Rossett Pike
The south top of Rossett Pike at 612m (2,008ft) is a rocky point on the ridge south of the main Rossett Pike summit, giving additional views down the Mickleden valley in Great Langdale.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 651 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 7°C, gusts to 50 mph, 52.4 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 651 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Rossett Pike at a glance
Rossett Pike
Routes up Rossett Pike
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Rossett Pike a Wainwright?
Rossett Pike is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Fellranger list.
Where do you park for Rossett Pike?
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.
Parking & buses for Rossett Pike
Best parking to hike Rossett Pike
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 Rossett Pike by bus
The 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel (at), 210 m from the start of Rossett Pike, Allen Crags, Great End and more. Return buses leave from New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, about 1 km down the valley road. 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 Rossett Pike
No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.
Navigating Rossett Pike 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 Rossett Pike 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: Old Dungeon Ghyll (NT, paid), about 4.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Rossett Pike (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 Rossett Pike
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
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 Rossett Pike
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Langdale Horseshoe route:
On the Rossett Pike, Allen Crags, Great End and more 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 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.
What you can see from Rossett Pike, 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).
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 Rossett Pike
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.
| 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°.
| 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 |
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. 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.- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
All 42 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Bowfell, Esk Pike, Allen Crags, Great End, Pike of Stickle, Glaramara, Loft Crag, Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, High Raise (High White Stones), Sergeant Man, Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Sergeant's Crag, Eagle Crag, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Ullscarf, Great Carrs, Swirl How, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Wetherlam, High Tove, Loughrigg Fell, Black Fell, High Seat, Helvellyn, Raven Crag, Bleaberry Fell, White Side, Raise, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Great Dodd, Clough Head, Sour Howes, Sallows, Lonscale Fell, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Bannerdale Crags, Souther Fell, High Pike (Caldbeck)
How Rossett Pike’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
Frequently asked questions about Rossett Pike
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 20.2 km and 1497 m, which we rate Severe. Either way this is a long day in which Rossett Pike is the cheapest summit of the lot.
Questions drawn from real Google “People also ask” searches; answers written and fact-checked by us. · Reviewed 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)
Other fells near Rossett Pike
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- Swirl How
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)