Rossett Pike at 651m (2,136ft) guards the head of Mickleden in Great Langdale, a rocky summit above the well-worn path to Esk Hause and Scafell Pike.
Summit conditions on Rossett Pike
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 5°C, gusts to 68 mph, 11.1 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
68mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour
The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 58 mph times our exposure factor of 1.17. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 68 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
9out 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
11.1mm 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 →
Choose the way up before the car park: these two routes start from two places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
Easy scramble: Pike of Stickle's summit rocks (km 5.1–5.2). A short, awkward rock step that turns a walk into a scramble and regularly stops people dead.
Hands for a few steps: the boulders up Great End and the slabs up Bowfell (km 7.6–9.4 and km 11.3–12.8). The path largely breaks up into boulders and shattered scree, and the climb is a rough, high-stepping scramble through the rocks to the broad, surprisingly flat summit plateau.
Exposure
Hard
Not assessed
Navigation
Hard
Moderate
Steepest stretch
Descent of about 40% at 17.9 km (Severe)
Descent of about 34% at 16.1 km (Hard)
After the summit
Over Bowfell, Shelter Crags, Crinkle Crags - Gunson Knott (Fifth Crinkle), Crinkle Crags - Fourth Crinkle, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Crinkle Crags South Top (First Crinkle), Cold Pike and Pike of Blisco
Over Allen Crags, Great End, Esk Pike and Bowfell
Walked or planned
Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Planned: drawn, not yet walked
Car park at the start
Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid)
Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid)
Bus to the start
516 at the start
516 at the start
Times run from fast to steady pace (Naismith’s rule). Scrambling quotes each route’s own notes; “not mentioned” means they do not say, not that the ground has none. Each route’s page has its map, stages and GPX.
Distance, climb and the steepest stretch are measured from each route’s GPX track; the other grades are set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap, and each route page says which. How we check →
Is Rossett Pike hard?
The fell itself is a few minutes' detour from the top of the pass. The work is Rossett Gill, the long steep pull out of Mickleden that gets you there, and that is what people remember.
Our route over it is 17.7 km with 1176 m of ascent, continuing over Allen Crags and Great End; the Langdale Horseshoe takes it in over 20.9 km and 1770 m, which we rate Severe. Either way this is a long day in which Rossett Pike is the cheapest summit of the lot.
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.
If it is full: Stickle Ghyll (NT, paid) (1.0 km, 24 m up); Great Langdale, valley road verge (free) (0.8 km)a few spaces only; Side Pike (verge) (0.8 km)a few spaces only
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 Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, a 210 m walk from the start of Rossett Pike, Allen Crags, Great End and more — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance and steepness). Last bus: Monday to Thursday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516); Friday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Saturday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Sunday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516). 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 Black Crags): Retreat 800m to Stake Pass and descend into Mickleden.
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 Rossett Pike.
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
Care needed
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. 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 Rossett Pike 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.
Warnings: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. Esk Hause (and the ‘false’ Esk Hause close by, which walkers often take for it) is a notorious place to go wrong: several paths meet and in cloud it is easy to set off toward the wrong valley — Langstrath, Grains Gill, Langdale or back to Sty Head. Know exactly which path you want and take a compass bearing before committing. Esk Hause is a major crossroads where paths to Wasdale, Great Langdale, Eskdale and Borrowdale all converge. In cloud it is one of the most frequently misnavigated points in the fells; walkers have descended the wrong valley believing they were coming off Scafell Pike. Always identify the correct path by compass bearing before descending.
From the hazard notes for 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: Shanesykes, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wainwright described it as a fine viewpoint giving an excellent prospect of the whole upper Langdale cirque — Bowfell, the Langdale Pikes and the long ridge to Crinkle Crags all visible from its summit. From the head of Mickleden the way up is Rossett Gill, a long, steep pull; the summit is a few minutes' detour from the top of the pass. Most walkers pass it by on the way to Esk Hause, but those who pause are rewarded with a close view of the Bowfell buttresses.
Classifications & hill data
Is Rossett Pike a Wainwright?
Rossett Pike is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger 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 Rossett Pike
The 360° skyline from Rossett Pike
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: Looking Steads (3 km), Glaramara (3 km), Lonscale Fell (20 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (20 km), Lonscale Pike (20 km), Skiddaw Little Man (20 km), Knowe Crags (20 km), Gategill Fell Top (21 km), Blencathra (22 km), Doddick Fell (22 km), Scales Fell (22 km), Bannerdale Crags (23 km), Coomb Height (26 km), Hare Stones (28 km), High Pike (28 km)
North-east: High Raise (4 km), Low White Stones (4 km), Ullscarf (6 km), Nethermost Pike (12 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (12 km), Helvellyn (12 km), White Side (13 km), Raise (14 km), Stybarrow Dodd (15 km), Little Dodd (16 km), Calfhow Pike (16 km), Great Dodd (16 km), Clough Head (17 km)
East: Thunacar Knott (3 km), Harrison Stickle (3 km), Codale Head (4 km), Hart Crag (12 km)
South-east: Wetherlam (8 km), Black Sails (8 km)
South: Bowfell (1 km), Great Carrs (7 km), Swirl How (7 km), Brim Fell (9 km)
North-west: Crag Hill (14 km), Grasmoor (15 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Sighty Crag (81 km, England), Great Whernside (82 km, England), Buckden Pike (77 km, England).
Rossett Pike sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 August) first light is only 15 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
04:51 BST ±5.0 min
04:37
+14 min
Equinox
06:23 GMT ±5.0 min
06:16
+7 min
Midwinter
08:28 GMT ±5.0 min
08:33
-5 min
The northern horizon stands at about 0.96° from here.
Last light — when the sun leaves Rossett Pike
Rossett Pike loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 January, when last light is 144 minutes before almanac sunset — 13:35 against 15:59. The sun goes down to the south-south-west from here (198.4°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 11.23°.
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
21:09 BST ±5.0 min
21:52
-43 min
Equinox
17:18 GMT ±5.0 min
18:27
-69 min
Midwinter
13:27 GMT ±10.8 min
15:50
-143 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 Rossett Pike
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
How the view from Rossett Pike 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 Rossett Pike. 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.
