Scar Crags
Scar Crags at 672m (2,205ft) is a craggy ridge summit above Coledale between Causey Pike and Sail, its rocky profile one of the features of the Coledale Horseshoe.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 672 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 11° to 9°C, gusts to 34 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 672 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Scar Crags at a glance
Scar Crags
Routes up Scar Crags
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Scar Crags a Wainwright?
Scar Crags 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 Scar Crags?
The nearest car park we hold is Ard Crags (layby), about 1.3 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Causey Pike (layby), 1.6 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.
My hikes over Scar Crags (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 Scar Crags
Best parking to hike Scar Crags
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 Scar Crags by bus
The 77 stops at Braithwaite, at Croft Terrace, 10 m from the start of Scar Crags, Causey Pike. 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 Scar Crags
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 Scar Crags in cloud
StraightforwardWalkable ground sits close to a lethal drop — in cloud it’s easy to walk straight onto steep ground. Navigation here is relatively straightforward even in cloud — but carry map and compass and know how to use them; a low score never means “safe”.
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 Scar Crags 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 1.3 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Scar Crags (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 Scar Crags
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 Scar Crags
Water & shelter on the way up
On the Scar Crags, Causey Pike route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Scar Crags
The 360° skyline from Scar Crags
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 Scar Crags, by direction
- North-east: Skiddaw Little Man (9 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (9 km), Skiddaw South Top (10 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (10 km), Skiddaw (10 km), Broad End (11 km), Knowe Crags (12 km), Gategill Fell Top (13 km), Blencathra (14 km), Atkinson Pike (14 km)
- East: Watson's Dodd (13 km), Great Dodd (13 km), White Side (14 km), Stybarrow Dodd (14 km), Raise (14 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (14 km), Helvellyn (14 km), Catstye Cam (15 km)
- South-east: Nethermost Pike (15 km), High Crag (15 km), Dollywaggon Pike (16 km), Cofa Pike (17 km), Fairfield (18 km)
- South: Kirk Fell East Top (10 km), Great Gable (10 km), Great End (12 km), Broad Crag (13 km), Ill Crag (13 km), Scafell Pike (14 km), Esk Pike (14 km), Scafell (14 km), Bowfell (15 km), Great Carrs (21 km), Swirl How (21 km)
- South-west: High Stile (7 km), High Stile (7 km), Pillar (9 km), Steeple (10 km), Scoat Fell (10 km)
- West: Crag Hill (2 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Tinto (116 km, Scotland), Ingleborough (70 km, England), Green Lowther (96 km, Scotland), White Coomb (94 km, Scotland), Queensberry (82 km, Scotland), Ettrick Pen (87 km, Scotland), Culter Fell (110 km, Scotland), Wisp Hill (81 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 Scar Crags
Scar Crags sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (on 1 August) first light is only 6 minutes after almanac sunrise, so the published sunrise time is a fair guide here.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:38 BST ±5.0 min | 04:37 | +1 min |
| Equinox | 06:21 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | +5 min |
| Midwinter | 08:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:34 | -2 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.39°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Scar Crags
Scar Crags loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 October, when last light is 42 minutes before almanac sunset — 18:08 against 18:50. The sun goes down to the west-south-west from here (256.9°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 5.56°.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:38 BST ±5.0 min | 21:54 | -16 min |
| Equinox | 17:52 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:27 | -35 min |
| Midwinter | 15:54 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:49 | +5 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 Scar Crags. 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 Scar Crags
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.- Great Dun Fell North Pennines
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Solway Firth bay/estuary
All 75 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Outerside, Ard Crags, Causey Pike, Sail, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Grisedale Pike, Knott Rigg, Barrow, Hopegill Head, Cat Bells (Catbells), Robinson, Maiden Moor, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Hindscarth, High Spy, Dale Head, Lord's Seat, Barf, Broom Fell, Walla Crag, Red Pike (Buttermere), High Stile, High Crag (Buttermere), Dodd (Skiddaw), Bleaberry Fell, Latrigg, Starling Dodd, High Seat, Carl Side, Long Side, Brandreth, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw Little Man, Pillar, Skiddaw, Green Gable, Lonscale Fell, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Great Gable, Steeple, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Glaramara, Sergeant's Crag, Ullscarf, Great End, Clough Head, Watson's Dodd, High Raise (High White Stones), Great Dodd, Scafell Pike, Esk Pike, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, White Side, Stybarrow Dodd, Raise, Scafell, Helvellyn, Thunacar Knott, Bowfell, Catstye Cam, Pike of Stickle, Pavey Ark, Nethermost Pike, Binsey, Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag, Dollywaggon Pike, Bowscale Fell, Seat Sandal, Fairfield, Great Rigg, Heron Pike (Rydal), Great Mell Fell, Great Carrs, Swirl How
How Scar Crags’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
Frequently asked questions about Scar Crags
Is Scar Crags a hard walk?
Not once you are on the ridge. Scar Crags is the continuation of the crest beyond Causey Pike, and the walking along it is easy on a good path with steep ground falling away to the north — airy rather than difficult.
The work is in getting up there, and on our round that means Causey Pike, whose final rocky step is a genuine hands-on move. That day is 12.0 km with 850 m of ascent, graded severe for steepness. Scar Crags is the easy half of it.
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 Scar Crags
- 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
- Sail
- Sale Fell
- Wandope
- Whinlatter (Brown How)
- Whiteless Pike
- Whiteside (Whiteside West Top)