High Raise (High White Stones)
High Raise at 762m (2,500ft) is the central summit of the Lake District — literally and figuratively.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 762 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 26 mph, 2.4 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 762 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
High Raise (High White Stones) at a glance
High Raise (High White Stones)
Field notes
Strangely High Raise is one of my favourite summits. I know the surrounding area to the north, east and south is relatively flat and featureless, but it's a great place to stop on a sunny day to grab a bite to eat and enjoy the views. That's what it's about - getting some peace and quite and contemplating the world. There's just enough of a cairn and incline to find a spot out of the wind should you need and you can build it into any route that may invole Ullock Pike, Sergeant Man or Thunacot Knott.Routes up High Raise (High White Stones)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is High Raise (High White Stones) a Wainwright?
High Raise (High White Stones) is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list and the Marilyn list.
Where do you park for High Raise (High White Stones)?
We hold no car park within 2.5 km of the summit, so there is no short walk-in to recommend here. 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 High Raise (High White Stones)?
The shortest way up we hold is Langdale Pikes Round — 12.3 km, 830 m of ascent, about 3.9 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Moderate · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over High Raise (High White Stones) (Strava)
2 logged hikes pass over this summit:
- Sunrise Summit Stroll with Chris (opens in new tab) — 17.6 km · 850 m ascent · 4h 59m moving · 23 Mar 2025
- 8 Wainwrights today - had some catching up to do! (opens in new tab) — 14.5 km · 1013 m ascent · 4h 23m moving · 1 Jun 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for High Raise (High White Stones)
Best parking to hike High Raise (High White Stones)
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.
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 High Raise (High White Stones) by bus
The 516 stops at New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at), 140 m from the start of Langdale Pikes Round — a route we rate Moderate. Last bus: Monday to Friday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516); Saturday 22:33 towards Kendal (516) and 21:13 towards Ambleside (516); Sunday 20:13 towards Kendal (516) and 18:13 towards Ambleside (516). 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 High Raise (High White Stones)
Hazard & Incident Information for High Raise (High White Stones)
The highest of the Central Fells and the hub of the District's central watershed — a broad, smooth, grassy plateau where many paths meet. There are no real crags at the top, so the hazard here is almost entirely navigational: in cloud the vast featureless plateau is one of the easiest places in the Lakes to walk off on the wrong bearing, and it is a long way down to any valley in every direction. Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.
- The featureless summit plateau in cloud: A wide grassy dome with few landmarks beyond the summit cairn/windshelter and a ruined fence. Several paths radiate from here (to the Langdale Pikes, Sergeant Man, Greenup Edge, Borrowdale). In mist it is very easy to leave on the wrong line — take and trust a compass bearing before you move.
- Greenup Edge / the boggy cols: The connecting cols, especially Greenup Edge, are boggy and confusing in cloud and have caught out many walkers (including on the Coast to Coast). Navigate carefully through the path junctions rather than following the lie of the land.
- Remoteness, exposure and steep margins: It is a long descent to any valley, with no shelter but the summit windbreak, and the plateau breaks into steeper ground toward the Langdale Pikes and the valley heads if you drift off it. Carry full kit and allow time; don't rely on finding shelter up high.
Most common causes: Navigation errors off the broad featureless plateau in cloud · Walkers getting lost at Greenup Edge and the boggy cols · Drifting onto steeper ground at the plateau margins · Exposure and long walk-outs in bad weather
Local Mountain Rescue: Langdale Ambleside 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.
Navigating High Raise (High White Stones) in cloud
SevereA broad, gently-sloping top with little to steer by — easy to lose your bearings and hard to relocate in mist. 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.
What catches people out: The centre of the Central Fells plateau — big, gentle, and identical in every direction, with the Langdale edges a long way from obvious.
The line to take: Greenup Edge and the Sergeant Man line are the handrails; in cloud navigate plateau-edge to plateau-edge, not summit to summit.
First-hand knowledge of this top, written by Lee. It adds to the computed grade above — it never changes it, and its absence on another fell means only that it has not been written yet.
