Allen Crags
Allen Crags at 785m (2,575ft) is one of Lakeland's most overlooked summits, sitting quietly above Esk Hause between the busy paths to Glaramara and Great End.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 785 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 10° to 8°C, gusts to 32 mph, 3.3 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 785 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Allen Crags at a glance
Allen Crags
Routes up Allen Crags
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Allen Crags a Wainwright?
Allen Crags is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Allen Crags?
We hold no car park within 2.5 km of the summit, so there is no short walk-in to recommend here. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
Parking & buses for Allen Crags
Best parking to hike Allen Crags
Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).
Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Allen Crags by bus
The 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at), 210 m from the start of Rossett Pike, Allen Crags, Great End and more. Return buses leave from New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, about 1 km down the valley road. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516); Saturday 22:33 towards Kendal (516) and 21:13 towards Ambleside (516); Sunday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Hazards on Allen Crags
Hazard & Incident Information for Allen Crags
A rocky top at the head of Borrowdale, right beside the great crossroads of Esk Hause — where the paths between Wasdale, Borrowdale, Langdale and the Scafells all meet, and where walkers routinely take the wrong line in cloud. The fell itself is complicated, knobbly, rocky ground with a fine but undulating ridge to Glaramara, and the high passes here see fast-changing, severe weather. Keswick Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.
- Esk Hause junction (navigation trap): Esk Hause (and the 'false' Esk Hause just above) is a notorious place to go wrong: several paths meet and in cloud it is easy to set off toward the wrong valley — Langstrath, Grains Gill, Langdale or back to Sty Head. Know exactly which path you want and take a compass bearing before committing.
- Rocky, knobbly ground & the Glaramara ridge: The summit and the long ridge to Glaramara are complicated, rocky and boggy, with little knolls and hollows that confuse in mist. Care needed with footing on the rock, and with route-finding along the undulating crest.
- Exposure & fast-changing weather: This is high, exposed ground near the Scafell plateau, where conditions can change in minutes. Carry full kit and navigation, and be ready to turn back — the easy day out becomes serious quickly if the weather closes in.
Most common causes: Taking the wrong path at the Esk Hause junction in cloud · Route-finding errors on the knobbly, rocky Glaramara ridge · Slips on rocky ground and bog · Being caught out by rapidly changing high-fell weather
Local Mountain Rescue: Keswick Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 Jun 2026
Safety: Hazard guidance compiled from published Mountain Rescue reports and well-documented accident history - editorial background, not a live feed of callouts. Always check current conditions, carry proper navigation equipment, and seek qualified instruction before heading onto the fells. In an emergency, call 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Navigating Allen Crags in cloud
StraightforwardA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
In winter — snow, whiteout, cornices, buried features — every top demands full winter navigation skills whatever its band, and a broad, gentle summit can be the worst place of all. See walking in bad weather and the navigation guide.
How Allen Crags compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge), about 3.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Allen Crags (within 3 km)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.
Routes over Allen Crags
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Allen Crags
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Allan Crags & Glaramara route:
On the Rossett Pike, Allen Crags, Great End and more route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Allen Crags
The 360° skyline from Allen Crags
A computed 360° skyline — every visible named top labelled by distance and bearing, from the terrain model in perfect clarity, not photographed. Drag to pan; reveal the far four-nations horizon.
