638 mWainwright — Far Eastern Fells+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km Severe in cloud
Grey Crag at 638m (2,093ft) is the summit of Sleddale Fell, a Wainwright in the Far Eastern Fells above the remote Longsleddale valley. Wainwright noted its quiet, solitary character and the fine views down Longsleddale and east to the Pennines.
Summit conditions on Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 60 mph, 12.1 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
Against our lines, Tuesday 27 October: wind, cold and cloud from the Met Office UKV 2 km model (daylight hours, as in the verdict above); rain from the summit line’s forecast (the whole day). A tile is large when this top is past its line.
Wind on the top
Past the line
53mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 46 mph times our exposure factor of 1.16. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 60 mph, before any exposure factor.
under 25
25–35
35–45
45–55
55+
The line Our line: 25 mph, where our wind Scale begins its 25–35 band: “balance affected; buffeting on exposed ground”. MWIS (opens in new tab) describes what wind does to a walker across a range rather than at a line: from about 20–25 mph it starts to affect your balance.
Estimated: it is not calibrated against summit readings, and the two forecasts can disagree by more than a band.
Cloud on the top
Past the line
19out of 100, the clear-top reading
Averaged over the daylight hours, from the forecast’s humidity and low cloud.
The line Our line: a clear-top reading under 20 out of 100, where our scorer says “summit likely clagged in”. There is no outside threshold to cite; it is our estimate. What cloud does to finding the way: navigating in cloud.
Not an observation: cloud lifts and drops within the hour.
Rain, and the becks
Past the line
12.1mm of rain over the whole day, midnight to midnight
The same figure as the summit line above and the 7-day forecast.
The line Our line: 6 mm in the day, where our scorer counts a day as soaking. We read rainfall, never river levels: becks in spate.
Open-Meteo’s forecast. It says nothing about rain already in the ground.
Also checkedcold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast. Under a line is not the same as fine: it means only that these figures are under the lines we use.
Not in these tiles Lightning, river levels, snow or ice already lying, and the ground under your feet. A tile cannot see them, so an empty space here never means they are absent.
Snow figures with a second opinion: Powered by Met Office data
Wainwrights are scored for walking conditions each morning from the Met Office’s UK forecast model, read for each summit through Open-Meteo; the forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
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.
Over Harrop Pike, Ancrow Brow North Top, Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow), Capplebarrow, Todd Fell and Whiteside Pike
Walked or planned
Walked in part; km 0.0–1.3, km 16.6–17.9 from the map
Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start
Hollow Moor (layby) (free)
Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited)
Bus to the start
Nearest stop 6.5 km on foot
Nearest stop 8.5 km on foot
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 →
Is Grey Crag hard to reach?
It is the effort of getting to it rather than the climbing that makes this one. Grey Crag sits on the eastern edge of the Far Eastern fells above Longsleddale, and both our routes over it are long: 17.7 km with 1043 m of ascent over the Kentmere Pike ridge, or 20.0 km and 660 m by way of Harrop Pike.
We grade the navigation on both hard. The top is gentle, but both routes climb or drop steeply on the Longsleddale side (about 40% at the steepest), and the rough, open, boggy ground with few paths and fewer landmarks is what makes it a serious walk in cloud.
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 508 at Troutbeck, opposite Limefitt Park, 6.5 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Notes from the Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts) route
Boggy ground: the Sleddale moors (Tarn Crag, Grey Crag and the Mosedale–Longsleddale pass) are peat-hagged and frequently very wet — expect bog and use the wall/fence lines as handrails.
Faint paths + serious navigation: trods are indistinct across Cocklaw Fell and the Sleddale plateau. Best saved for good visibility — avoid the Tarn Crag/Grey Crag moors in thick hill fog.
A long day: roughly 10–12 miles and over 3,000 ft of ascent — be self-reliant.
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.
Navigating in cloud
Severe
Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of near-level ground around the summit. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.
