hikes.guideLake District

Stonesty Pike

Choose a route ↓
765 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+12 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Stonesty Pike at 765m (2,510ft) is a high Birkett top on the ridge running south from Crinkle Crags to Little Stand in the Southern Fells, 0.4 km south of Crinkle Crags South Top, giving views towards the Scafell group.

Summit conditions on Stonesty Pike

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 64 mph, 8.2 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

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 Stonesty Pike

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

13.71 km · ~1075 m ascent · ~4½–6¼ h · loop · 5 summits
Hard effort Severe: steepness
Park: Hell Gill Pike (verge, south) · Bus: 516, 4.8 km walk from Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel

Five tops on the rough ground between Wrynose and Cold Pike — 13.7 km and 1,075 m, severe for steepness and hard to navigate. 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 →

How hard is Stonesty Pike?

The shortest way up we hold is Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell — 13.71 km, 1075 m of ascent, ~4½–6¼ 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 765 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°
64 mph
8.2 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
8° / 5°
48 mph
11.2 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
8° / 6°
28 mph
0.2 mm (26%)
Fri 30 Oct
7° / 5°
29 mph
0.0 mm (31%)
Sat 31 Oct
9° / -1°
13 mph
0.0 mm (25%)
Sun 1 Nov
7° / -1°
9 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)

Parking & buses for Stonesty Pike

Parking

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

Hell Gill Pike (verge, south) — 0.1 km from the start of Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell (straight line)
1.3 km from Hell Gill Pike.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Hard Knott (verge) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
1.7 km from Hard Knott.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Hard Knott car park — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Hard Knott (1.2 km), Border End (1.3 km), Yew Bank (1.7 km). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
2 more places to park near Stonesty Pike
Hell Gill Pike (verge) — 2.7 km from summit (straight line)
0.9 km from Hell Gill Pike.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Wrynose Fell (layby) — 3.1 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Hell Gill Pike, Little Carrs, Great Carrs and Swirl How — the 'Black Sails & Great How' route starts 131 m away. Also serves 'Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)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 516 stops at Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. From there it is 4.8 km and 603 m of ascent to the start of Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell — a route we rate Severe overall (hardest: steepness) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 23.4 km in all, with the walk. Last bus: Monday to Thursday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516); Friday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Saturday 22:30 towards Kendal (516); Sunday 21:10 towards Ambleside (516) and 20:10 towards Kendal (516). Checked against the operator’s timetable, 23 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 516 “Langdale Rambler”
Ambleside – Skelwith Bridge – Elterwater – New Dungeon Ghyll – Old Dungeon Ghyll
Catch it from: Ambleside · Windermere (change at Ambleside)
The Langdale bus — Pikes, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Pike o' Blisco all walkable from the Dungeon Ghyll stops. Seasonal frequency varies; check before relying on the last bus back.

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 Stonesty Pike

Notes from a planned route, not walked: Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose Fell

If you need to get off (the leg from Great Knott): Turn back to Great Knott and use the Red Tarn retreat route. Bailing directly off the eastern side of Stonesty Pike down to Wrynose Bottom is incredibly steep, craggy, and highly dangerous.

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

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 Stonesty Pike

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 SLittle Stand740 m · Southern
0.9 km NCrinkle Crags - Fourth Crinkle832 m · Southern
1.0 km EGreat Knott695 m · Southern
1.2 km NShelter Crags815 m · Southern
2.0 km WSWYew Bank499 m · Southern
2.2 km NNEWhite Stones - The Band568 m · Southern
2.2 km WThrostlehow Crag404 m · Southern
2.5 km WNWScar Lathing439 m · Southern
2.6 km NWHigh Gait Crags572 m · Southern
2.8 km WSilverybield Crag395 m · Southern

Routes over Stonesty Pike

13.71 km · ~1075 m ascent · loop · ~4½–6¼ h
Hard effort Severe: steepness

Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked

Picked for its light in: May

Route guide: Stonesty Pike, Great Knott & Wrynose 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.

On the hill: terrain and water on Stonesty Pike

Terrain & access

A near-path top (about 765 m): a mapped path comes within about 290 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 17 m. 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.

About Stonesty Pike

Part of the high ground between the Langdales and the Wrynose Pass. A fine, rocky summit in the heart of the Southern Fells.

Classifications & hill data

Is Stonesty Pike a Wainwright?

Stonesty Pike is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list.

Selected lists

765 m
Height
2,510 ft
In feet
NY 2494 0412
Grid ref

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

From Wrynose Pass: 2 places in Grasmere

Other fells near Stonesty Pike