Great Saddle Crag
Great Saddle Crag at 560m (1,837ft) is an Outlying Fell on the moorland south-west of Shap, between Wet Sleddale and Crookdale, giving views west to the Haweswater fells. Wainwright included it in his Outlying Fells guide.
Summit conditions on Great Saddle Crag
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 55 mph, 12.5 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 Great Saddle Crag
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
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 Great Saddle Crag?
The shortest way up we hold is Crookdale Birketts — 20.95 km, 666 m of ascent, ~5¼–7¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is distance — Severe.
All axes: length: Severe · navigation: Hard · steepness: 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 560 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Great Saddle Crag
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
1 more place to park near Great Saddle Crag
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 nearest bus stop we hold is the 6 and 555 stop at Staveley, outside Abbey Square, 17.9 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Great Saddle Crag
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Crookdale Birketts
- The Crookdale crossing is trackless — over 2 km of tussock and wet ground with no path; much of the round is faint at best. The old county-boundary fence is a useful handrail over most tops — use it in mist.
If you need to get off (the leg from Harrop Pike): Retreat: We have not checked a way out along the Wasdale valley for this guide, so none is offered here.
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 Great Saddle 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 Great Saddle 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 Great Saddle Crag
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 Great Saddle Crag
Terrain & access
A pathless top (about 560 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 330 m away. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. We have no approach record for this top, so its access is not classified here — that is an absence of assessment, not a finding that you may not go. Check access before you do.
Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
About Great Saddle Crag
Classifications & hill data
Is Great Saddle Crag a Wainwright?
Great Saddle Crag is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides. It is also 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.
The summit is also a Birkett.
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
- Shap Fell Bothy (opens in new tab)about 0.4 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).