Ancrow Brow North Top
Summit conditions on Ancrow Brow North Top
On the summit on Monday 2 November: 7° to 3°C, gusts to 27 mph, 0.0 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Ancrow Brow North Top
Choose the way up before the car park: these three routes start from three places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Harrop Pike & Ancrow Brow - Birketts | Borrowdale Birketts | Bannisdale Fell - Long Crag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Sadgill (Longsleddale) | A6 Shap summit (layby) | Bannisdale |
| Distance and climb | 20.03 km, ~660 m of climb | 21.21 km, ~857 m of climb | 21.61 km, ~809 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~5–7 h | ~5½–7¾ h | ~5½–7¾ h |
| Scrambling | Not mentioned in the route’s notes | Not mentioned in the route’s notes | Not mentioned in the route’s notes |
| Exposure | Not assessed | Not assessed | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Hard | Hard | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Climb of about 38% at 0.4 km (Severe) | Descent of about 27% at 13.2 km (Hard) | Climb of about 26% at 3.5 km (Hard) |
| After the summit | Over Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow), Capplebarrow, Todd Fell and Whiteside Pike | Over White Howe (Bannisdale), The Forest (Borrowdale Head) and Lamb Pasture | Over Harrop Pike, Great Yarlside, Little Yarlside and Whatshaw Common |
| Walked or planned | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked |
| Car park at the start | Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited) | Whatshaw Common (layby) (free) | Lamb Pasture (layby) |
| Bus to the start | Nearest stop 8.5 km on foot | Nearest stop 17.9 km on foot | Nearest stop 11.9 km on foot |
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
How hard is Ancrow Brow North Top?
The shortest way up we hold is Harrop Pike & Ancrow Brow - Birketts — 20.03 km, 660 m of ascent, ~5–7 h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance and steepness — Severe.
All axes: length: Severe · steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · terrain: Not assessed · exposure: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 540 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 2 November 2026, 02:25 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Ancrow Brow North Top
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
3 more places to park near Ancrow Brow North Top
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
Buses
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 6 and 555 stop at Staveley, outside Abbey Square, 8.5 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Ancrow Brow North Top
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Bannisdale Fell - Long Crag
If you need to get off (the leg from Bannisdale Fell - Long Crag): We have not checked a line down from this ridge for this guide, so none is offered here. The way back is the way you came, along the watershed fence.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: the note for the leg that reaches Ancrow Brow North Top.
We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.
If you need Mountain Rescue
Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.
If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Ancrow Brow North Top
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
One of The Shap Fells Birketts (21 tops, and which of our routes reach each one).
Routes over Ancrow Brow North Top
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
About Ancrow Brow North Top
Classifications & hill data
Is Ancrow Brow North Top a Wainwright?
Ancrow Brow North Top is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides. It is also on the Synge list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
The summit is not a Birkett top.
Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →
The view from Ancrow Brow North Top
What you can see from Ancrow Brow North Top
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.Visible on a clear day, modelled from terrain: Scafell, Bowfell and 16 more Wainwrights. Not checked from the top.
All 18 Wainwrights in clear view (highest first)
Scafell, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Swirl How, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Brim Fell, Great Carrs, Harter Fell (Mardale), Wetherlam, Ill Bell, Yoke, Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Tarn Crag (Sleddale), Shipman Knotts, Hard Knott, Sallows, Sour Howes
How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed
Sightlines from this summit to the 214 Wainwright summits, on the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, a surface model whose 30 m cells hold the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included. Corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average refraction, from an eye 1.6 m above the summit; a sightline counts only when it clears the ground between by more than 10 m, so “marginal” ones are counted and not named. The same method and model as the View Report, which it reproduces exactly on twelve Wainwright summits tested — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
Places to stay near this fell
- Shap Fell Bothy (opens in new tab)about 5.3 km
Also nearby, but not independent
- Mosedale Cottage (opens in new tab) hutabout 4.0 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).