Great Carrs
Great Carrs at 785m (2,575ft) is a Wainwright summit in the Southern Fells, forming the rocky northern arm of the Swirl How ridge above Wrynose Pass.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 785 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 10° to 8°C, gusts to 33 mph, 1.9 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 785 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Great Carrs at a glance
Great Carrs
Field notes
You don't see many people mention this Wainwright and it's a crying shame that people don't do the Coniston Circuit with this one in mind as the view down the Greenburn valley to the Greenburn Reservoir in the near distance and the Little Landgale Tarn in the far distance is quite stunning. When I was there I was thinking about just continuing down the ridge north to Little Carrs and beyond. I didn't know then that that minor summit and that of Hell Gill Pike were Birkeets and I could have bagged them for little apparent cost.Routes up Great Carrs
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Great Carrs a Wainwright?
Great Carrs is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Great Carrs?
The nearest car park we hold is Hell Gill Pike (verge), about 1.5 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Hell Gill Pike (verge, south), 1.8 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.
How hard is Great Carrs?
The shortest way up we hold is Black Sails & Great How — 10.8 km, 773 m of ascent, about 3.4 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Great Carrs (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.
Parking & buses for Great Carrs
Best parking to hike Great Carrs
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.
Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.
Getting to Great Carrs by bus
The 505 stops at Coniston, outside The Ruskin Centre. From there it is 1.8 km and 179 m of ascent to the start of The Coniston Horseshoe — a walk in before the walk. The last bus is 20:24 towards Kendal (505) and 18:44 towards Ambleside (505), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 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.
Hazards on Great Carrs
Hazard & Incident Information for Great Carrs
A high fell on the Coniston (Furness) skyline whose gentle western slopes give no hint of the abrupt drop on its eastern side, where the ground falls away in crags and steep scree into the Greenburn corrie. The summit edge is also the site of a wartime aircraft memorial — a Halifax bomber crashed here in cloud in 1944, a sober reminder of how the flat top and sudden edge combine in poor visibility. Coniston Mountain Rescue Team covers this remote high ground.
- The steep eastern edge above Greenburn (and the memorial): Right by the summit the ground drops suddenly in crags and steep scree into the Greenburn corrie — the aircraft memorial sits on this very brink. In wind or cloud keep well back from the edge; the flat top gives almost no warning before the drop.
- Navigation on the high plateau in cloud: Great Carrs sits among a confusing tangle of high paths — Swirl How, the Prison Band, Wet Side Edge and Wrynose. In mist it is easy to take the wrong ridge or drift toward the eastern edge. Navigate by compass; this is the kind of disorientation that brought the bomber down here.
- Winter cornices and the steep descents: Cornices build along the eastern edge in winter and can collapse; the Wet Side Edge descent is steep and rough. Full winter kit and competence are needed when there is snow or ice, and extra margin kept from the corniced rim.
Most common causes: Falls over the sudden eastern edge into the Greenburn corrie · Navigation errors on the featureless high plateau in cloud · Cornice collapse and slips on iced ground in winter · Problems compounded by the remoteness and long walk-out
Local Mountain Rescue: Coniston Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 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 Great Carrs in cloud
StraightforwardA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. 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 Great Carrs compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Hell Gill Pike (verge), about 1.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Great Carrs (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 Great Carrs
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Great Carrs
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.
The view from Great Carrs
The 360° skyline from Great Carrs
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 Great Carrs, by direction
- North: Stybarrow Dodd (19 km), Watson's Dodd (20 km), Great Dodd (21 km), Crag Hill (21 km), Grisedale Pike (23 km), Knowe Crags (26 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (27 km), Skiddaw Little Man (27 km), Gategill Fell Top (27 km), Blencathra (27 km), Skiddaw South Top (28 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (28 km), Skiddaw (28 km), Skiddaw North Top (28 km)
- North-east: Fairfield (14 km), Dove Crag (14 km), Hart Crag (14 km), Dollywaggon Pike (14 km), High Crag (15 km), Nethermost Pike (15 km), Helvellyn (16 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (16 km), White Side (17 km), Raise (18 km), High Street (20 km), Rampsgill Head (21 km), High Raise (22 km)
- South: Brim Fell (2 km)
- North-west: Crinkle Crags South Top (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Bowfell (6 km), Esk Pike (7 km), Ill Crag (8 km), Scafell Pike (8 km), Broad Crag (8 km), Scafell (8 km), Great End (9 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (161 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (149 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (183 km, Wales), Snaefell (88 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (157 km, Wales), South Barrule (104 km, Isle of Man), Slieve Croob (185 km, Ireland), Yr Eifl (181 km, Wales).
