Castle Crag (Mardale)

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Warnings: Beyond Red Crag the round is largely pathless — Gowk Hill, Low Kop and the Bampton Common crossing are trackless grass moor. A clear-weather round; bearings needed in mist. High Street: Broad, flat and almost featureless, with few landmarks to fix on. In cloud it is very easy to walk off on the wrong bearing and end up above crags or descending into the wrong valley. Take a compass bearing before you leave the summit and trust it — don't navigate by the vague feel of the slope. Rampsgill Head: Ridges to The Knott/Rest Dodd, High Raise, High Street and the Straits of Riggindale all meet here over pathless, boggy ground. In mist it is easy to take the wrong arm. Take and trust a compass bearing before leaving the summit. High Street: The eastern rim drops in steep crags to Blea Water, the deepest tarn in the Lakes. The Long Stile ridge is the narrow, craggy crest along this edge. Keep well back from the lip in wind or mist; the ground that looks like a continuation of the plateau ends abruptly in cliffs. High Street: In winter the plateau holds snow and offers no shelter or reference points, and cornices and ice form along the crag edges above Blea Water. Whiteout navigation here is genuinely serious — full winter skills, ice axe and crampons needed, and extra margin kept from the corniced edge.

From the hazard notes for High Street · Rampsgill Head, each with its sources.

Route guide: Birketts West of Haweswater →