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863 m · Wainwright — Eastern Fells · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Wainwright — Eastern FellsAlso a Birkett

White Side

White Side at 863m (2,831ft) is the broad ridge summit between Raise and Lower Man on the northern Helvellyn ridge, its grassy, open top offering good views west across Thirlmere to the Borrowdale fells.

863 m
Height
~3.5–4.5 h
Typical time
+3
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › White Side

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

863 mWainwright — Eastern Fells✓ summit is also a Birkett+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km Care needed in cloud

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 863 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 13° to 12°C, gusts to 39 mph, 7.0 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌧️
13° / 12°
💨 39 mph
🌧 7.0 mm (100%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
13° / 10°
💨 32 mph
🌧 5.8 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
11° / 2°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.2 mm (78%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
13° / 0°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (78%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
13° / 1°
💨 14 mph
🌧 5.4 mm (54%)
Sun 2 Aug
🌫️
14° / 2°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (24%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
14° / 2°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (23%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 863 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

White Side

White Side at 863m (2,831ft) is the broad ridge summit between Raise and Lower Man on the northern Helvellyn ridge, its grassy, open top offering good views west across Thirlmere to the Borrowdale fells. Wainwright noted it as a pleasant, unhurried summit on the excellent ridge walk between Helvellyn and the northern Dodds. The western slopes descend steeply to Thirlmere — the views of the reservoir from this angle are distinctive. Most naturally reached as part of the Helvellyn ridge traverse from Thirlspot or as a quieter alternative to the busy Helvellyn approaches from the east.

🗒️ My notes
If my memory serves me well, as it is probably superseded by what was about to happen, ascending White Side, in terms of physical effort or complexity, wasn't anything un-to-ward. It was a fairly simple climb via a clear route from the Whythburn church. I'm not a big fan of forrest-like tracks but that's part of the cost for what is ultimately a fantastic hike. If you are bagging Birketts too, there's a relatively free one in the shape of Brown Crag which is just to the right of the track I took below - its' just beyond a slight bluff.

Routes up White Side

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

Brown Crag and Raise
10.6 km · ~3.4 hr
Helvellyn from Swirls: the walkers’ way up
9.4 km · ~3.3 hr · Hard
The straightforward way up England’s third-highest fell — no scrambling, no knife edges, just a long, honest climb from Thirlmere up Browncove Crags to the summit plateau, returning over Lower Man and White Side. This is the route to take if Striding Edge frightens you, and there is no shame whatever in taking it: the view from the top is exactly the same.
Classifications & hill data
Wainwright
Eastern
Birkett
Fellranger
Synge
Nuttall
863 m
Height
2,831 ft
In feet
NY 3377 1666
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Swirls, Thirlmere (paid), about 2.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near White Side (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.

1.1 km SHelvellyn Lower Man924 m · Eastern
1.4 km NWBrown Crag610 m · Eastern
2.6 km NEGreen Side (White Stones - Green Side)794 m · Eastern

Routes over White Side

Brown Crag and RaisePlanned
10.64 km · ~749 m ascent · loop · ~3–4.5 h
Summits: Brown CragWhite SideRaise

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

✎️ 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.

Helvellyn from Swirls: the walkers’ way upPlanned
9.37 km · ~831 m ascent · loop · ~3–4.5 h · Hard
Summits: HelvellynHelvellyn Lower ManWhite Side

✎️ Helvellyn’s FAQs send nervous walkers here, and rightly. If you want the summit without the exposure of Striding Edge and Swirral Edge, this is the way: a clear path the whole distance, a plateau to walk about on, and the same enormous view east over Red Tarn.

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: All year for competent walkers, but this is a serious mountain. In winter the summit plateau holds snow and ice long after the valley is clear, and the eastern edge becomes a cornice — that is an ice-axe-and-crampons day, not a walk.

⚠️ Warnings: The summit plateau is the danger, not the climb. It is broad, featureless and ringed by crags on its eastern side. In cloud, people walk off the edge. Know your bearing off the top before you get there, and count your paces.; A steep, sustained pull up Browncove Crags — around 830 m of ascent in under 5 km. Pace it.; It is a mountain, however gentle the path: carry map, compass, warm layers and food, and check the mountain forecast, not the valley one.; Helvellyn is one of the busiest fells in England. Underfoot the path is worn and stony — most injuries here are simple slips on the descent.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ 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.

