Hart Crag

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited April 2023

Home › Fells › Hart Crag

823 mWainwright — Eastern Fells+4 bonus Birketts within 3 km Severe in cloud

Hart Crag at 823m (2,700ft) is the rocky summit at the northern end of the Fairfield ridge above Dovedale, giving excellent views down the crag-girt hollow of Dovedale to Hartsop and Brothers Water below.

Summit conditions on Hart Crag

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 59 mph, 13.7 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

68 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 53 mph times our exposure factor of 1.28. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 59 mph, before any exposure factor.

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

18 out 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

13.7 mm 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 checked cold: 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

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Hart Crag

Choose the way up before the car park: these three routes start from three places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.

Compared	Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag	Fairfield Horseshoe	Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside
Starts from	Cow Bridge	Rydal (or Ambleside)	Ambleside
Distance and climb	11.87 km, 837 m of climb	16.92 km, 1,009 m of climb	22.39 km, 1,425 m of climb
Time, fast to steady	~3¾–5¼ h	~5–6¾ h	~6¾–9¼ h
Scrambling	Hands for a few steps: the last push onto Hart Crag (about km 4.5).	Hands for a few steps: High Pike and Low Pike, and a short down-climb by Sweden Crag above Low Sweden Bridge (km 9.4–12.2 and km 13.1–13.5). A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.	Hands for a few steps: rocky steps between Dove Crag and Hart Crag (km 10.0–11.4).
Exposure	Moderate	Hard	Hard
Navigation	Moderate	Hard	Hard
Steepest stretch	Descent of about 41% at 9.3 km (Severe)	Climb of about 30% at 1.3 km (Hard)	Descent of about 28% at 18.6 km (Hard)
After the summit	Over Dove Crag, Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top) and High Hartsop Dodd	Over Dove Crag, High Pike (Scandale) and Low Pike	Over Fairfield, Great Rigg, Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell), Heron Pike (Rydal) and Nab Scar
Walked or planned	Walked by Lee, July 2025	Walked by Lee, April 2023	Walked by Lee, April 2023
Car park at the start	Cow Bridge, Hartsop (paid)	Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid)	Ambleside, Lake Road (paid)
Bus to the start	508 at the start	555, 2.3 km walk from Rydal, at White Moss Common	555, 340 m walk from Ambleside, at Hayes Garden Centre

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 Hart Crag hard?

Rough and rocky near the top rather than technically hard. Hart Crag sits between Fairfield and Dove Crag on the high eastern skyline. From Hartsop, the last push up the Hartsop Above How ridge is loose and rocky, with simple steps where you may need your hands for balance; from Fairfield the path drops stonily to a narrow hause and climbs again.

Our shortest round over it is the Hartsop fells, 11.9 km with 837 m of ascent, with steepness graded severe. Taken as part of the Fairfield Horseshoe it is 16.9 km and 1009 m, which we rate Hard.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 823 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

10° / 4°

59 mph

13.7 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

7° / 4°

43 mph

17.2 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

7° / 5°

27 mph

2.0 mm (75%)

Fri 30 Oct

6° / 4°

24 mph

0.9 mm (8%)

Sat 31 Oct

5° / 2°

7 mph

1.2 mm (6%)

Sun 1 Nov

6° / 2°

15 mph

0.3 mm (2%)

Mon 2 Nov

4° / -3°

6 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

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)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Hart Crag

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Cow Bridge, Hartsop (paid) — at the start of Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag

Paid car park by Brothers Water — Hartsop above How, Dovedale, Caudale Moor. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37323 (LDNPA, checked August 2026).

Directions When people arrive, and what it costs →Something changed here?

