Seat
Seat at 561m (1,841ft) is a Birkett top on the ridge between High Crag (0.8 km NW) and the Scarth Gap pass (0.4 km ESE), above the head of Buttermere, with Ennerdale below it to the south-west and Haystacks across the gap (0.8 km ESE).
Summit conditions on Seat
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 61 mph, 9.7 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Seat
Choose the way up before the car park: these three routes start from three places, and the last two rows give the parking and bus at each route’s own start. Full maps further down.
| Compared | The Buttermere Ridge Anti-Clockwise | High Stile, Seat via Buttermere | The Buttermere Ridge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Buttermere village | Buttermere village, by the Bridge Hotel (roadside, free) | Buttermere village (NT, paid) |
| Distance and climb | 12.88 km, 970 m of climb | 12.97 km, 881 m of climb | 13.39 km, 1,012 m of climb |
| Time, fast to steady | ~4–5¾ h | ~4–5½ h | ~4¼–6 h |
| Scrambling | Hands for a few steps: the red scree up from Dodd to Red Pike, the loose ground on to High Stile, and the high rocky steps down off Seat (km 3.5–5.0 and km 7.7–8.1). | Not mentioned in the route’s notes | Hands for a few steps: high steps onto Seat, and the loose scree up Red Pike (about km 5.4 and km 8.2–9.4). The path to the summit is a steep, loose scramble up this red scree. |
| Exposure | Not assessed | Not assessed | Not assessed |
| Navigation | Hard | Moderate | Hard |
| Steepest stretch | Descent of about 38% at 7.1 km (Severe) | Climb of about 39% at 2.9 km (Severe) | Climb of about 35% at 6.0 km (Severe) |
| After the summit | No further tops | No further tops | Over High Crag (Buttermere), High Stile (Grey Crag - High Stile), High Stile, Red Pike (Buttermere) and Dodd (Buttermere) |
| Walked or planned | Walked by Lee, October 2026 | Planned: drawn, not yet walked | Planned: drawn, not yet walked |
| Car park at the start | High Snockrigg (verge) | Buttermere village, by the Bridge Hotel (roadside, free) | Buttermere village (NT, paid) |
| Bus to the start | 77, 330 m walk from Buttermere Youth Hostel (near). Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. | 77 at the start. The 77A runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. | 77, 410 m walk from Buttermere, outside Court Hotel. The 77A runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. |
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 →
How hard is Seat?
The shortest way up we hold is The Buttermere Ridge Anti-Clockwise — 12.88 km, 970 m of ascent, ~4–5¾ h. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.
All axes: steepness: Severe · terrain: Hard · navigation: Hard · length: Moderate · exposure: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 561 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Seat
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
5 more places to park near Seat
Positions are approximate.
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 77 and 77A stop at Buttermere, outside Court Hotel, a 100 m walk from the start of High Stile, Seat via Buttermere — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness). The 77A runs until 1 November 2026, the last day of its season. Seasonal: the 77 does not run all year. 1 November 2026 is its last day. It returns on 22 March 2027. Confirmed with the operator: its last day on 29 August 2026, its return on 16 October 2026. Last bus: Monday to Friday 19:23 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 18:20 towards Keswick (77); Saturday 19:23 towards Cockermouth (77A) and 18:20 towards Keswick (77); Sunday 18:20 towards Keswick (77). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 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.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Seat
Notes from the The Buttermere Ridge Anti-Clockwise route
- The line follows the road for about 0.3 km at the start, down the Newlands Pass road into Buttermere village and along the B5289 past the Fish Hotel, and for about 0.25 km at the end, back up the Newlands Pass road from the Bridge Hotel. OpenStreetMap maps no pavement beside it.
- Two stretches are steep and loose. The climb from Dodd to Red Pike is a path of red scree, about 125 m of height between about 3.5 and 3.8 km. The descent from High Crag down Gamlin End is the steepest ground of the walk, about 38% sustained around 7.1 km.
- Crags are mapped beside the ridge path on its north side: Chapel Crags between Red Pike and High Stile, within a few metres of the path near 4.7 km, and the crags above Burtness Comb between about 5.6 and 6.6 km. Keep back from the edge, above all in mist or a strong wind.
- The line crosses the outflow of Bleaberry Tarn, Sourmilk Gill, at a place OpenStreetMap maps as a ford near 2.7 km, and becks at mapped fords on Scarth Gap Pass near 8.5 and 9.6 km.
- About 2.2 km of the line, in pieces, follows paths that OpenStreetMap does not record as public rights of way; the longest is about 0.8 km between about 7.25 and 8.1 km, from below Gamlin End over Seat to Scarth Gap. The rest is public bridleways, a permissive path by the lake and the road in the village. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch.
If you need to get off (the leg from High Crag): From High Crag the way off is the line on, down Gamlin End and Scarth Gap Pass: about 6.1 km to the finish. Going back means the whole ridge again and the red scree down.
Quoted from the route page: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Seat.
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.
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.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Seat
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Seat
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
This walk runs the Buttermere ridge the other way round from The Buttermere Ridge: the red scree below Red Pike is climbed, not descended, and Gamlin End is the way down.
Download GPX Walked by Lee, October 2026
The Buttermere Ridge Anti-Clockwise walks the same ridge the other way round, up the red scree to Red Pike and down Gamlin End.
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Seat
Terrain & access
A 561 m top with a mapped path to within about 29 m of the summit. There is steep ground (over 30°) on the direct line. The summit is on CRoW open access land.
Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
Water & shelter on the way up
On the High Stile, Seat via Buttermere route:
On the The Buttermere Ridge Anti-Clockwise route:
On the The Buttermere Ridge route:
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
About Seat
My Strava hikes over Seat
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Red Pike, High Stile and High Crag (opens in new tab) — 12.9 km · 904 m ascent · 3h 44m moving · 17 October 2026
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Seat a Wainwright?
Seat is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
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 →
Places to stay near this fell
- Bridge Hotel (opens in new tab) hotelabout 0.0 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).