Hopegill Head
Hopegill Head at 770m (2,526ft) is a pointed, airy summit above the head of the Hobcarton valley, its steep sides giving it a dramatic profile from the Whinlatter direction.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 770 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 14° to 12°C, gusts to 38 mph, 4.8 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 770 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
About the walk
Hopegill Head
Routes up Hopegill Head
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Map & nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.
Nearest parking: Whinlatter Visitor Centre (paid), about 2.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Hopegill Head (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 Hopegill Head
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
✎️ The Whinlatter Pass road car park is small and tucked behind the trees — and the bus to Braithwaite makes this an easy car-free round, adding only a couple of hundred metres of road to reach the start.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
✎️ If you only do one round in the North Western Fells, this is it. Grasmoor is a bigger, wilder mountain than its modest reputation suggests, and the ridge from Whiteside over Gasgale Crags to Hopegill Head is as good as ridge walking gets outside the Langdales. Whiteless Pike at the end is a perfect little peak — and a punishing descent.
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.
The View from Hopegill Head
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 Hopegill Head, by direction
- North-east: Skiddaw South Top (10 km), Skiddaw Little Man (10 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (10 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (10 km), Skiddaw (10 km), Skiddaw North Top (10 km), Jenkin Hill (10 km), Broad End (11 km), Atkinson Pike (15 km)
- East: Knowe Crags (14 km), Gategill Fell Top (14 km), Blencathra (15 km), Watson's Dodd (15 km), Great Dodd (16 km), Stybarrow Dodd (16 km), White Side (16 km), Raise (16 km), Catstye Cam (17 km)
- South-east: Sail (2 km), Dale Head (8 km), Glaramara (13 km), Looking Steads (13 km), High Raise (16 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (17 km), Helvellyn (17 km), Nethermost Pike (18 km), High Crag (18 km), Dollywaggon Pike (18 km), Seat Sandal (19 km), Cofa Pike (20 km), Fairfield (20 km), Great Rigg (21 km)
- South: Crag Hill (2 km), Wandope (2 km), High Crag (8 km), Kirk Fell (12 km), Great Gable (12 km), Scafell Pike (15 km), Scafell (16 km)
- South-west: Grasmoor (2 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (179 km, Ireland), Merrick (99 km, Scotland), Broad Law (101 km, Scotland), Snaefell (86 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (96 km, Scotland), The Cheviot (122 km, England), Cairnsmore of Fleet (82 km, Scotland), Corserine (95 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.
What you can see from Hopegill Head
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
- Merrick Scotland
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Criffel Scotland
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
- Irish Sea open water
All 69 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Grisedale Pike, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Grasmoor, Sail, Wandope, Scar Crags, Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter), Causey Pike, Graystones (Graystones North Top), Lord's Seat, Low Fell, Broom Fell, Fellbarrow - Mosser Fell, Hindscarth, Ling Fell, Maiden Moor, Hen Comb, Sale Fell, Burnbank Fell, Dale Head, Gavel Fell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Blake Fell, High Crag (Buttermere), Great Borne, Ullock Pike, Long Side, Carl Side, Walla Crag, Skiddaw Little Man, Skiddaw, Bleaberry Fell, High Seat, Lonscale Fell, Kirk Fell, Crag Fell, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Grike, Glaramara, Binsey, Great Cockup, Clough Head, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Scafell Pike, Watson's Dodd, Great Dodd, Scafell, High Raise (High White Stones), Longlands Fell, Stybarrow Dodd, White Side, Raise, Brae Fell, Bowscale Fell, Helvellyn, Pike of Stickle, Catstye Cam, Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag, Nethermost Pike, Dollywaggon Pike, Seat Sandal, Fairfield, Great Rigg, Great Mell Fell, Heron Pike (Rydal), Little Mell Fell
How Hopegill Head’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.
Best parking to hike Hopegill Head
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. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.
Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Birketts around Grisedale Pike route:
On the Coledale Round route:
On the The Grasmoor round: Whiteside, Hopegill Head and Whiteless Pike 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.
Buses to Hopegill Head from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
My hikes over Hopegill Head (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- My knees didn't like that (opens in new tab) — 19.0 km · 1421 m ascent · 5h 33m moving · 16 May 2026
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Hazard & Incident Information for Hopegill Head
A shapely, rocky summit where three ridges meet at the head of the Coledale fells — and where the ground falls away suddenly into the huge vegetated precipice of Hobcarton Crag. The narrow approach ridges are airy, the junction is a navigation trap in cloud, and the abrupt north-east edge by the summit is genuinely dangerous if you stray onto it. Keswick Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.
- Hobcarton Crag (the north-east precipice): A large, steep, vegetated cliff drops away just beside the summit. Descending south-east you must keep clear of the big drop to your left, and in cloud or wind it is easy to drift toward an edge that gives almost no warning. Stay back from the rim and keep to the path.
