Sheffield Pike

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Summited September 2023

Home › Fells › Sheffield Pike

676 mWainwright — Eastern Fells+6 bonus Birketts within 3 km Care needed in cloud

Sheffield Pike at 676m (2,218ft) is a craggy, satisfying summit above Glenridding with outstanding views of Ullswater. The summit gives a perfect bird's-eye view of the lake's southern reach and across to Place Fell on the opposite shore.

Summit conditions on Sheffield Pike

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 11° to 4°C, gusts to 62 mph, 19.5 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

68 mph, our estimate for the open top in the worst daylight hour

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 57 mph times our exposure factor of 1.18. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 62 mph, before any exposure factor.

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

19 out 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

19.5 mm 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 checked cold: 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

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Routes up Sheffield Pike

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor Walked by Lee

15.58 km · ~1269 m ascent · ~5–7 h · loop · 5 summits

Severe effort Hard: distance, steepness, terrain, navigation and exposure

Park: Beckside Car Park (paid) · Bus: 508 at the start

A hard round above Glenridding by every measure the site records — 1,269 m of ascent in 15.6 km.

Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →

Is Sheffield Pike hard?

Steeper than most people expect, and rougher underfoot than its neighbours across Glenridding. There is no scrambling on the usual lines, but the pull up from the valley is sustained and the ground around the old mine workings is broken and loose in places.

Our round over it with Glenridding Dodd, Catstye Cam and Birkhouse Moor is 15.6 km with 1269 m of ascent, and we grade both its steepness and its navigation hard. The top is a broad moor with several false summits, so it is easy to walk off the wrong side of it.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 676 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

11° / 4°

62 mph

19.5 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

8° / 5°

49 mph

8.0 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

8° / 7°

28 mph

0.0 mm (33%)

Fri 30 Oct

8° / 6°

28 mph

0.0 mm (23%)

Sat 31 Oct

10° / 3°

14 mph

0.3 mm (18%)

Sun 1 Nov

7° / 2°

11 mph

0.0 mm (10%)

Mon 2 Nov

7° / -2°

16 mph

0.0 mm (0%)

Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

Parking & buses for Sheffield Pike

Parking

Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.

Beckside Car Park (paid) — 0.1 km from the start of Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor (straight line)

Main Helvellyn-from-the-east base: the 'Helvellyn via Striding Edge & Swirral Edge' route starts 94 m away, and the 'Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor' round 58 m away. Toilets on site. Fees: pay and display; coins and cards; RingGo ID 37316 (LDNPA, checked August 2026). OpenStreetMap maps it as two sections, both named Beckside Car Park.

Directions When people arrive, and what it costs →Something changed here?

If it is full: Ullswater Steamers Glenridding Pier car park (paid) (0.5 km); Glencoyne (NT, paid) (2.1 km, 124 m up)

Glenridding Village Car Park (~69 m straight line) Public toilets (~187 m straight line) Let It Brew Fairlight Cafe & Restaurant Fellbites Travellers Rest Catstycam.com

Glenridding Dodd, north-east (layby) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)

On the A592 by Ullswater, 1.2 km north of Glenridding. The nearest route starts are in the village by the Beckside car park, among them 'Helvellyn via Striding Edge & Swirral Edge', 1.3 km on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Stybarrow Crag layby (free) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)

On the A592 by Ullswater, 0.9 km north of Glenridding. The nearest route starts are in the village by the Beckside car park, among them 'Helvellyn via Striding Edge & Swirral Edge', 1.1 km on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

3 more places to park near Sheffield Pike

Glenridding Dodd (layby) — 1.8 km from summit (straight line)

On the A592 by Ullswater, 1.4 km north of Glenridding. The nearest route starts are in the village by the Beckside car park, among them 'Helvellyn via Striding Edge & Swirral Edge', 1.7 km on foot. Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Glencoyne (NT, paid) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)

At Glencoyne Bay on the A592, 1.9 km north of Glenridding. The nearest route starts are at Aira Force, among them 'Aira Force & Gowbarrow Fell', 1.9 km on foot. Fees: pay and display - the machine takes coins only, (LDNPA, checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

Brown Hills (layby) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Brown Hills (1.2 km), Glenridding Dodd (1.3 km), Swineside Knott (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Positions are approximate.

