Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Gunson Knott at 822m (2,697ft) is the northernmost of the five Crinkle Crags tops, 0.2 km south of Shelter Crags, a rocky prominence that gives excellent views of the central Crinkle Crags complex.
Summit conditions on Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 68 mph, 11.1 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 Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | Langdale Horseshoe | Crinkle Crags, Cold Pike, Pike of Blisco |
|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Great Langdale (New/Old Dungeon Ghyll) | Old Dungeon Ghyll |
| Distance and climb | 20.9 km, 1,770 m of climb | 13.78 km, 1,025 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~7–9½ h | ~4¼–6 h |
| Scrambling | Easy scramble: Pike of Stickle's summit rocks (km 5.1–5.2). A short, awkward rock step that turns a walk into a scramble and regularly stops people dead. | Hands for a few steps: the rocky ground near Pike of Blisco (km 10.3–10.8). |
| Exposure | Hard | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Hard | Moderate |
| Steepest stretch | Descent of about 40% at 17.9 km (Severe) | Climb of about 32% at 4.2 km (Hard) |
| After the summit | Over Crinkle Crags - Fourth Crinkle, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Crinkle Crags South Top (First Crinkle), Cold Pike and Pike of Blisco | Over Crinkle Crags - Fourth Crinkle, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle) and Cold Pike |
| Walked or planned | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked |
| Car park at the start | Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) | Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid) |
| Bus to the start | 516 at the start | 516 at the start |
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 Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)?
The shortest way up we hold is Crinkle Crags, Cold Pike, Pike of Blisco — 13.78 km, 1025 m of ascent, ~4¼–6 h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · length: Moderate · navigation: Moderate · 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 822 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 Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
4 more places to park near Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
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 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, a 160 m walk from the start of Crinkle Crags, Cold Pike, Pike of Blisco — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness). Last bus: Monday to Thursday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516); Friday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Saturday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Sunday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 23 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.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Langdale Horseshoe
- The Bad Step (Crinkle Crags, Long Top). A short, awkward rock step that turns a walk into a scramble and regularly stops people dead. There is a bypass path round its west side, on your right as you come south off Long Top — use it if you are unsure.
- Do not attempt Jack’s Rake on Pavey Ark unless you know what you are taking on. It is a graded scramble with real exposure, not a path. The walkers’ line goes round.
- 21 km, 1,660 m and fifteen tops. This is a full, committing day. Start early, and decide your turn-back time before you leave the car.
- The Crinkles are the classic place to descend the wrong side in cloud. Know which valley you want before you are in it.
If you need to get off (the leg from Shelter Crags): Retreat north to Three Tarns and descend The Band. Do not bail off the sides of the Crinkles.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle).
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 Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
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.
On the hill: terrain and water on Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Langdale 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 Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle)
Classifications & hill data
Is Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle) a Wainwright?
Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and 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.
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
From Great Langdale: 3 places in Grasmere