Red Pike (Buttermere)

Sunrise and sunset on Red Pike (Buttermere)

Red Pike (Buttermere) waits for the sun. Its longest wait of the modelled year falls at midwinter, when the sun is up for 26 minutes before it clears this skyline — first light 09:00 against an almanac sunrise of 08:34. You are standing in shadow while the valley below is already lit. The sun comes up to the south-east from here (137.1°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 2.41°.

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.12°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Red Pike (Buttermere)

Red Pike (Buttermere) 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 5 minutes after the valley has lost it.

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 Red Pike (Buttermere). 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.