703 mWainwright — Southern Fells+13 bonus Birketts within 3 km Fewer traps in Clag
Pike of Blisco at 703m (2,306ft) is a shapely, rocky little summit above the head of Great Langdale, beloved by Wainwright for its excellent views and its distinctive, pointed profile when seen from the valley.
Summit conditions on Pike of Blisco
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 5°C, gusts to 64 mph, 8.7 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
72mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 57 mph times our exposure factor of 1.28. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 64 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
11out 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
8.7mm 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 0 °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 →
20.9 km · ~1770 m ascent · ~7–9½ h · loop · 15 summits
Severe effortSevere: distance and steepness
Park: Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) · Bus: 516 at the start
The full Langdale Horseshoe — fifteen tops and 1,770 m of ascent.
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 →
Is Pike o’ Blisco a hard walk?
Rocky and steep near the top, with a little easy hands-on work on some lines, but nothing sustained — it is a compact, characterful fell rather than a difficult one.
One caveat about our figures rather than the fell: the only route we have mapped over it is the Langdale Horseshoe, 20.9 km with 1770 m of ascent, which we rate Severe. That is a full day over many tops and is not how most people climb Pike o’ Blisco — the usual approach is a much shorter round from the Langdale valley, which we have not walked and measured yet.
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) — 0.1 km from the start of Langdale Horseshoe (straight line)
Walking base for Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Thorn Crag and Loft Crag — the 'Langdale Horseshoe' route starts 67 m away. Also serves 'Langdale Pikes Round'. Paid National Trust car park - the prices we used to show here came from an aggregator rather than the Trust, so we no longer publish a figure; check the machine on arrival, and members should bring their card (National Trust car-park list, checked August 2026). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged). Height barrier (community-reported). Direct start up Stickle Ghyll for the Langdale Pikes.
Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
Blake Rigg Little Langdale (verge, west) — 1.5 km from summit (straight line)
A verge on the Wrynose Pass road, 1.6 km west of Fell Foot at the head of Little Langdale (Lee's Street View pin). The 'Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell' route passes about 5 m away; it and 'Black Sails & Great How' start at the Wrynose Pass car park, 0.9 km away in a straight line (that car park sits too far from the mapped paths to measure a walk).
Wrynose Fell (layby) — 1.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Hell Gill Pike, Little Carrs, Great Carrs and Swirl How — the 'Black Sails & Great How' route starts 131 m away. Also serves 'Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell'. 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 516 stops at New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (opposite), a 290 m walk from the start of Langdale Horseshoe — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: distance and steepness). Return buses leave from New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, across the road. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Kendal (516): Tuesday to Thursday, Sunday 20:13; Friday and Saturday 22:33. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 23 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Stagecoach 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Langdale Horseshoe
The Bad Step (Crinkle Crags, Long Top). A short, awkward rock step that turns a walk into a scramble and regularly stops people dead. There is a bypass path round its west side, on your right as you come south off Long Top — use it if you are unsure.
Do not attempt Jack’s Rake on Pavey Ark unless you know what you are taking on. It is a graded scramble with real exposure, not a path. The walkers’ line goes round.
21 km, 1,660 m and fifteen tops. This is a full, committing day. Start early, and decide your turn-back time before you leave the car.
The Crinkles are the classic place to descend the wrong side in cloud. Know which valley you want before you are in it.
If you need to get off (the leg from Cold Pike): Retreat to Red Tarn and descend into Oxendale.
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 Pike of Blisco.
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
Fewer traps in cloud
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. This top is in the lowest of the index’s four bands, and a low band never means “safe”: 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 Pike of Blisco 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 Bad Step (Crinkle Crags, Long Top). A short, awkward rock step that turns a walk into a scramble and regularly stops people dead. There is a bypass path round its west side, on your right as you come south off Long Top — use it if you are unsure.Do not attempt Jack’s Rake on Pavey Ark unless you know what you are taking on. It is a graded scramble with real exposure, not a path. The walkers’ line goes round. 21 km, 1,660 m and fifteen tops. This is a full, committing day. Start early, and decide your turn-back time before you leave the car. The Crinkles are the classic place to descend the wrong side in cloud. Know which valley you want before you are in it. Bowfell: The rocky top has crags on several sides and the paths are not always obvious in mist; know your bearing for the descent before you set off. Loft Crag: The small abrupt summit stands right above Gimmer Crag, a sheer climbing buttress falling to Langdale. Keep well back from the southern edge near the top, especially in cloud or wind — and if scrambling on the south side, be aware climbers may be on the crag below.
From the hazard notes for Loft Crag · Bowfell, each with its sources.
Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is not proof the water is drinkable, so carry your own or use a supply you know is safe. Never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock upstream and leave you seriously ill. Use a treatment method suited to what might be in the water, and follow the device’s own instructions. Boiling and ordinary filters do not make water with dissolved metals or chemicals safe: where that is possible, choose another source.
Photo: The original uploader was StephenDawson at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
He regarded it as one of the most satisfying of the smaller southern fells — compact, interesting underfoot and wonderfully positioned above Red Tarn. The ascent from the Old Dungeon Ghyll via Oxendale is a classic short route, with the option of continuing to Crinkle Crags and Bowfell. The summit commands fine views of the Langdale Pikes opposite and down the full length of Great Langdale to the Windermere hills.
Classifications & hill data
Is Pike of Blisco a Wainwright?
Pike of Blisco 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 Pike of Blisco
The 360° skyline from Pike of Blisco
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: High Raise (5 km), Glaramara (7 km), Little Dodd (18 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (23 km), Skiddaw Little Man (24 km), Skiddaw South Top (24 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (25 km), Skiddaw (25 km), Skiddaw North Top (25 km)
North-east: Fairfield (12 km), Dollywaggon Pike (12 km), High Crag (12 km), Hart Crag (12 km), Dove Crag (12 km), Nethermost Pike (12 km), Helvellyn (13 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (13 km), St Sunday Crag (13 km), Raise (15 km), Stybarrow Dodd (16 km), Watson's Dodd (17 km), Great Dodd (18 km), Rampsgill Head (19 km), Kidsty Pike (20 km), High Raise (20 km)
East: Red Screes (13 km), Stony Cove Pike (16 km), High Street (18 km), Harter Fell (20 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (164 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (152 km, Wales), Moel Siabod (160 km, Wales), Tinto (134 km, Scotland), Yr Eifl (183 km, Wales), Craig Cwm Silyn (171 km, Wales), Pendle Hill (82 km, England), Gyrn Ddu (180 km, Wales).
Pike of Blisco sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 June) first light is only 8 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
04:42 BST ±5.0 min
04:38
+4 min
Equinox
06:13 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
-3 min
Midwinter
08:27 GMT ±5.0 min
08:32
-5 min
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.3°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Pike of Blisco
Pike of Blisco loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls at midsummer, when last light is 27 minutes before almanac sunset — 21:25 against 21:52. The sun goes down to the north-west from here (309.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.81°.
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
21:25 BST ±5.0 min
21:52
-27 min
Equinox
18:13 GMT ±5.0 min
18:26
-13 min
Midwinter
15:55 GMT ±5.0 min
15:50
+5 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 Pike of Blisco
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
82Wainwrights in view+9 marginal
164 kmFurthest sightlineSnowdon (Yr Wyddfa) · possible under favourable refraction
—Sea in viewnone from here
On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales.
How the view from Pike of Blisco 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 Pike of Blisco. 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.