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.
Sunrise and sunset on Great Carrs
Great Carrs catches the sun before the valley does. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does this summit wait for first light — the eastern horizon falls away rather than standing over you, and at midsummer the light reaches it 3 minutes before almanac sunrise.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:35 BST ±5.0 min | 04:38 | -3 min |
| Equinox | 06:13 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | -3 min |
| Midwinter | 08:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | -5 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.09°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Great Carrs
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (on 1 July) last light is only 11 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Great Carrs.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:49 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | -3 min |
| Equinox | 18:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | +6 min |
| Midwinter | 15:58 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | +8 min |
Computed, not photographed. First light is the first minute the sun’s upper limb clears this summit’s own skyline and last light the last minute it is still clear of it, both solved against the 360° horizon profile behind The View from Great Carrs. Almanac sunrise and sunset are the flat-horizon convention. Every time carries a ± band from the 30 m elevation model — it smooths arêtes and cornices, so nothing here claims better than five minutes. These are daylight figures, not a descent plan: the light goes on fading for a good while after the sun leaves, and going down in it is a decision about your own ground and party, not about this table.
What you can see from Great Carrs
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
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Irish Sea open water
All 101 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Swirl How, Grey Friar, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Cold Pike, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Dow Crag, Pike of Blisco, Hard Knott, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Harter Fell (Eskdale), Bowfell, Loft Crag, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle, Rossett Pike, Thunacar Knott, Pavey Ark, Slight Side, Esk Pike, Blea Rigg, Silver How, Sergeant Man, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Great End, High Raise (High White Stones), Loughrigg Fell, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Glaramara, Helm Crag, Gibson Knott, Nab Scar, Illgill Head, Heron Pike (Rydal), Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Stone Arthur, Ullscarf, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Low Pike, Great Rigg, Seat Sandal, High Pike (Scandale), Middle Fell, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Fairfield, Baystones (Wansfell), Dove Crag, Hart Crag, Dollywaggon Pike, Red Screes, Nethermost Pike, Seatallan, Dale Head, Middle Dodd, Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Sour Howes, Helvellyn, Hindscarth, Sallows, White Side, Yoke, Hartsop Dodd, Ill Bell, Raise, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag, Bleaberry Fell, Gray Crag, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd, High Street, Mardale Ill Bell, The Knott (High Street), Sail, Kentmere Pike, Rest Dodd, Scar Crags, Great Dodd, Shipman Knotts, Rampsgill Head, Lank Rigg, Kidsty Pike, High Raise (High Street), Clough Head, Grisedale Pike, Tarn Crag (Sleddale), Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell), Lonscale Fell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Skiddaw Little Man, Carl Side, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Long Side, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw, Bannerdale Crags, Knott, Binsey
How Great Carrs’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.
Places to stay near this fell
From Wrynose Pass: 2 places in Grasmere
Frequently asked questions about Great Carrs
Is Great Carrs dangerous?
Not on the way you will walk it, but it has a genuine trap. The western slopes are gentle grass and give no hint of what happens on the other side: the eastern face falls away abruptly in crags and steep ground. A fell that feels this benign underfoot is exactly the sort where a drift in cloud matters.
Our shorter round over it is 10.8 km with 773 m of ascent, and we grade the navigation hard. Keep west of the edge when you cannot see, and it is a straightforward high fell.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Great Carrs
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- 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)