Of the pay-and-display machine tickets sold at Glenridding from 17 August 2024 to 31 March 2026, 34% were bought before 10am (our count of FOI/2026.500 ticket data). Contains public sector information provided by the Lake District National Park Authority and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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 508, 509 and 559 stop at Glenridding, at Bus Shelter, a 140 m walk from the start of Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: distance, steepness, terrain, navigation and exposure). The last bus is 19:41 towards Windermere (508) and 17:55 towards Penrith (508) and 17:45 towards Grasmere (559) and 17:29 towards Patterdale (509) and 16:00 towards Keswick (509) and 15:04 towards Hartsop (509), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 7 September 2026; that timetable runs to 1 November 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 508 “Ullswater Bus”

Penrith – Pooley Bridge – Aira Force – Glenridding – Patterdale (summer services continue over Kirkstone Pass to Troutbeck and Windermere)

Catch it from: Penrith · Windermere (summer only)

The key route from Penrith for the Eastern and Far Eastern fells: Helvellyn from Glenridding, Place Fell, the Hartsop fells. The summer Kirkstone extension drops you at the pass for Red Screes and Caudale Moor.

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 Sheffield Pike

Notes from the Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor route

If you need to get off (the leg from Heron Pike): Retrace steps south-east along the ridge to the col for the quick descent down to Greenside Road: about 2.8 km from Sheffield Pike’s top to the village, against about 4.9 km on over Nick Head and down the mine road.

Quoted from the route page: the note for the leg that reaches Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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.

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

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Sheffield Pike

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

0.6 km SEHeron Pike (Glenridding)612 m · Eastern

1.5 km NNEBrown Hills551 m · Eastern

1.7 km NNWBirkett Fell725 m · Eastern

1.7 km WNWGreen Side (White Stones)794 m · Eastern

1.8 km NNESwineside Knott553 m · Eastern

2.6 km NNECommon Fell552 m · Eastern

Routes over Sheffield Pike

Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor

15.58 km · ~1269 m ascent · loop · ~5–7 h

Severe effort Hard: distance, steepness, terrain, navigation and exposure

Summits: Glenridding Dodd Heron Pike (Glenridding)Sheffield PikeCatstye Cam Birkhouse Moor

Download GPX Walked by Lee, September 2023

Route guide: Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor →

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 Sheffield Pike

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor route:

bus shelter (51 m off the line) toilets (71 m off the line) Glenridding, at Bus Shelter (51 m from the start, straight line)

About Sheffield Pike

The ascent from Glenridding via Greenside or from Patterdale is steep and sustained, though there is no scrambling on the usual lines. Often combined with Hart Side for a fine round above the Glenridding valley. The views of Ullswater from the summit ridge are among the finest in the district.

My Strava hikes over Sheffield Pike

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

A great, quiet walk until it wasn't. (opens in new tab) — 15.4 km · 1217 m ascent · 4h 19m moving · 2 September 2023

Data from Strava.

Classifications & hill data

Is Sheffield Pike a Wainwright?

Sheffield Pike is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list and the Hewitt list.