Pelter Bridge, Rydal (paid) — at the start of Fairfield Horseshoe

For Loughrigg and the Rydal side of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37305 (LDNPA, checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

If it is full: White Moss, Lower (paid) (2.4 km, 124 m up); Ambleside, Rydal Road (paid) (1.7 km); White Moss Common, Upper (paid) (2.3 km, 121 m up)

The Old School Room Tea Shop, Rydal Hall (~445 m straight line) — Free The Tea Room The Old School Room Tea Shop Badger Bar & Restaurant

Ambleside, Lake Road (paid) — 0.2 km from the start of Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside (straight line)

South end of town towards Waterhead. Fees: pay and display (Lake District National Park car-parks directory, checked August 2026). 1h £2.60; 2h £4.40; 3h £5.80; 4h £7.40; 6h £8.80; all day £10.60. Early Bird: £1.40 all day if you arrive before 09:00. Motorcycles free. Blue Badge: +1h free. Cash/card/contactless; PayByPhone 9908. 3/7-day passes and permits accepted (W&F council, checked August 2026). Charges apply 08:00-20:00, 7 days a week incl. bank holidays. The council's own page is contradictory about access outside those hours - it says both open all day and open from 8am to 8pm - so do not count on getting in before 08:00 (W&F council, checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

5 more places to park near Hart Crag

Windy Corner (layby) — 3.4 km from summit (straight line)

On the A592 at Windy Corner, beside the Windy Corner bus stops. The nearest route starts are 'Finishing of the Far Eastern Fells', 2.1 km north on foot at Hartsop, and the two at Cow Bridge, 2.3 km north on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

A592 south of Windy Corner (car park) — 3.4 km from summit (straight line)

South of Windy Corner on the Kirkstone Pass side, about 480 m south of the Windy Corner bus stops. The nearest route starts are 'Finishing of the Far Eastern Fells', 2.6 km north on foot at Hartsop, and the two at Cow Bridge, 2.9 km north on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Caudale Bridge (layby) — 3.4 km from summit (straight line)

On the A592 south of Brothers Water, near Caudale Bridge and about 290 m from the Brotherswater Inn bus stops. The nearest route starts are 'Finishing of the Far Eastern Fells', 1.8 km north on foot at Hartsop, and the two at Cow Bridge, 2.0 km north on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Helm Crag (layby) — 3.7 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Helm Crag (0.9 km), Stone Arthur (1.3 km), Gibson Knott (1.9 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Middle Dodd, north-east car park (free) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Middle Dodd (0.7 km), Caudale Moor - John Bell's Banner (1.0 km), Red Screes (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Cow Bridge from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 34% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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 508 and 509 stop at Hartsop, opposite Cow Bridge, a 30 m walk from the start of Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). The last bus is 19:51 towards Windermere (508) and 15:14 towards Hartsop (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”

Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)

Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)

The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

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 Hart Crag

Notes from the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route

If you need to get off (the leg from Hartsop Above How): Turn around and descend the Hartsop Above How ridge.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Hart 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.

Navigating in cloud

Severe

Of the three things our terrain model measures, the highest reading here is the amount of steep ground within half a kilometre of 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 Hart Crag 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.

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

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Hart Crag

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

1.2 km NWCofa Pike823 m · Eastern

2.2 km NNEGavel Pike784 m · Eastern

2.7 km ENEGale Crag512 m · Eastern

2.8 km SSWHeron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)621 m · Eastern

Routes over Hart Crag

Fairfield Horseshoe

Summits: Nab Scar Heron Pike (Rydal)Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Great Rigg FairfieldHart CragDove Crag High Pike (Scandale)Low Pike

Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023

Best season: Any season in good conditions; save the broad, featureless summit for a clear day.

Warnings: Fairfield's broad summit plateau is confusing in cloud — carry a map and compass and take a bearing before descending. A little easy scrambling in places, but nothing obligatory.

