Slight Side

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762 mWainwright — Southern Fells+13 bonus Birketts within 3 km Care needed in cloud

Slight Side at 762m (2,500ft) forms the southern shoulder of Scafell, a long, grassy ridge that extends the fell's bulk towards the Eskdale valley.

Summit conditions on Slight Side

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 68 mph, 10.6 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

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

The Met Office 2 km model’s gust of 58 mph times our exposure factor of 1.24. The summit line above gives Open-Meteo’s highest gust for the whole day, 68 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

9 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

10.6 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 −1 °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 Slight Side

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

Slight Side & Sca Fell Planned, not yet walked

15.03 km · ~948 m ascent · ~4½–6¼ h · loop · 2 summits

Hard effort Severe: steepness

Park: Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free)

The long southern approach to Scafell over Slight Side — two tops, 15 km and 948 m, hard for terrain, navigation and exposure and severe for steepness. About 4½–6¼ hours.

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 Slight Side hard?

The fell is a modest rocky top, and the climb to it from Eskdale is a long, steady one over moorland that ends on steep, bouldery ground below the summit.

What it is really used for is the sensible way onto Scafell, avoiding the serious ground between Scafell Pike and Scafell entirely. Our round then goes on to Scafell and comes down the Foxes Tarn gully, a steep, wet scramble, so the day is harder than Slight Side itself: 15.0 km with 948 m of ascent, with navigation graded hard. Judge the day by Scafell rather than by Slight Side: this is a long walk in from Eskdale with no quick way off.

How we check →

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 762 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast

Tue 27 Oct

10° / 4°

68 mph

10.6 mm (100%)

Wed 28 Oct

8° / 5°

50 mph

11.9 mm (100%)

Thu 29 Oct

8° / 6°

29 mph

1.8 mm (26%)

Fri 30 Oct

8° / 5°

27 mph

0.1 mm (31%)

Sat 31 Oct

9° / 0°

9 mph

0.0 mm (25%)

Sun 1 Nov

7° / 0°

7 mph

0.0 mm (12%)

Mon 2 Nov

6° / 0°

19 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 Slight Side

Parking

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

Wha House, Eskdale (NT, free) — at the start of Slight Side & Sca Fell

Upper Eskdale - Slight Side, Harter Fell and the Scafell approaches.

Directions Something changed here?

Lake Head, Wasdale (NT, paid) — 3.7 km from summit (straight line)

Walking base for Great Gable, Kirk Fell and Scafell Pike — the 'Great Gable & Kirk Fell' route starts 10 m away. Also serves 'Scafell Pike from Wasdale, by Lingmell Col'. National Trust's access statement records a pay-and-display machine here (National Trust, January 2024) but does not say which payment methods it takes; the same document notes mobile reception is poor across Wasdale, so carry coins as well as a card. Compacted surface (OSM-tagged). Toilets on site. National Trust, pay & display (free for members). The classic base for Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Kirk Fell, Yewbarrow. Fills very early. Fees: £7 up to 2 hours; £8.50 up to 4 hours; £10 all day. Charges apply at all times (NT, checked August 2026). Free for NT members (checked August 2026).

Directions Something changed here?

If it is full: Overbeck Bridge, Wastwater (NT, paid) (1.8 km, 110 m up); Greendale, Nether Wasdale (roadside, free) (4.9 km, 197 m up)

Wasdale Head Inn

Hardknott Roman Fort (roadside) — 3.7 km from summit (straight line)

Below Hardknott Roman Fort (English Heritage): 0.3 km on foot to the fort.

Directions Something changed here?

3 more places to park near Slight Side

Horsehow Crags (layby) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)

Nearest fells: Horsehow Crags (0.8 km), Border End (1.2 km), Demming Crag (1.2 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Goat Crag (layby) — 3.9 km from summit (straight line)

Walking base for Green Crag, Harter Fell (Eskdale) and Hard Knott — the 'Alternative Hardknott Round (Green Crag, Harter Fell & Hard Knott)' route starts 25 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).

Directions Something changed here?

Roadside parking for Horsehow Crags south (free) — 3.9 km from summit (straight line)

Approx 8 spaces. 1.1 km from Horsehow Crags. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.

Directions Something changed here?

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 nearest bus stop we hold is the 516 at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, 12.0 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Slight Side

Notes from a planned route, not walked: Slight Side & Sca Fell

One of the great rock-climbing cliffs in England, dropping from near the summit. Keep away from the edges in poor visibility.

If you need to get off (the leg from the start): Before hitting the rocky summit of Slight Side, simply turn 180 degrees and follow the grassy slopes back down to the intake walls and the Eskdale road.

Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Slight Side.

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 walkable ground near the summit that lies close to steep ground or crag. 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 Slight Side 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 Slight Side

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

0.8 km SEHigh Scarth487 m · Southern

1.6 km SWGreat How - Eskdale Fell522 m · Southern

1.6 km EScar Lathing439 m · Southern

1.6 km SESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern

1.8 km ESEThrostlehow Crag404 m · Southern

2.1 km NNEPen762 m · Southern

2.1 km SWEskdale Fell - Whinscales425 m · Southern

2.1 km ENEHigh Gait Crags572 m · Southern

2.4 km SSWDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern

2.7 km NNEBroad Crag935 m · Southern

2.7 km NNEIll Crag931 m · Southern

2.9 km SSWWhin Crag (Eskdale)358 m · Southern

2.9 km SEYew Bank499 m · Southern

Routes over Slight Side

Slight Side & Sca Fell

15.03 km · ~948 m ascent · loop · ~4½–6¼ h

Hard effort Severe: steepness

Summits: Slight SideScafell

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Warnings: One of the great rock-climbing cliffs in England, dropping from near the summit. Keep away from the edges in poor visibility.

