Swirl How
Swirl How at 802m (2,631ft) is the central hub of the Coniston Fells, from whose summit the ridges radiate like spokes to the Old Man, Wetherlam, Grey Friar and Great Carrs.
Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast
Modelled guidance for the 802 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
On the summit today (Fri 11 Sep): 10° to 8°C, gusts to 33 mph, 1.9 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 802 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.
Swirl How at a glance
Swirl How
Field notes
Swirl How is pretty unremarkable. When I did a version of the Coniston round all I remember was namesake fell and Grey Friar. For many others I'm sure I would have be of the same opinion: it's part of a journey, not the destination. The views are undoubtedly grand but not as remarkable as Grey Friar which is a fantastic resting pointRoutes up Swirl How
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Classifications & hill data
The short answers
Is Swirl How a Wainwright?
Swirl How is a Wainwright. It is also on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list, the Fellranger list and the HuMP list.
Where do you park for Swirl How?
The nearest car park we hold is Hell Gill Pike (verge), about 2.0 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Hell Gill Pike (verge, south), 2.2 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 Swirl How (Strava)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Awesome trek up Wetherlam, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Grey Friars, Brim Fell, Dow Crag & Old Man of Coniston. (opens in new tab) — 19.2 km · 1417 m ascent · 5h 34m moving · 31 Aug 2024
Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.
Parking & buses for Swirl How
Best parking to hike Swirl How
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 Swirl How by bus
The 505 stops at Coniston, outside The Ruskin Centre, 520 m and 39 m of ascent from the start of Coniston Old Man Round — a route we rate Moderate. The last bus is 20:24 towards Kendal (505) and 18:44 towards Ambleside (505), every day. 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 Swirl How
Hazard & Incident Information for Swirl How
A high hub of the Coniston fells, where several ridges meet around a steep, rocky top. Its best-known feature — the Prison Band, the rugged eastern ridge dropping to Swirl Hawse — is a place Coniston Mountain Rescue Team is called to again and again, often as daylight fades and tired walkers struggle with the steep, scrambly ground. Add steep drops into Greenburn and toward Levers Water, and a confusing high plateau in cloud, and it earns real respect.
- Prison Band (eastern ridge to Swirl Hawse): A steep, stony scramble of a ridge linking Swirl How to Swirl Hawse and Wetherlam. Awkward and tiring, especially descending, and the rescue team is repeatedly called here — frequently to parties caught out at dusk. Allow plenty of daylight, take the rock carefully, and don't underestimate it as 'just a path'.
- Steep flanks into Greenburn and toward Levers Water: The fell drops sharply on its northern (Greenburn) side and toward Levers Water to the south. A slip off the ridge line runs into steep, rocky ground. Keep to the crest and don't cut down the flanks.
- The high plateau junction in cloud: Swirl How sits where the ridges to Great Carrs, Brim Fell and Prison Band all meet — easy to take the wrong arm in mist and end up on the wrong descent. Set a compass bearing before leaving the top.
Most common causes: Walkers in difficulty or benighted on the steep, rocky Prison Band · Route-finding errors at the meeting of ridges in cloud · Slips on the steep flanks into Greenburn or toward Levers Water · Underestimating the time and effort the rocky ground takes
Local Mountain Rescue: Coniston Mountain Rescue Team (opens in new tab) · Reviewed 14 Jun 2026
Safety: Hazard guidance compiled from published Mountain Rescue reports and well-documented accident history - editorial background, not a live feed of callouts. Always check current conditions, carry proper navigation equipment, and seek qualified instruction before heading onto the fells. In an emergency, call 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue.
A note on Church Beck (with Red Dell Beck & Levers Water)
Church Beck (with Red Dell Beck & Levers Water) runs below the old Coniston copper mines and carries mine-derived copper and zinc — enough to matter for river life, though the lead and cadmium that would harm a person stay below the drinking limit here. Treat any hill water before drinking (a filter won’t remove dissolved metals); don’t single this beck out as a clean fill-up.
What’s actually in this beck — we mapped every mine-fed one →
Metal-mine water data © Environment Agency (Open Government Licence v3.0).
Navigating Swirl How in cloud
SevereWalkable ground sits close to a lethal drop — in cloud it’s easy to walk straight onto steep ground. A serious place to be caught in cloud: carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them, or save it for a clear day.
What catches people out: The Prison Band arête and the Broad Slack drop sit right off the summit cairn; the level ridge invites a fast walk-off in the wrong place.
The line to take: The ridge wall of cairns along the Old Man ridge is the handrail; leave the summit only on the Prison Band line (E, becomes hands-on) or the ridge S — check the bearing before moving, not after.
First-hand knowledge of this top, written by Lee. It adds to the computed grade above — it never changes it, and its absence on another fell means only that it has not been written yet.
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 Swirl How 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: Hell Gill Pike (verge), about 2.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.
Birketts near Swirl How (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 Swirl How
✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
✎️ Walked and described first-hand by Lee, Wetherlam-first — the full Coniston round over all the major tops, a long and serious mountain day. The trickiest navigation is the Grey Friar–Calf Cove–Levers Hawse traverse and the Lad Stones ground; carry OS Explorer OL6 and a compass for the clag.
A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass. How to use this guide.
🥾 Walked in part — Lee walked this ground in August 2024; km 10.6–13.2 of this line is from the map.
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 Swirl How
Water & shelter on the way up
On the The Coniston Horseshoe route:
On the Coniston Old Man Round route:
💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.
On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.
