Dow Crag
Dow Crag at 778m (2,552ft) is one of the great rock climbing crags of the Lake District, its eastern face dropping in a series of buttresses and gullies to the dark waters of Goat's Water below.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 778 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 12°C, gusts to 34 mph, 4.8 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 778 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
About the walk
Dow Crag
Routes up Dow Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Walna Scar Road, Coniston (free, rough track), about 2.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Dow Crag (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 Dow Crag
✎️ Walked and described first-hand by Lee, Wetherlam-first — the full Coniston round over all the major tops, a long and serious mountain day. The trickiest navigation is the Grey Friar–Calf Cove–Levers Hawse traverse and the Lad Stones ground; carry OS Explorer OL6 and a compass for the clag.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
The View from Dow Crag
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 Dow Crag, by direction
- North: Swirl How (3 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (7 km), Crinkle Crags (7 km), Crinkle Crags (7 km), Crinkle Crags (7 km), Crinkle Crags (8 km), Shelter Crags (8 km), Bowfell (9 km), Pike de Bield (9 km), Esk Pike (10 km), Ill Crag (10 km), Great End (11 km), Glaramara (13 km), White Side (20 km), Crag Hill (24 km), Knowe Crags (30 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (30 km), Skiddaw Little Man (30 km), Gategill Fell Top (30 km), Blencathra (30 km), Skiddaw South Top (31 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (31 km), Skiddaw (31 km), Skiddaw North Top (31 km)
- North-east: Brim Fell (1 km), Fairfield (17 km), Hart Crag (17 km), Dollywaggon Pike (17 km), High Crag (18 km), Nethermost Pike (18 km), Helvellyn (19 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (19 km), High Street (22 km)
- North-west: Scafell (10 km), Scafell Pike (10 km), Broad Crag (11 km), Red Pike (16 km), Black Crag (17 km), Scoat Fell (17 km), Haycock (18 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (158 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (145 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (180 km, Wales), Snaefell (87 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (154 km, Wales), Cairnsmore of Fleet (103 km, Scotland), Arenig Fawr (167 km, Wales), South Barrule (103 km, Isle of Man).
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.
What you can see from Dow Crag
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales and the Isle of Man.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Irish Sea open water
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 58 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Brim Fell, Grey Friar, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Harter Fell (Eskdale), Hard Knott, Cold Pike, Green Crag, Pike of Blisco, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Bowfell, Slight Side, Loft Crag, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle, Esk Pike, Scafell, Thunacar Knott, Scafell Pike, Great End, Sergeant Man, Illgill Head, High Raise (High White Stones), Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Glaramara, Helm Crag, Sergeant's Crag, Yewbarrow, Middle Fell, Great Rigg, Seat Sandal, Red Pike (Wasdale), Seatallan, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Fairfield, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Dollywaggon Pike, Haycock, Nethermost Pike, Caw Fell, Helvellyn, Yoke, Ill Bell, High Seat, Bleaberry Fell, Mardale Ill Bell, Kentmere Pike, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Clough Head, Latrigg, Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw Little Man, Carl Side, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Long Side, Skiddaw, Knott
How Dow Crag’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.
Best parking to hike Dow Crag
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. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the The Coniston Horseshoe route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
Buses to Dow Crag from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
No regular bus serves the start points for this fell — this is one for the car (or a long approach from the nearest served valley). The nearest hubs are Penrith (X4/X5 & 508), Ambleside and Windermere (555, 505, 516).
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
My hikes over Dow Crag (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Awesome trek up Wetherlam, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friars, Brim Fell, Dow Crag & Old Man of Coniston. (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 1417 m ascent · 5h 34m moving · 31 Aug 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Hazard & Incident Information for Dow Crag
One of the great rock-climbing cliffs of the Lakes, its summit perched right at the top of a 500-foot precipice of buttresses and gullies plunging to Goat's Water. The walkers' route along the ridge from the Walna Scar path is straightforward, but the east face is serious mountaineering ground with a long history of climbing falls, rockfall and fatalities. Coniston Mountain Rescue Team is called here repeatedly. The danger lies in straying onto the crag — whether deliberately scrambling the gullies or accidentally near the edge.