Route guide: Slight Side & Sca Fell →

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.

About Slight Side

Slight Side, a Lake District fell — Photo: Mick Knapton, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It gives a long approach to Scafell from Eskdale — the ridge walk from Boot via Catcove Beck offers superb views of the upper Esk and the whole southern arc of the Lake District fells. The summit is a small rocky top on a broad ridge with commanding views towards the sea and across Eskdale. It is best appreciated as part of the Scafell ascent from the south.

Classifications & hill data

Is Slight Side a Wainwright?

Slight Side is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list and the Fellranger list.

Selected lists

762 m

Height

2,500 ft

In feet

NY 2098 0501

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 Slight Side

The 360° skyline from Slight Side

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: Scafell (2 km), Scafell Pike (2 km)
North-east: Ill Crag (3 km), Pike de Bield (3 km), Esk Pike (4 km), Allen Crags (4 km)
East: Bowfell (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (4 km), Crinkle Crags (4 km), Shelter Crags (4 km), Stonesty Pike (4 km), Little Stand (4 km), Red Screes (19 km), Caudale Moor (21 km), Stony Cove Pike (21 km), Thornthwaite Crag (23 km), High Street (24 km)
South-east: Grey Friar (7 km), Great Carrs (7 km), Swirl How (8 km), Great How (8 km), Black Sails (8 km), Wetherlam (9 km), Brim Fell (9 km), Dow Crag (9 km), Buck Pike (9 km), The Old Man of Coniston (10 km), Brown Pike (10 km)
South: Black Combe (21 km), Black Combe South Top (21 km)
North-west: Red Pike (7 km), Seatallan (8 km), Black Crag (8 km), Pillar (8 km), Scoat Fell (8 km), Haycock (9 km), Caw Fell (10 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (162 km, Wales), Slieve Donard (178 km, Ireland), Carnedd Llewelyn (150 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (186 km, Wales), Snaefell (83 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (159 km, Wales), Arenig Fawr (172 km, Wales), South Barrule (100 km, Isle of Man).

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 Slight Side

Slight Side sits close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its longest wait of the modelled year (at midsummer) first light is only 16 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	04:54 BST ±5.0 min	04:38	+16 min
Equinox	06:25 GMT ±5.0 min	06:16	+9 min
Midwinter	08:33 GMT ±5.0 min	08:33	—

The northern horizon stands at about 3.43° from here.

Last light — when the sun leaves Slight Side

Slight Side holds the light. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does the sun leave this summit before almanac sunset — the ground falls away westward rather than standing over you, and at midsummer it is still in the sun 2 minutes after the valley has lost it.

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	21:55 BST ±5.0 min	21:53	+2 min
Equinox	18:33 GMT ±5.0 min	18:27	+6 min
Midwinter	15:58 GMT ±5.0 min	15:50	+8 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 Slight Side

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

33Wainwrights in view+2 marginal

178 kmFurthest sightlineSlieve Donard · possible under favourable refraction

2Sea in viewIrish Sea, Morecambe Bay

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

Far horizons

Slieve Donard Northern IrelandW · 178 km clear
Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) WalesSSW · 162 km clear
Carnedd Llewelyn WalesSSW · 147 km clear
Snaefell Isle of ManWSW · 83 km clear
Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesESE · 62 km clear
Whernside Yorkshire DalesESE · 57 km clear
Irish Sea open waterWSW · 39 km in view
Morecambe Bay bay/estuarySSE · 32 km in view

All 33 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Scafell, Scafell Pike, Hard Knott, Esk Pike, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Illgill Head, Allen Crags, Yewbarrow, Harter Fell (Eskdale), Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Middle Fell, Grey Friar, Green Crag, Red Pike (Wasdale), Great Carrs, Buckbarrow, Swirl How, Seatallan, Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Haycock, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Dow Crag, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Caw Fell, Lank Rigg, High Pike (Scandale), Red Screes, Middle Dodd, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Thornthwaite Crag, High Street

How the view from Slight Side 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 Slight Side. 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

We have not verified an independent place near this fell — these are the chains and charities that serve it.

YHA Eskdale (opens in new tab) hostelabout 0.5 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 Slight Side

Is Slight Side hard? Answered above.

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

Slight Side

Summit conditions on Slight Side

Wind on the top

Cloud on the top

Rain, and the becks

Routes up Slight Side

Is Slight Side hard?

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Parking & buses for Slight Side

Parking

Buses

Hazards on Slight Side

Notes from a planned route, not walked: Slight Side & Sca Fell

Navigating in cloud

If you need Mountain Rescue

Map, GPX and nearby Birketts

Birketts within 3 km of Slight Side

Routes over Slight Side

About Slight Side

Classifications & hill data

Is Slight Side a Wainwright?

Selected lists

The view from Slight Side

The 360° skyline from Slight Side

Sunrise and sunset on Slight Side

Last light — when the sun leaves Slight Side

What you can see from Slight Side

Places to stay near this fell

Frequently asked questions about Slight Side

Other fells near Slight Side