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 Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell) compares with all 214: the Clag Index (experimental).
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.
Warnings: The Bannisdale watershed section holds a 2 km+ pathless stretch of tussock and peat hag — featureless in mist and slow in any weather. The plotted line there is a bearing, not a path.
Download GPXWalked in part, May 2026 · km 0.0–1.3, km 16.6–17.9 from the map
Warnings: Boggy ground: the Sleddale moors (Tarn Crag, Grey Crag and the Mosedale–Longsleddale pass) are peat-hagged and frequently very wet — expect bog and use the wall/fence lines as handrails. Faint paths + serious navigation: trods are indistinct across Cocklaw Fell and the Sleddale plateau. Best saved for good visibility — avoid the Tarn Crag/Grey Crag moors in thick hill fog. A long day: roughly 10–12 miles and over 3,000 ft of ascent — be self-reliant.
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 →
The view from Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
The 360° skyline from Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
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.
drag to pan · arrow keys
The skyline as a list, by direction
North: Branstree NE Top (3 km), Selside Pike (4 km)
North-east: Harrop Pike (1 km), Cross Fell (33 km)
East: Great Yarlside (3 km)
South-east: Whernside (35 km), Ingleborough (41 km)
South: Ward's Stone (49 km)
South-west: The Old Man of Coniston (24 km), Brown Pike (26 km), White Maiden (27 km), Stoneside Hill (39 km), Stoupdale Head (40 km), Black Combe (42 km), Black Combe South Top (42 km)
West: Goat Scar (2 km), Kentmere Pike (3 km), Yoke (6 km), Ill Bell (6 km), Wetherlam (22 km), Black Sails (22 km), Swirl How (23 km), Little Carrs (23 km), Great Carrs (24 km), Great How (24 km), Brim Fell (24 km), Bowfell (25 km), Esk Pike (26 km), Great End (27 km), Ill Crag (27 km), Border End (27 km), Broad Crag (28 km), Scafell Pike (28 km), Scafell (29 km)
North-west: Tarn Crag (1 km), Branstree (3 km), Harter Fell (4 km), Kidsty Pike (7 km), Rampsgill Head (8 km), High Raise (8 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Carnedd Llewelyn (164 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (195 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (172 km, Wales), Arenig Fawr (183 km, Wales), Pendle Hill (73 km, England), Moel y Gamelin (164 km, Wales), Cadair Berwyn (180 km, Wales), Boulsworth Hill (84 km, England).
Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell) sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at midsummer) first light is only 1 minute after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
Midsummer. The filled shape is the skyline as seen from the summit; the line is the sun’s path. Where they meet is first light — everything left of that point is the wait.
Times for 2026, in Lakeland clock time (GMT in winter, BST in summer) — and model outputs rather than observations.
First light
Almanac sunrise
Difference
Midsummer
04:37 BST ±5.0 min
04:36
+1 min
Equinox
06:12 GMT ±5.0 min
06:14
-2 min
Midwinter
08:29 GMT ±5.0 min
08:31
-2 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.17°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (on 1 August) last light is only 17 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell).
The evening of the same three days. A negative difference means a ridge takes the sun before the valley loses it.
Last light
Almanac sunset
Difference
Midsummer
21:41 BST ±5.0 min
21:51
-10 min
Equinox
18:22 GMT ±5.0 min
18:25
-3 min
Midwinter
15:55 GMT ±5.0 min
15:48
+7 min
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 Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
9Wainwrights in view+19 marginal
161 kmFurthest sightlineCarnedd Llewelyn · possible under favourable refraction
2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Morecambe Bay
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
How the view from Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell) compares with all 214 — the View Report: every Wainwright ranked by what you can see from the top.
How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed
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 Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell). 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.
Sightlines from the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, which is a surface model: each 30 m cell holds the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included, rather than bare ground. 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.
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).
Frequently asked questions about Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell)