- The narrow summit ridges: The arêtes leading to the small rocky top — including from Whiteside along Gasgale Crags — are narrow and exposed in places. Straightforward in good conditions for a steady walker, but unnerving in strong wind and treacherous when wet or iced.
- The three-way junction in cloud: Ridges to Whiteside, to Grisedale Pike (past Hobcarton) and down to Coledale Hause all meet here. In mist it is easy to set off down the wrong one — or toward the crag. Take a compass bearing before you leave the summit.
Most common causes: Walkers straying onto or over the Hobcarton Crag edge in poor visibility · Slips on the narrow, exposed approach ridges, especially when wet or windy · Navigation errors at the meeting of three ridges in cloud · Corniced edges and ice above Hobcarton in winter
Local Mountain Rescue: Keswick 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.
A note on Coledale Beck
Coledale Beck runs below the old Force Crag mine and carries mine-derived zinc — enough to matter for river life, though the lead and cadmium that would harm a person stay below the drinking limit here. Treat any hill water before drinking (a filter won’t remove dissolved metals); don’t single this beck out as a clean fill-up.
What’s actually in this beck — we mapped every mine-fed one →
Metal-mine water data © Environment Agency (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Navigating Hopegill Head in cloud
Care neededA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. Take care in poor visibility — 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 Hopegill Head compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.
Frequently asked questions about Hopegill Head
Is Hopegill Head hard to climb?
It's a moderate fell — a steady climb on good paths with no obligatory scrambling, but a proper mountain day rather than a stroll. Hopegill Head (770 m / 2,526 ft) sits at the junction of three ridges above Whinlatter, and its summit perches right at the top of the steep cliffs of Hobcarton Crag.
The walking is straightforward; the thing to respect is that sheer northern edge.
What is the best route up Hopegill Head?
A fine compact route is the Hobcarton round from Whinlatter, often combined with Grisedale Pike — about 6.2 miles (9.3 km) with roughly 765 m of ascent. The classic big day is the Coledale Round from Braithwaite, which takes in Hopegill Head among eight Wainwrights over about 10.6 miles.
Either way you climb to the summit on a path that stays safely back from the crag edge.
Sources: TGO Magazine — The Coledale Round route guide (opens in new tab)
How long does it take to climb Hopegill Head?
The Hobcarton round with Grisedale Pike (about 9.3 km, 765 m of ascent) takes around 4–5 hours. The full Coledale Round — roughly 17 km with 1,420 m of ascent over eight summits — is a long day of about 7 hours.
Sources: Live for the Outdoors — The Coledale Round (opens in new tab)
How dangerous is the edge at Hopegill Head?
The summit sits directly above Hobcarton Crag, a steep, near-vertical cliff falling away to the north — one of the most abrupt drops on any Wainwright top. The path runs close to but safely back from the edge, so the danger is only if you wander too near, especially in mist, wind or to take a photo.
Keep well back from the brink, take extra care in poor visibility, and keep children and dogs close at the top.
Sources: Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab)
Is Hopegill Head suitable for beginners?
A fit beginner can manage it on a clear day — the paths are good and there's no scrambling required on the normal route. The key thing is the sheer crag edge at the summit and the junction of ridges, which can be confusing in cloud, tempting you down the wrong one toward steep ground.
Go in good visibility, keep back from the Hobcarton Crag edge, and carry a map and compass to pick the right ridge off the top.
Sources: Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab)
Where do you park for Hopegill Head?
For the shorter Hobcarton round, park at Whinlatter (the Forestry England car parks on Whinlatter Pass, near Hobcarton plantation). For the Coledale Round, start from the village of Braithwaite near Keswick.
Both are popular, so arrive early on fine days; note Whinlatter forest car parks usually charge.
Sources: Wired for Adventure — Grisedale Pike and Hopegill Head (opens in new tab)
What should I wear and take up Hopegill Head?
Wear proper walking boots for the rough, stony ground, and carry warm and waterproof layers — the summit and ridges are exposed and windy. Bring a map and compass for choosing the right ridge off the top in cloud, plus water, food and a charged phone, and check the mountain forecast.
Keep well clear of the Hobcarton Crag edge, and treat the ridges as serious ground in strong wind or winter conditions.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-06-15 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Hopegill Head
- Ard Crags
- Barf
- Barrow
- Broom Fell
- Castle Crag
- Cat Bells (Catbells)
- Causey Pike
- Crag Hill (Eel Crag)
- Dale Head
- Grasmoor
- Graystones (Graystones North Top)
- Grisedale Pike
- High Spy
- Hindscarth
- Knott Rigg
- Ling Fell
- Lord's Seat
- Maiden Moor
- Outerside
- Rannerdale Knotts
- Robinson
- Sail
- Sale Fell
- Scar Crags
- Wandope
- Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)
Maps & guidebooks for Hopegill Head
- Buy on Amazon (opens in new tab)
- Buy on Amazon (opens in new tab)
- Buy on Amazon (opens in new tab)
- Buy on Amazon (opens in new tab)
- Buy on Amazon (opens in new tab)
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you. How affiliate links work →