653 mWainwright — Southern Fells+8 bonus Birketts within 3 km
Harter Fell at 653m (2,143ft) is a shapely, rocky summit between upper Eskdale and the Duddon valley, quite distinct in character from the Mardale fell of the same name. Its steep, craggy flanks look up Eskdale to the Scafell group.
Summit conditions on Harter Fell (Eskdale)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 55 mph, 4.8 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
56mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 47 mph times our exposure factor of 1.2. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 55 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.
Also checkedcold: feels like 1 °C, no ice or snow forecast; cloud: a clear-top reading of 21 out of 100, over our in-cloud line of 20; rain: 4.8 mm in the day, under our 6 mm line. 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 →
14.68 km · ~961 m ascent · ~4½–6¼ h · loop · 3 summits
Hard effortSevere: steepness
Park: Goat Crag (layby) (free)
A rugged Eskdale round over three characterful tops — Green Crag, Harter Fell and Hard Knott — through some of the wildest country in the Lakes, with the Scafells filling the skyline.
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 Harter Fell (Eskdale)?
The shortest way up we hold is Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott) — 14.68 km, 961 m of ascent, ~4½–6¼ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · length: Hard · terrain: Hard · navigation: Moderate · exposure: Moderate.
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 653 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Goat Crag (layby) — at the start of Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 25 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).
Birks Bridge (FE) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Forestry England's car park at Birks Bridge, beside the River Duddon in the forest above Seathwaite. The nearest route start is the Goat Crag lay-by at the foot of Hardknott Pass ('Alternative Hardknott Round'), about 4.7 km on foot. Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged). Donation (OSM-tagged).
Goat Crag, south-east (layby) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 204 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
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 516 at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, 10.9 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)
The ground north of Green Crag is boggy — wet, tussocky and slow, and worse after rain. Pick a dry spell and expect to lose time here.
Rough, rocky and only lightly pathed — navigation needs care in poor visibility. Carry map and compass.
A long, remote round (nearly 15 km, 950 m of ascent) with little quick escape; start early and carry food, water and layers.
Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
If you need to get off (the leg from Green Crag): The map shows no usable way off between Green Crag and Harter Fell: the mapped ways down pass mapped crag or ground steeper than 35 degrees, and the public bridleway east-south-east from about 6 km crosses the River Duddon on stepping stones. So the way off is back over Green Crag the way you came, or on over Harter Fell and down to the Hardknott Pass road at about 10.1 km, up to about 4.9 km either way; not walked for this guide.
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 Harter Fell (Eskdale).
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
Not graded by the model
Our terrain model finds nothing to grade on this summit, so it gives no cloud grade here — that is not a sign of easy navigation. Read this fell’s hazard notes and the route pages before a day in cloud. Carry map and compass, and know how to use them.
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 Harter Fell (Eskdale) 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.
Three wild, quiet Eskdale tops linked into a big round — boggy in stretches (notably north of Green Crag) and rocky underfoot; a dry, clear day makes all the difference.
Best season: Late spring to autumn, in dry weather. The ground north of Green Crag is notably boggy and much slower when wet.
Warnings: The ground north of Green Crag is boggy — wet, tussocky and slow, and worse after rain. Pick a dry spell and expect to lose time here. Rough, rocky and only lightly pathed — navigation needs care in poor visibility. Carry map and compass. A long, remote round (nearly 15 km, 950 m of ascent) with little quick escape; start early and carry food, water and layers. Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.
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.
About Harter Fell (Eskdale)
Photo: Andy Beecroft, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The summit is a cluster of bare rock outcrops with a trig point among them, and our route reaches it from the foot of Hardknott Pass on the Eskdale side. Combined naturally with Hardknott and Green Crag for a satisfying Eskdale circuit. The views west to the sea and the Duddon estuary are a distinctive bonus.
Classifications & hill data
Is Harter Fell (Eskdale) a Wainwright?
Harter Fell (Eskdale) is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list, the Marilyn list and the Hewitt list.
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 Harter Fell (Eskdale)
The 360° skyline from Harter Fell (Eskdale)
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: Scafell (7 km), Bowfell (7 km), Scafell Pike (8 km), Ill Crag (8 km), Broad Crag (8 km), Esk Pike (8 km), Great End (9 km), Pillar (13 km), High Crag (15 km), High Stile (16 km), High Stile (16 km)
North-east: Stonesty Pike (5 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Great Rigg (17 km), Fairfield (18 km), Dollywaggon Pike (18 km), Hart Crag (19 km), Dove Crag (19 km), Red Screes (20 km), St Sunday Crag (20 km), Caudale Moor (22 km), Thornthwaite Crag (24 km), High Street (25 km), Mardale Ill Bell (25 km), Rampsgill Head (26 km), Kidsty Pike (26 km), High Raise (27 km)
East: Grey Friar (4 km), Brim Fell (5 km), Great Carrs (5 km), Great How (6 km), The Old Man of Coniston (6 km), Harter Fell (26 km)
South-east: Buck Pike (5 km)
North-west: Red Pike (12 km), Scoat Fell (13 km), Black Crag (13 km), Haycock (13 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (158 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (146 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (181 km, Wales), Snaefell (83 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (154 km, Wales), Cairnsmore of Fleet (98 km, Scotland), Arenig Fawr (167 km, Wales), South Barrule (99 km, Isle of Man).
Harter Fell (Eskdale) sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 March) first light is only 11 minutes 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
04:40 BST ±5.0 min
04:38
+2 min
Equinox
06:22 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
+6 min
Midwinter
08:29 GMT ±5.0 min
08:33
-4 min
The northern horizon stands at about 1.06° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Harter Fell (Eskdale)
Harter Fell (Eskdale) holds the light. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does the sun leave this summit before almanac sunset — the ground falls away westward rather than standing over you, and at midsummer it is still in the sun 3 minutes after the valley has lost it.
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
21:55 BST ±5.0 min
21:52
+3 min
Equinox
18:32 GMT ±5.0 min
18:27
+5 min
Midwinter
15:58 GMT ±5.0 min
15:50
+8 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 Harter Fell (Eskdale)
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
52Wainwrights in view+2 marginal
158 kmFurthest sightlineSnowdon (Yr Wyddfa) · possible under favourable refraction
2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Morecambe Bay
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales and the Isle of Man.
How the view from Harter Fell (Eskdale) 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 Harter Fell (Eskdale). 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
We have not verified an independent place near this fell — these are the chains and charities that serve it.
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).