- The east face (buttresses and gullies above Goat's Water): A major climbing cliff with steep, exposed and often loose or wet rock. Climbers and scramblers are regularly hurt here — recent falls include serious head injuries when a large block pulled away, and there have been fatalities. The gullies (Easy Gully, Great Gully and others) are loose and far harder and more dangerous than they look. Only experienced, equipped climbers should be on the face; it is not a walkers' route.
- The summit edge: The top is a rocky perch directly above the precipice. In wind, cloud or when scrambling about for the view, a slip near the edge would be fatal. Keep well back from the lip.
- Rockfall onto Goat's Water below: Loose rock dislodged from the face can fall onto the climbers' approach path and the shore of Goat's Water. If walking below the crag, don't linger directly beneath climbers, and wear a helmet if scrambling.
Most common causes: Climbing and scrambling falls on the east face, some fatal · Rockfall from loose blocks on the buttresses and gullies · Slips near the exposed summit edge above the crag · Walkers underestimating the gullies as a way up or down
Local Mountain Rescue: Coniston Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 13 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.
A note on Church Beck (with Red Dell Beck & Levers Water)
Church Beck (with Red Dell Beck & Levers Water) runs below the old Coniston copper mines and carries mine-derived copper and zinc — enough to matter for river life, though the lead and cadmium that would harm a person stay below the drinking limit here. Treat any hill water before drinking (a filter won’t remove dissolved metals); don’t single this beck out as a clean fill-up.
What’s actually in this beck — we mapped every mine-fed one →
Metal-mine water data © Environment Agency (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Navigating Dow Crag in cloud
StraightforwardWalkable ground sits close to a lethal drop — in cloud it’s easy to walk straight onto steep ground. 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 Dow Crag compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Frequently asked questions about Dow Crag
Is Dow Crag hard to climb?
The walkers' summit is not hard — it's reached on a clear path via Goat's Hause, the col linking it to the Old Man of Coniston, with no scrambling. At 778 m (2,553 ft) it gives one of the finest perches in the southern Lakes, right at the top of a great cliff.
That cliff — the east face above Goat's Water — is a different matter: a serious rock-climbing venue with a real accident record. Walkers reach the top by the ridge, not the crag.
What is the route up Dow Crag for walkers?
From the Walna Scar Road car park above Coniston, follow the track and branch to Goat's Water beneath the crag, then climb to Goat's Hause and up the ridge to the summit — a clear path with no scrambling. It's commonly combined with the Old Man of Coniston for a fine round.
Keep well back from the summit edge, which sits right at the top of the precipice.
How long does it take to climb Dow Crag?
Allow around 4 hours for the Dow Crag and Goat's Water round (about 10.5 km / 6.5 miles), or nearer 5 hours for the popular circular adding Brim Fell and the Old Man of Coniston (around 12 km).
Is the crag on Dow Crag dangerous?
The east face above Goat's Water is one of the great Lakeland climbing cliffs — steep, often loose or wet rock with big buttresses and gullies, and a history of serious and fatal falls. It's for experienced, roped climbers, not walkers.
Don't be tempted onto the face or its gullies as a shortcut, keep back from the cliff-top summit, and if walking below it, avoid lingering directly beneath climbers because of rockfall.
What is South Rake on Dow Crag?
South Rake is a scree-filled gully at the southern end of the crag — the easiest line actually up the crag, a Grade 1 scramble with some loose rock and a little easy boulder-climbing. It's a way for confident scramblers to gain the summit through the cliff, not a walkers' path.
If you just want the top, the ridge route via Goat's Hause is simpler and avoids the crag entirely.
Is Dow Crag suitable for beginners?
By the walkers' route via Goat's Hause, yes — a fit beginner can manage it in good conditions, and the views of the crag and Goat's Water are superb. The crucial thing is to keep well back from the summit edge, which is right at the top of the precipice.
Beginners should avoid the crag itself and South Rake. Go on a clear day, carry a map and compass, and treat it as a proper fell.
What should I wear and take up Dow Crag?
Wear proper walking boots with good grip for the rough, stony ground, and carry warm and waterproof layers — the summit is high and exposed. Take a map and compass, food, water and a charged phone, and check the mountain forecast.
Keep back from the cliff edge at the top, leave the crag and South Rake to experienced scramblers/climbers, and carry winter kit when there's snow or ice.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-06-14 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Dow Crag
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- 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)
Maps & guidebooks for Dow Crag
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