What you can see from Allen Crags, by direction
- North: Crag Hill (13 km), Grisedale Pike (14 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (19 km), Skiddaw Little Man (20 km), Knowe Crags (20 km), Skiddaw South Top (20 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (20 km), Skiddaw (21 km)
- North-east: High Crag (12 km), Nethermost Pike (12 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (12 km), Helvellyn (12 km), White Side (13 km), Raise (14 km), Watson's Dodd (15 km), Stybarrow Dodd (15 km), Little Dodd (16 km), Great Dodd (16 km), Gategill Fell Top (20 km), Blencathra (21 km)
- East: Dollywaggon Pike (12 km), Fairfield (13 km), Cofa Pike (13 km), Hart Crag (13 km), Dove Crag (14 km), St Sunday Crag (14 km), Red Screes (16 km), Thornthwaite Crag (20 km), High Street (21 km), Harter Fell (22 km)
- West: Red Pike (7 km), Scoat Fell (8 km)
- North-west: Great Gable (3 km), Green Gable (3 km), Kirk Fell (5 km), Pillar (8 km), Black Crag (8 km), High Stile (9 km), High Stile (9 km), Grasmoor (13 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (110 km, Scotland), The Cheviot (131 km, England), Yr Eifl (186 km, Wales), Pendle Hill (88 km, England), Gyrn Ddu (182 km, Wales), White Coomb (107 km, Scotland), Ettrick Pen (99 km, Scotland), Culter Fell (122 km, Scotland).
Computed from terrain in perfect clarity, not photographed · distances are straight-line.
Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.
Sunrise and sunset on Allen Crags
Allen Crags sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 August) first light is only 7 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:39 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +2 min |
| Equinox | 06:15 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | -1 min |
| Midwinter | 08:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:33 | -6 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.3°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Allen Crags
Allen Crags loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at the March equinox, when last light is 48 minutes before almanac sunset — 17:39 against 18:27. The sun goes down to the west from here (261.6°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 6.5°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:52 BST ±5.0 min | 21:53 | -1 min |
| Equinox | 17:39 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:27 | -48 min |
| Midwinter | 15:34 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | -16 min |
Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Allen Crags. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes. These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.
What you can see from Allen Crags
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Irish Sea open water
All 87 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Great End, Esk Pike, Rossett Pike, Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Glaramara, Bowfell, Great Gable, Green Gable, Base Brown, Pike of Stickle, Brandreth, Thunacar Knott, Loft Crag, Slight Side, High Raise (High White Stones), Grey Knotts, Kirk Fell, Harrison Stickle, Sergeant's Crag, Sergeant Man, Eagle Crag, Pike of Blisco, Fleetwith Pike, Ullscarf, Dale Head, Red Pike (Wasdale), Pillar, Castle Crag, High Spy, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Hindscarth, Steeple, Wetherlam, Robinson, High Stile, Seat Sandal, Cat Bells (Catbells), Dollywaggon Pike, Whiteless Pike, Heron Pike (Rydal), Nethermost Pike, Great Rigg, Wandope, Sail, Helvellyn, Causey Pike, Black Fell, Fairfield, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), White Side, Grasmoor, Barrow, Hart Crag, Walla Crag, Raise, High Pike (Scandale), Dove Crag, St Sunday Crag, Grisedale Pike, Watson's Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Great Dodd, Red Screes, Latrigg, Baystones (Wansfell), Clough Head, Barf, Dodd (Skiddaw), Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Little Man, Thornthwaite Crag, Carl Side, Sour Howes, Ill Bell, Long Side, Yoke, Ullock Pike, Sallows, High Street, Skiddaw, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Kentmere Pike, Great Calva, Knott, Binsey, High Pike (Caldbeck)
How Allen Crags’s view compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
Sightlines from a bare-earth terrain model (forests and buildings not included), corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average atmospheric refraction. “Distant” sightlines and any over 100 km depend on exceptionally clear air. Modelled from Copernicus GLO-30 open elevation data — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
Places to stay near this fell
From Great Langdale: 3 places in Grasmere
Frequently asked questions about Allen Crags
Is Allen Crags hard?
The fell itself is a rocky top with an easy approach along the ridge and nothing technical on it. Its seriousness is entirely about where it stands: right beside Esk Hause, the great crossroads where the paths between Wasdale, Borrowdale, Langdale and the Scafells meet, and one of the easiest places in the district to leave on the wrong path in cloud.
Our shorter round with Glaramara is 10.9 km with 806 m of ascent; with Rossett Pike and Great End it is 17.7 km and 1176 m. Know which way you are leaving the Hause before you get there.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rossett Pike
- Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- Swirl How
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)