Black Crag
Black Crag at 828m (2,717ft) is a high Birkett top on the ridge south-west of Pillar in the Western Fells, its rocky summit giving dramatic views into the Mosedale and Ennerdale valleys.
Summit conditions on Black Crag
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 64 mph, 11.4 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 Black Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Pillar, Scoat Fell, Steeple and Red Pike around the head of Mosedale, with Yewbarrow to finish — 1,236 m of ascent packed into 17.8 km, rated severe for steepness and hard for exposure. About 5½–7½ hours.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Black Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Extended Mosedale Horseshoe — 17.75 km, 1236 m of ascent, ~5½–7½ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · length: Hard · terrain: Hard · exposure: Hard · navigation: Moderate.
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 828 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Black Crag
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
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
We don’t know yet. Wasdale Explorer (seasonal) serves this area, but we don’t hold its stop positions, so we can’t measure the walk from it — and we won’t tell you to drive on the strength of a gap in our own data. The Wasdale Action Group lists it as running Saturdays, Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from the start of May to the end of August (read 30 September 2026): check before you travel.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Black Crag
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 Black Crag
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Black Crag
Download GPX Not yet personally 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.
On the hill: terrain and water on Black Crag
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Extended Mosedale Horseshoe route:
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Black Crag
Classifications & hill data
Is Black Crag a Wainwright?
Black Crag is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Hewitt list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
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 →
Places to stay near this fell
We have not verified an independent place near this fell — these are the chains and charities that serve it.
- YHA Black Sail (opens in new tab) hostelabout 3.9 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).