Sail
Sail at 773m (2,536ft) is an elegant, pointed summit on the Coledale Horseshoe between Eel Crag and Causey Pike, its attractive profile one of the defining features of the skyline above Braithwaite.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 773 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 10° to 8°C, gusts to 33 mph, 2.4 mm of rain forecast.
Forecast snapshot from 11 Sep 2026, 08:30 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 773 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Sail at a glance
Sail
Field notes
The subject of many Instagram posts. The route up to it (or down if you're going clockwise) from Causey Pike has a very spectacular zigzag form as it serves to mitigate much of the incline and lessen the load on your knees. Although not the closest two Wainwrights (those are Scafell Pike and Broad Crag at 210 meters apart), Crag Hill is just about 500 meters to the west. If I'm being truthful, though, I don't recall much of Sail as I just wanted to get on with my hike and down the iconic path.Routes up Sail
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Sail a Wainwright?
Sail 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 Sail?
The nearest car park we hold is Ard Crags (layby), about 1.8 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Knott Rigg (layby), 1.9 km out. 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.
How hard is Sail?
The shortest way up we hold is Coledale Round — 16 km, 1108 m of ascent, about 5.1 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Hard · terrain: Moderate.
My hikes over Sail (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.
Parking & buses for Sail
Best parking to hike Sail
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.
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 Sail by bus
The 77 stops at Braithwaite, at Croft Terrace, 720 m and 87 m of ascent from the start of Coledale Round — a route we rate Hard. Last bus: Monday to Friday 22:27 towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77); Saturday 00:22 (+1) (after midnight) towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77); Sunday 20:17 towards Workington (X5) and 17:37 towards Keswick (77) and 16:37 towards Cockermouth (77). 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 Sail
Hazard & Incident Information for Sail
A rounded top on the busy Coledale round, best known for the dramatic zig-zag path — seventeen hairpins — that climbs its eastern slope. The zig-zags themselves are well graded and safe; the hazards lie either side of them: a steep, loose, eroded fall-line if you cut the corners, and the narrow, exposed neck of ridge linking Sail to Crag Hill. Keswick Mountain Rescue Team covers this popular ground.
- The narrow ridge to Crag Hill: The connecting ridge between Sail and Crag Hill narrows to an exposed neck. It is straightforward in calm, dry conditions but unnerving and slippery in strong wind, wet or ice — take it steadily and don't be rushed by the wind.
- The steep eastern flank (off the zig-zags): The famous zig-zags exist because the direct line is a steep, deeply eroded gully. Cutting the corners puts you on loose, steep ground where a slip runs a long way and you damage the path for everyone. Stay on the hairpins, up and down.
- Exposure and navigation on the open ridge: The whole Coledale crest is exposed to the wind and featureless in cloud. Keep a bearing between the tops, and remember this is a long, committing round once you are out on it.
Most common causes: Slips on loose, steep ground when cutting the zig-zags · Being blown off balance on the narrow ridge to Crag Hill in high wind · Navigation errors along the open ridge in cloud · Fatigue late in the long Coledale round
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 Sail in cloud
Serious in cloudA rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.
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 Sail 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: Ard Crags (layby), about 1.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Sail (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 Sail
✎️ 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. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Sail
The path beneath your boots
The elegant zig-zags dropping from Sail to Scar Crags are Fix the Fells at its most photographed. Built in 2010, they tamed an erosion scar already over 15 metres wide and widening fast, on ground so rare it’s protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest — aggregate zig-zags engineered to ease the gradient, because a gentler line holds together where a straight, steep one simply washes away.
Notice underfoot: why the path zig-zags instead of heading straight up — the gentle gradient is what stops it eroding, so it’s worth following rather than short-cutting the corners.
Fix the Fells built and maintains this path. How a fell path is made → · Give back (opens in new tab)
Path-repair data © Fix the Fells (National Trust / Lake District National Park). Source (opens in new tab).