The view from Swirl How
The 360° skyline from Swirl How
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 Swirl How, by direction
- North: White Side (17 km), Watson's Dodd (20 km), Little Dodd (21 km), Great Dodd (21 km), Crag Hill (21 km), Grisedale Pike (23 km), Knowe Crags (27 km), Skiddaw Lesser Man (27 km), Skiddaw Little Man (27 km), Gategill Fell Top (27 km), Blencathra (28 km), Skiddaw South Top (28 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (28 km), Skiddaw (29 km), Skiddaw North Top (29 km)
- North-east: Fairfield (14 km), Dove Crag (14 km), Hart Crag (14 km), Dollywaggon Pike (14 km), High Crag (15 km), Nethermost Pike (15 km), Helvellyn (16 km), Helvellyn Lower Man (16 km), High Street (20 km), Rampsgill Head (21 km), High Raise (22 km)
- South: Brim Fell (2 km)
- North-west: Crinkle Crags South Top (5 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Crinkle Crags (5 km), Bowfell (6 km), Esk Pike (8 km), Ill Crag (8 km), Scafell Pike (9 km), Scafell (9 km), Broad Crag (9 km), Great End (9 km), Great Gable (12 km)
On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Snowdon (160 km, Wales), Carnedd Llewelyn (148 km, Wales), Aran Fawddwy (183 km, Wales), Snaefell (88 km, Isle of Man), Moel Siabod (157 km, Wales), Arenig Fawr (170 km, Wales), Tinto (138 km, Scotland), South Barrule (104 km, Isle of Man).
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 Swirl How
Swirl How catches the sun before the valley does. On not one of the sixteen dates modelled does this summit wait for first light — the eastern horizon falls away rather than standing over you, and at midsummer the light reaches it 2 minutes before almanac sunrise.
| First light | Almanac sunrise | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 04:36 BST ±5.0 min | 04:38 | -2 min |
| Equinox | 06:13 GMT ±5.0 min | 06:16 | -3 min |
| Midwinter | 08:27 GMT ±5.0 min | 08:32 | -5 min |
A low, open northern horizon — the ground falls away northwards (mean 0.0°).
Last light — when the sun leaves Swirl How
The evening here runs close to the flat-horizon case. Even on its earliest evening of the modelled year (on 1 July) last light is only 10 minutes before almanac sunset, so the published sunset time is a fair guide on Swirl How.
| Last light | Almanac sunset | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsummer | 21:43 BST ±5.0 min | 21:52 | -9 min |
| Equinox | 18:32 GMT ±5.0 min | 18:26 | +6 min |
| Midwinter | 15:58 GMT ±5.0 min | 15:50 | +8 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 Swirl How. 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 Swirl How
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.On the clearest days the view reaches across to Wales and the Isle of Man.
- Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Wales
- Carnedd Llewelyn Wales
- Snaefell Isle of Man
- Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales
- Cross Fell North Pennines
- Whernside Yorkshire Dales
- Irish Sea open water
- Morecambe Bay bay/estuary
All 99 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)
Great Carrs, Grey Friar, Wetherlam, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Dow Crag, Cold Pike, Pike of Blisco, Hard Knott, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Lingmoor Fell (Brown How), Bowfell, Loft Crag, Pike of Stickle, Harrison Stickle, Pavey Ark, Rossett Pike, Thunacar Knott, Green Crag, Slight Side, Esk Pike, Blea Rigg, Silver How, Sergeant Man, Loughrigg Fell, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Great End, Tarn Crag (Easedale), Glaramara, Helm Crag, Gibson Knott, Nab Scar, Illgill Head, Heron Pike (Rydal), Stone Arthur, Great Gable, Steel Fell (Dead Pike - Steel Fell), Ullscarf, Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, Low Pike, Whin Rigg (Wasdale), Great Rigg, Seat Sandal, High Pike (Scandale), Baystones (Wansfell), Middle Fell, Fairfield, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Dove Crag, Hart Crag, Dollywaggon Pike, Red Screes, Nethermost Pike, Seatallan, Middle Dodd, Dale Head, Sour Howes, Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Helvellyn, Sallows, Hindscarth, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), White Side, Yoke, Ill Bell, Hartsop Dodd, Froswick, Raise, Thornthwaite Crag, Gray Crag, High Street, Mardale Ill Bell, Watson's Dodd, The Knott (High Street), Kentmere Pike, Rest Dodd, Shipman Knotts, Great Dodd, Sail, Scar Crags, Kidsty Pike, Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Lank Rigg, High Raise (High Street), Tarn Crag (Sleddale), Clough Head, Grisedale Pike, Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell), Lonscale Fell, Dodd (Skiddaw), Skiddaw Little Man, Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Carl Side, Long Side, Ullock Pike, Skiddaw, Bannerdale Crags, Knott, Binsey
How Swirl How’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 Wrynose Pass: 2 places in Grasmere
Frequently asked questions about Swirl How
Is Swirl How hard?
The summit is not, but the way most people arrive at it is. Prison Band, the rugged eastern ridge rising from Swirl Hawse, is the crux of the fell — steep and rocky, and the place Coniston Mountain Rescue is most often called to on this hill.
Our routes over it are proper days out: the Coniston Old Man round is 17.4 km with 1148 m of ascent and we rate it Moderate; the full horseshoe is 20.8 km and 1279 m. Several ridges meet at the top, so in cloud the danger is leaving on the wrong one, with steep ground falling into Greenburn on one side and toward Levers Water on the other.
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 Swirl How
- Allen Crags
- Black Fell
- Bowfell
- Brim Fell
- Cold Pike
- Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle)
- Dow Crag
- Esk Pike
- Glaramara
- Great Carrs
- Great End
- Green Crag
- Grey Friar
- Hard Knott
- Harter Fell (Eskdale)
- Holme Fell
- Illgill Head
- Lingmell
- Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
- Pike of Blisco
- Rossett Pike
- Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot
- Scafell
- Scafell Pike
- Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit)
- Slight Side
- The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man)
- Wetherlam
- Whin Rigg (Wasdale)