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 High Raise (High White Stones) 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: New Dungeon Ghyll (LDNPA, paid), about 3.5 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near High Raise (High White Stones) (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 High Raise (High White Stones)
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 High Raise (High White Stones)
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Langdale Pikes Round route:
💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from High Raise (High White Stones)
The 360° skyline from High Raise (High White Stones)
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 High Raise (High White Stones), by direction
- North: Knowe Crags (18 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (18 km), Gategill Fell Top (18 km), Skiddaw Little Man (18 km), Blencathra (19 km), Skiddaw South Top (19 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (19 km), Skiddaw (20 km), Skiddaw North Top (20 km)
- North-east: Dollywaggon Pike (7 km), High Crag (8 km), Nethermost Pike (8 km), Helvellyn (8 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (8 km), White Side (9 km), St Sunday Crag (10 km), Raise (10 km), Stybarrow Dodd (11 km), Great Dodd (13 km)
- East: Fairfield (8 km), Hart Crag (9 km), High Street (16 km)
- South-west: Esk Pike (5 km), Pike de Bield (5 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km), Crinkle Crags (6 km)
- West: Great End (6 km), Ill Crag (6 km), Broad Crag (6 km), Scafell Pike (7 km), Great Gable (7 km), Scafell (8 km), Pillar (11 km), Black Crag (12 km), Scoat Fell (12 km), Steeple (12 km)
- North-west: High Stile (12 km), High Stile (12 km), Crag Hill (14 km), Grasmoor (15 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (169 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (157 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (165 km, Wales), Cairnsmore of Fleet (97 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (108 km, Scotland), Tinto (129 km, Scotland), Slieve Croob (186 km, Ireland), Green Lowther (109 km, Scotland).
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 High Raise (High White Stones)
High Raise (High White Stones) sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at midsummer) first light is only 13 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:50 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +13 min |
| Equinox | 06:15 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:15 | — |
| Midwinter | 08:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:33 | -6 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.13°).
Last light — when the sun leaves High Raise (High White Stones)
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (on 1 December) last light is only 13 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on High Raise (High White Stones).
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:52 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | — |
| Equinox | 18:29 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | +3 min |
| Midwinter | 15:41 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | -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 High Raise (High White Stones). 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 High Raise (High White Stones)
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 81 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Thunacar Knott, Sergeant's Crag, Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle, Eagle Crag, Ullscarf, Glaramara, Rossett Pike, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Allen Crags, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Pike of Blisco, Great End, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Cold Pike, Seat Sandal, Green Gable, Stone Arthur, Scafell Pike, Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Great Gable, Grey Knotts, High Tove, Brandreth, Castle Crag, Heron Pike (Rydal), Nab Scar, Scafell, Dale Head, High Spy, High Seat, Great Carrs, Fleetwith Pike, Grey Friar, High Pike (Scandale), Hindscarth, Bleaberry Fell, Robinson, High Crag (Buttermere), Cat Bells (Catbells), Pillar, Dow Crag, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), High Stile, Ard Crags, Causey Pike, Baystones (Wansfell), Scar Crags, Barrow, Sail, Wandope, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Clough Head, Seatallan, Grasmoor, Grisedale Pike, Ill Bell, Hopegill Head, Yoke, Sour Howes, Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top), Sallows, Hen Comb, Lonscale Fell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Skiddaw Little Man, Barf, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Carl Side, Lord's Seat, Long Side, Broom Fell, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw, Blake Fell, Bannerdale Crags, Great Calva, Knott, Binsey
How High Raise (High White Stones)’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 Great Langdale: 3 places in Grasmere
Other fells near High Raise (High White Stones)
- Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top)
- Blea Rigg
- Bleaberry Fell
- Calf Crag
- Eagle Crag
- Gibson Knott
- Grange Fell (Brund Fell)
- Great Crag (Stonethwaite)
- Harrison Stickle
- Helm Crag
- High Rigg (Naddle Fell)
- High Seat
- High Tove
- Loft Crag
- Loughrigg Fell
- Pavey Ark
- Pike of Stickle
- Raven Crag
- Sergeant Man
- Sergeant's Crag
- Silver How
- Steel Fell (Dead Pike)
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)
- Thunacar Knott
- Ullscarf
- Walla Crag