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Coledale Round route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Sail
The 360° skyline from Sail
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 Sail, by direction
- North-east: Skiddaw Little Man (10 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (10 km), Skiddaw South Top (10 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (11 km), Skiddaw (11 km), Skiddaw North Top (11 km), Broad End (11 km), Gategill Fell Top (14 km), Blencathra (15 km), Atkinson Pike (15 km)
- East: Watson's Dodd (14 km), White Side (14 km), Great Dodd (14 km), Stybarrow Dodd (15 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (15 km), Raise (15 km), Helvellyn (15 km), Catstye Cam (16 km)
- South-east: Nethermost Pike (16 km), High Crag (16 km), Dollywaggon Pike (16 km), Cofa Pike (18 km), Fairfield (18 km)
- South: Pillar (9 km), Black Crag (9 km), Kirk Fell (10 km), Great Gable (10 km), Great End (12 km), Broad Crag (13 km), Scafell Pike (13 km), Ill Crag (13 km), Esk Pike (13 km), Scafell (14 km), Pike de Bield (14 km), Bowfell (15 km), Swirl How (21 km)
- South-west: High Stile (6 km), High Stile (6 km), Steeple (10 km), Scoat Fell (10 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (179 km, Ireland), Merrick (101 km, Scotland), Broad Law (103 km, Scotland), Snaefell (86 km, Isle of Man), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (98 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (84 km, Scotland), Corserine (97 km, Scotland), Windlestraw Law (124 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.
Sunrise and sunset on Sail
Sail sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at the March equinox) first light is only 2 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:36 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | -1 min |
| Equinox | 06:18 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | +2 min |
| Midwinter | 08:31 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | -3 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean -0.35°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Sail
Sail loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 September, when last light is 48 minutes before almanac sunset — 19:17 against 20:05. The sun goes down to the west from here (275.5°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 6.47°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:58 BST ±5.0 min | 21:54 | +4 min |
| Equinox | 18:04 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:27 | -23 min |
| Midwinter | 15:57 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | +8 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 Sail. 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 Sail
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
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Criffel Scotland
- Irish Sea open water
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
All 84 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Ard Crags, Wandope, Scar Crags, Knott Rigg, Causey Pike, Whiteless Pike, Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Barrow, Robinson, Hindscarth, Maiden Moor, Cat Bells (Catbells), High Spy, Dale Head, Red Pike (Buttermere), High Stile, High Crag (Buttermere), Haystacks (Buttermere), Starling Dodd, Grey Knotts, Walla Crag, Brandreth, Dodd (Skiddaw), Pillar, Bleaberry Fell, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Base Brown, High Seat, Latrigg, Steeple, Long Side, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Green Gable, Carl Side, Ullock Pike, Kirk Fell, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Great Gable, Skiddaw Little Man, Skiddaw, Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Glaramara, Lonscale Fell, Eagle Crag, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Caw Fell, Sergeant's Crag, Crag Fell, Great End, Lingmell, Allen Crags, Scafell Pike, Esk Pike, Lank Rigg, High Raise (High White Stones), Scafell, Watson's Dodd, Clough Head, White Side, Great Dodd, Bowfell, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Pike of Stickle, Pavey Ark, Helvellyn, Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag, Binsey, Catstye Cam, Nethermost Pike, Dollywaggon Pike, Seat Sandal, Bowscale Fell, Cold Pike, Fairfield, Great Rigg, Heron Pike (Rydal), Great Mell Fell, Great Carrs, Swirl How
How Sail’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 Whinlatter: 10 places in Keswick
Other fells near Sail
- 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
- Hopegill Head
- Knott Rigg
- Ling Fell
- Lord's Seat
- Maiden Moor
- Outerside
- Rannerdale Knotts
- Robinson
- Sale Fell
- Scar Crags
- Wandope
- Whinlatter (Brown How)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)