Route guide: Fairfield Horseshoe →

Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag

Summits: Gale Crag Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How)Hart CragDove Crag Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top)High Hartsop Dodd

Download GPX Walked by Lee, July 2025

Route guide: Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag →

Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside

Summits: Red Screes Dove CragHart CragFairfield Great Rigg Heron Pike North Top (Rydal Fell)Heron Pike (Rydal)Nab Scar

Download GPX Walked by Lee, April 2023

Warnings: Red Screes: The summit plateau drops away into steep, loose scree and crags on more than one side. A simple slip near the edge — especially in wind, cloud or with tired legs on descent — can turn into a long, uncontrolled fall over broken ground. Keep back from the rim and don't shortcut down the screes. Fairfield: Featureless and flat, with steep ground on three sides; in mist it is very easy to walk off on the wrong bearing. A compass and the discipline to trust it are essential — don't rely on cairns.

From the hazard notes for Red Screes · Fairfield, each with its sources.

Route guide: Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside →

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 Hart Crag

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Fairfield Horseshoe route:

Church for Rydal Mount (146 m from the start, straight line) campsite (432 m from the start, straight line) Rydal Hall Youth Centre Bunkhouse (441 m from the start, straight line)

On the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route:

Cow Bridge (29 m from the start, straight line) Cow Bridge car park (33 m from the start, straight line) Road End (306 m from the start, straight line)

On the Long Hike to Fairfield from Ambleside route:

shelter (weather shelter, mapped, not checked; 6 m off the line) bus shelter (65 m off the line) bus shelter (77 m off the line) toilets (30 m off the line) toilets (108 m off the line) toilets (123 m off the line) Loughrigg Avenue (71 m from the start, straight line) Hayes Garden Centre (189 m from the start, straight line) Kelsick Road Stand 1 (256 m from the start, straight line) Ambleside Backpackers (19 m from the start, straight line)

About Hart Crag

Hart Crag, a Lake District fell — Photo: Shanesykes, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wainwright described the eastern face as impressively craggy; Scrubby Crag and Hutaple Crag lie to the north of the summit. The summit is reached most naturally as part of the Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside, or up the Hartsop Above How ridge from Brothers Water. Combined with Dove Crag for a fine circular route from Hartsop, exploring the east face of the Fairfield group.

Field notes

Most of the autobagging software gives me this peak. But to be honest, at the time I had no idea of anything of bagging, or its mechanics. I was just up there for the journey. The purists amongst you would have fair claim to say that I haven't. I'll just have to go up there again to enjoy the rocky peak and cobbled-together cairn.

— Lee McCoy, who walked it on 3 of our routes

My Strava hikes over Hart Crag

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Bit of a hike in the Lake District (opens in new tab) — 23.0 km · 1488 m ascent · 6h 13m moving · 3 April 2023

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Hart Crag a Wainwright?

Hart Crag is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list and the Hewitt list.

Selected lists

823 m

Height

2,700 ft

In feet

NY 3681 1126

Grid ref

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 Hart Crag

The 360° skyline from Hart 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.

drag to pan · arrow keys

The skyline as a list, by direction

North: Raise (7 km), Green Side (8 km), Stybarrow Dodd (8 km), Great Dodd (10 km), Gategill Fell Top (17 km), Atkinson Pike (18 km)
East: Thornthwaite Crag (6 km), High Street (7 km), Rampsgill Head (8 km), Kidsty Pike (8 km), High Raise (8 km)
South-west: Shelter Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (13 km), Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (14 km), Great Carrs (14 km), Swirl How (14 km), Brim Fell (16 km), The Old Man of Coniston (16 km)
West: Bowfell (13 km), Esk Pike (14 km), Great End (14 km), Ill Crag (15 km), Broad Crag (15 km), Green Gable (15 km), Great Gable (16 km), Scafell Pike (16 km), Scafell (17 km), Kirk Fell (17 km), Pillar (20 km), Pillar Rock (20 km), Black Crag (20 km), Red Pike (20 km), Scoat Fell (21 km)
North-west: High Crag (4 km), Nethermost Pike (4 km), Helvellyn (5 km), White Side (6 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (174 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (162 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (196 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (170 km, Wales), The Cheviot (122 km, England), Arenig Fawr (182 km, Wales), Yr Eifl (194 km, Wales), Craig Cwm Silyn (182 km, Wales).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Hart Crag

Hart Crag 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 5 minutes before almanac sunrise.