Selected lists

676 m

Height

2,218 ft

In feet

NY 3691 1818

Grid ref

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 Sheffield Pike

The 360° skyline from Sheffield 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: Birkett Fell (2 km)
North-east: Cross Fell (36 km)
East: Place Fell (4 km), Red Crag (9 km), Loadpot Hill (9 km), Wether Hill (9 km)
South-east: Hartsop Dodd (8 km), Rest Dodd (8 km), The Knott (9 km), Gray Crag (9 km), Rampsgill Head (9 km), High Raise (9 km), Caudale Moor (9 km), Stony Cove Pike (10 km), Low Raise (10 km), High Street (10 km), Thornthwaite Crag (10 km), Froswick (12 km), Ill Bell (12 km)
South: Birkhouse Moor (2 km), Birks (4 km), St Sunday Crag (5 km), Gavel Pike (5 km), Cofa Pike (6 km), Fairfield (6 km), Little Hart Crag (8 km), Middle Dodd (9 km), Red Screes (10 km), St Raven's Edge (10 km)
South-west: Catstye Cam (3 km), White Side (4 km), Helvellyn (4 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (4 km), Nethermost Pike (5 km), Dollywaggon Pike (6 km)
West: Green Side (2 km), Raise (3 km), Stybarrow Dodd (3 km)
North-west: Hart Side (2 km), Great Dodd (4 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: The Cheviot (116 km, England), Wisp Hill (81 km, Scotland), Cauldcleuch Head (83 km, Scotland), Roan Fell (75 km, Scotland), Dun Rig (114 km, Scotland), Pikethaw Hill (80 km, Scotland), Peel Fell (86 km, England), Blackwood Hill (80 km, Scotland).

Computed from Copernicus GLO-30 terrain; distant tops from the Database of British and Irish Hills v18.4 (opens in new tab) (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

Sunrise and sunset on Sheffield Pike

Sheffield Pike sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at midwinter) first light is only 8 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	04:34 BST ±5.0 min	04:36	-2 min
Equinox	06:14 GMT ±5.0 min	06:15	-1 min
Midwinter	08:41 GMT ±5.0 min	08:33	+8 min

A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.47°).

Last light — when the sun leaves Sheffield Pike

Sheffield Pike loses the sun early. Its earliest evening of the modelled year falls on 1 January, when last light is 40 minutes before almanac sunset — 15:18 against 15:58. The sun goes down to the south-west from here (221.2°), and the skyline on that bearing stands at 3.68°.

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	21:25 BST ±5.0 min	21:52	-27 min
Equinox	18:14 GMT ±5.0 min	18:26	-12 min
Midwinter	15:09 GMT ±5.0 min	15:48	-39 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 Sheffield Pike

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.

41Wainwrights in view+2 marginal

37 kmFurthest sightlineGreat Dun Fell

—Sea in viewnone from here

Far horizons

Great Dun Fell North PenninesENE · 37 km clear
Cross Fell North PenninesENE · 35 km clear

All 41 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Hart Side, Birkhouse Moor, Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Catstye Cam, White Side, Great Dodd, Place Fell, Birks, Arnison Crag, Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike, St Sunday Crag, Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Dollywaggon Pike, Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), Fairfield, Brock Crags (Wainwright), Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts), The Nab, Hartsop Dodd, Great Mell Fell, Rest Dodd, Little Mell Fell, Little Hart Crag (Little Hart Crag - West Top), Bonscale Pike, The Knott (High Street), Gray Crag, Loadpot Hill, Wether Hill, Rampsgill Head, Middle Dodd, High Raise (High Street), Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Arthur's Pike, Red Screes, High Street, Thornthwaite Crag, Froswick, Ill Bell

How the view from Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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.

Places to stay near this fell

Greenbank Farm Bed and Breakfast (opens in new tab) guest houseabout 2.5 km

Also nearby, but not independent

YHA Helvellyn (opens in new tab) hostelabout 2.0 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).

Frequently asked questions about Sheffield Pike

Is Sheffield Pike hard? Answered above.

Questions from Google’s “People also ask”. · Last updated 2026-08-30 · Suggest a question or correction (opens in new tab)

Sheffield Pike

Summit conditions on Sheffield Pike

Wind on the top

Cloud on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Sheffield Pike

Is Sheffield Pike hard?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Sheffield Pike

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Sheffield Pike

Notes from the Glenridding Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Catstye Cam, Birkhouse Moor route

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Sheffield Pike

Routes over Sheffield Pike

On the hill: terrain and water on Sheffield Pike

Water & shelter on the way up

About Sheffield Pike

My Strava hikes over Sheffield Pike

Classifications & hill data

Is Sheffield Pike a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Sheffield Pike

The 360° skyline from Sheffield Pike

Sunrise and sunset on Sheffield Pike

Last light — when the sun leaves Sheffield Pike

What you can see from Sheffield Pike

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Sheffield Pike

Other fells near Sheffield Pike