 483 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) | Far Eastern | 432 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Green Gable | Western | 800 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Rigg | Eastern | 766 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Hindscarth | North Western | 727 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Robinson | North Western | 738 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Baystones (Wansfell) | Far Eastern | 487 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Latrigg | Northern | 369 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Brock Crags (Wainwright) | Far Eastern | 561 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Low Pike | Eastern | 508 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | St Sunday Crag | Eastern | 841 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Black Fell | Southern | 323 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Harrison Stickle | Central | 735 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Esk Pike | Southern | 885 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Souther Fell | Northern | 522 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Whiteside (Whiteside West Top) | North Western | 707 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Dow Crag | Southern | 778 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Wetherlam | Southern | 763 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Scar Crags | North Western | 672 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Middle Fell | Western | 582 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell | Western | 416 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter) | North Western | 517 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Longlands Fell | Northern | 483 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | High Rigg (Naddle Fell) | Central | 356 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | High Pike (Caldbeck) | Northern | 658 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Broom Fell | North Western | 510 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Pike of Blisco | Southern | 703 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Knott Rigg | North Western | 556 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Allen Crags | Southern | 785 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Bakestall | Northern | 674 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Borne | Western | 616 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit) | Eastern | 481 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Holme Fell | Southern | 316 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Place Fell | Far Eastern | 657 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Sale Fell | North Western | 359 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Long Side | Northern | 734 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Seatallan | Western | 693 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top) | Far Eastern | 566 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Lonscale Fell | Northern | 715 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Sallows | Far Eastern | 516 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Ard Crags | North Western | 581 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Ling Fell | North Western | 374 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | High Seat | Central | 609 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Seat Sandal | Eastern | 737 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Lingmell | Southern | 807 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Bowscale Fell | Northern | 702 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Low Fell | Western | 422 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Cold Pike | Southern | 700 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Cockup | Northern | 526 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Carl Side | Northern | 747 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Birkhouse Moor | Eastern | 718 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Arnison Crag | Eastern | 433 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Dodd (Skiddaw) | Northern | 502 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Mell Fell | Eastern | 537 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Glenridding Dodd | Eastern | 442 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Nab Scar | Eastern | 450 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Stybarrow Dodd | Eastern | 844 | Walk-off |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How) | Eastern | 586 | Maze |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Skiddaw | Northern | 930 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Catstye Cam | Eastern | 890 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Raise | Eastern | 883 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Blencathra - Hallsfell Top | Northern | 868 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Skiddaw Little Man | Northern | 865 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Dodd | Eastern | 857 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Steeple | Western | 819 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Haycock | Western | 797 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Carrs | Southern | 785 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Kidsty Pike | Far Eastern | 781 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Grey Friar | Southern | 773 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Froswick | Far Eastern | 720 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Pike of Stickle | Central | 708 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Great Calva | Northern | 691 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | High Pike (Scandale) | Eastern | 657 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Middle Dodd | Eastern | 654 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Harter Fell (Eskdale) | Southern | 653 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Causey Pike | North Western | 637 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Starling Dodd | Western | 633 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Heron Pike (Rydal) | Eastern | 612 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Blake Fell | Western | 573 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Outerside | North Western | 568 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Lord's Seat | North Western | 552 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot | Southern | 551 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Hard Knott | Southern | 550 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Meal Fell | Northern | 549 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Gavel Fell | Western | 524 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Beda Fell (Beda Head) | Far Eastern | 509 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Hen Comb | Western | 506 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Little Mell Fell | Eastern | 505 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Stone Arthur | Eastern | 504 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Green Crag | Southern | 489 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Lingmoor Fell (Brown How) | Southern | 470 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Raven Crag | Central | 461 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Barrow | North Western | 455 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Cat Bells (Catbells) | North Western | 451 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Helm Crag | Central | 405 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Hallin Fell | Far Eastern | 388 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Troutbeck Tongue | Far Eastern | 364 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Rannerdale Knotts | North Western | 355 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Loughrigg Fell | Central | 335 | Get-lost |
| Fewer traps in cloud | Castle Crag | North Western | 290 | Get-lost |
∗ graded from Lee’s first-hand knowledge where the elevation model can’t see the danger. Sort by any column; filter by band or region.
A word on winter
Whatever a fell’s band above, it describes summer or poor-visibility navigation only. Add snow and the picture changes completely — and not evenly. A broad, gentle top — the kind that can score low here — is often the most dangerous place of all in a whiteout, where the ground gives you nothing to steer by, cornices hide the edge and every feature is buried. In winter conditions every one of these fells demands full winter navigation skills, regardless of its band. See our guide to walking in bad weather and the navigation guide before you go.
How it’s worked out
- Computed from a surface model. For each summit we grow the walkable top from Copernicus GLO-30 (30 m cells) and score the worst of the three traps above — the shape of the ground, not an accident count. GLO-30 is a digital surface model, not bare-earth terrain: each cell holds the top of whatever stands there — trees, forestry, walls, buildings — rather than the ground beneath it. On open rock and grass, which is most of what these summits are, the two are the same thing; where woodland or a structure stands, the height and the slope the model reports there are the canopy’s or the wall’s.
- Relative and ranged. Four named bands, never a number of “dangerous days”. The aim is to over-warn, not to look precise.
- The ingredients, in full. The walkable top is grown over ground no steeper than 12° and within 40 m of summit height, capped 800 m out. Get-lost is the area of that top gentler than 10°, ramped from 85,000 m² (no danger) to 450,000 m² (full). Walk-off is the area of it lying within 90 m of ground modelled steeper than 35°, ramped from 8,000 m² to 50,000 m². Maze is how dense that steep ground is around the top, damped by how compact the top is. The score is the worst of the three; the band is a cut on that score. Every one of those numbers is a modelling choice, not a measurement of danger.
- Face-validated at the ends, untested in the middle. The model has to light up the fells everyone already knows are traps — Helvellyn, Scafell Pike, High Street, Bowfell all score high — while the easy, obvious tops (Catbells, Latrigg, Loughrigg) sit in the bottom band. That is a check against reputation at the two ends of the list, and it is the only check there has been: it does not establish that the order in between is right, and no independent evaluation of this score has been published. Read the middle of the table as experimental.
- Human overrides (∗) — 11 of 214. Fells whose danger the geometry misreads, in either direction, are graded from first-hand knowledge instead — Dollywaggon Pike, for instance, whose steep little summit hides a serious walk-off risk the model reads as gentle. They carry the mark in the table above, and an override replaces the computed band rather than adjusting it.
- What’s deliberately not in it. No winter modelling (summer / poor-visibility only, as above); no cloud-frequency cross yet (how often each top actually sits in cloud is a separate, regional signal we may add later); and mapped features are not counted — walls, fences and cairns are not read as things to navigate by. A guide to the shape of the surface, not a survey.
Related: the navigation guide, walking in bad weather, the Mountain Rescue report (navigation error is a leading call-out cause), what you can see from each summit in the View Report, Summer on the Fells (summer thunderstorms — and why a low fell offers no protection — have their own chapter there), and today’s conditions. Spot a grading that looks wrong for a fell you know? Tell us.