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	04:32 BST ±5.0 min	04:37	-5 min
Equinox	06:14 GMT ±5.0 min	06:15	-1 min
Midwinter	08:29 GMT ±5.0 min	08:32	-3 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.09°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Hart Crag

Hart Crag loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 May, when last light is 20 minutes before almanac sunset — 20:26 against 20:46. The sun goes down to the west-north-west from here (294.3°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.31°.

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	21:44 BST ±5.0 min	21:52	-8 min
Equinox	18:28 GMT ±5.0 min	18:26	+2 min
Midwinter	15:55 GMT ±5.0 min	15:49	+6 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 Hart Crag

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

80Wainwrights in view+18 marginal

174 kmFurthest sightlineSnowdon (Yr Wyddfa) · possible under favourable refraction

1Sea in viewMorecambe Bay

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.

Far horizons

Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) WalesSSW · 174 km clear
Carnedd Llewelyn WalesSSW · 159 km clear
Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesSE · 53 km clear
Whernside Yorkshire DalesSE · 47 km clear
Great Dun Fell North PenninesENE · 40 km clear
Cross Fell North PenninesNE · 39 km clear
Morecambe Bay bay/estuaryS · 37 km in view

All 80 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Fairfield, Great Rigg, Hartsop Above How (Gill Crag - Hartsop Above How), St Sunday Crag, Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top), High Hartsop Dodd, Heron Pike (Rydal), Birks, Middle Dodd, Nethermost Pike, Red Screes, Nab Scar, Hartsop Dodd, Arnison Crag, Helvellyn, Catstye Cam, Brock Crags (Wainwright), Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), Gray Crag, Silver How, Thornthwaite Crag, Loughrigg Fell, Raise, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Place Fell, Rest Dodd, The Knott (High Street), Froswick, High Street, Blea Rigg, Rampsgill Head, Ill Bell, The Nab, Stybarrow Dodd, Kidsty Pike, High Raise (High Street), Yoke, Hart Side, Sergeant Man, Beda Fell (Beda Head), Pavey Ark, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Harter Fell (Mardale), Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, Great Dodd, Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts), Black Fell, Pike of Stickle, Kentmere Pike, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Shipman Knotts, Holme Fell, Pike of Blisco, Glaramara, Wetherlam, Cold Pike, Bowfell, Arthur's Pike, Allen Crags, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Esk Pike, Little Mell Fell, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Great End, Green Gable, Great Gable, Scafell Pike, Brim Fell, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Scafell, Kirk Fell, Harter Fell (Eskdale), Red Pike (Wasdale), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Carrock Fell, Seatallan

How the view from Hart Crag 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 Hart Crag. 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.

Places to stay near this fell

From Rydal: 6 places in Ambleside · From Ambleside or Grasmere: 3 places

Frequently asked questions about Hart Crag

Is Hart Crag hard? Answered above.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Hart Crag

Summit conditions on Hart Crag

Wind on the top

Cloud on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Hart Crag

Is Hart Crag hard?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Hart Crag

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Hart Crag

Notes from the Hartsop Fells and Hart Crag route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Hart Crag

Routes over Hart Crag

On the hill: terrain and water on Hart Crag

Water & shelter on the way up

About Hart Crag

Field notes

My Strava hikes over Hart Crag

Classifications & hill data

Is Hart Crag a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Hart Crag

The 360° skyline from Hart Crag

Sunrise and sunset on Hart Crag

Last light — when the sun leaves Hart Crag

What you can see from Hart Crag

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Hart Crag

Other fells near Hart Crag