The View from White 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
Computed 360-degree skyline from White Side36 labelled tops shown (13 distant behind the far-horizon toggle). Theoretical visibility in perfect clarity; computed from terrain, not photographed.eye levelNNEESESSWWNWScafell Pike · 16 kmSkiddaw · 15 kmBowfell · 14 kmGreat Gable · 14 kmPillar · 17 kmBlencathra · 11 kmCrinkle Crags · 15 kmGreat Dodd · 4 kmGrasmoor · 17 kmStybarrow Dodd · 2 kmSt Sunday Crag · 4 kmHigh Street · 12 kmHart Crag · 6 kmHigh Stile · 17 kmHigh Raise · 12 kmKnowe Crags · 11 kmSwirl How · 17 kmGrisedale Pike · 15 kmThornthwaite Crag · 12 kmRobinson · 14 kmLong Side · 15 kmBowscale Fell · 14 kmCross Fell · 39 km · clear daysHelvellyn · 2 kmHelvellyn Lower Man · 1 kmRaise · 1 kmBlake Fell · 23 kmThe Knott · 11 kmBrandreth · 13 kmLonscale Fell · 12 kmRed Crag · 11 kmLoadpot Hill · 12 kmWether Hill · 12 kmTarn Crags Top · 14 kmLittle Calva · 16 kmHeron Pike · 4 kmEsk Pike · 14 kmGategill Fell Top · 11 kmLingmell · 15 kmGrey Friar · 18 kmHopegill Head · 16 kmHigh Crag · 16 kmLittle Stand · 16 kmGreat Calva · 15 kmDodd · 17 kmIron Crag · 22 kmCatstye Cam · 1 kmCofa Pike · 5 kmGavel Fell · 22 kmCriffel · 59 km · clear daysScar Crags · 14 kmHobcarton End · 16 kmRosthwaite Fell · 10 kmBleaberry Fell · 6 kmSwineside Knott · 5 kmLord's Seat · 17 kmSwarth Fell · 12 kmLittle Mell Fell · 11 kmTarbarrel Moss · 16 kmCalf Top · 45 km · clear daysBarf · 16 kmSighty Crag · 70 km · clear daysGreen Hill · 8 kmBaugh Fell · 47 km · clear daysHeughscar Hill · 16 kmSale Fell · 19 kmMickle Fell · 48 km · clear daysRogan's Seat · 60 km · clear daysClints Crags · 26 kmSlieve Donard · 192 km · a handful of days a yearMerrick · 114 km · a rare clear dayCairnsmore of Carsphairn · 110 km · a rare clear dayCairnsmore of Fleet · 98 km · a rare clear dayTinto · 124 km · a handful of days a yearGreen Lowther · 105 km · a rare clear dayPendle Hill · 89 km · a rare clear dayDivis · 194 km · a handful of days a yearGreat Whernside · 79 km · a rare clear dayWisp Hill · 83 km · a rare clear dayDun Rig · 115 km · a rare clear dayPeel Fell · 88 km · a rare clear dayBlackwood Hill · 82 km · a rare clear day
What you can see from White Side, by direction
  • North: Stybarrow Dodd (2 km), Great Dodd (4 km), Knowe Crags (11 km), Gategill Fell Top (11 km), Blencathra (11 km), Atkinson Pike (12 km)
  • East: High Raise (12 km)
  • South-east: St Sunday Crag (4 km), Hart Crag (6 km), High Street (12 km)
  • South: Swirl How (17 km)
  • South-west: Esk Pike (14 km), Bowfell (14 km), Great End (14 km), Pike de Bield (14 km), Great Gable (14 km), Shelter Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (14 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Ill Crag (15 km), Crinkle Crags (15 km), Broad Crag (15 km), Crinkle Crags South Top (15 km), Lingmell (15 km), Scafell Pike (16 km)
  • West: Crag Hill (15 km), Eel Crag (15 km), Grasmoor (17 km), High Stile (17 km), High Stile (17 km), Pillar (17 km), Black Crag (18 km), Red Pike (18 km), Scoat Fell (19 km)
  • North-west: Skiddaw South Top (14 km), Skiddaw Middle Top (14 km), Skiddaw (15 km), Skiddaw North Top (15 km), Broad End (15 km)

On the clearest days the far horizon adds: Slieve Donard (192 km, Ireland), Merrick (114 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Carsphairn (110 km, Scotland), Cairnsmore of Fleet (98 km, Scotland), Corserine (110 km, Scotland), Lamachan Hill (109 km, Scotland), Tinto (124 km, Scotland), Green Lowther (105 km, Scotland).

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 (CC BY 4.0). See how we compute the view · and the summit intervisibility report below.

What you can see from White Side

On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.
105Wainwrights in view+24 marginal
115 kmFurthest sightlineMerrick · possible under favourable refraction
1Sea in viewSolway Firth

On the clearest days the view reaches across to Scotland.

Far horizons
  • Merrick ScotlandNW · 115 km clear
  • Criffel ScotlandNW · 60 km distant
  • Ingleborough Yorkshire DalesSE · 59 km clear
  • Solway Firth bay/estuaryNW · 49 km in view
  • Great Dun Fell North PenninesENE · 40 km clear
  • Cross Fell North PenninesENE · 39 km clear
All 105 Wainwrights in clear view (nearest first)

Raise, Catstye Cam, Helvellyn, Stybarrow Dodd, Birkhouse Moor, Watson's Dodd, Sheffield Pike, Great Dodd, Raven Crag, Armboth Fell (Armboth Fell South Top), Glenridding Dodd, St Sunday Crag, Birks, High Tove, High Seat, Clough Head, Bleaberry Fell, High Rigg (Naddle Fell), Place Fell, Great Crag (Stonethwaite), Grange Fell (Brund Fell), Walla Crag, Angletarn Pikes (Angletarn Pikes North Top), Brock Crags (Wainwright), Gowbarrow Fell (Wainwright summit), Rosthwaite Fell - Bessyboot, The Nab, Rest Dodd, Cat Bells (Catbells), Hallin Fell, Latrigg, Maiden Moor, Gray Crag, Thunacar Knott, High Spy, The Knott (High Street), Blencathra - Hallsfell Top, Glaramara, Rampsgill Head, Little Mell Fell, High Raise (High Street), Thornthwaite Crag, Dale Head, Lonscale Fell, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Bonscale Pike, Hindscarth, Barrow, Bannerdale Crags, Base Brown, Causey Pike, Rossett Pike, Arthur's Pike, Allen Crags, Skiddaw Little Man, Brandreth, Fleetwith Pike, Scar Crags, Ard Crags, Outerside, Robinson, Esk Pike, Green Gable, Bowfell, Great End, Bowscale Fell, Carl Side, Great Gable, Knott Rigg, Dodd (Skiddaw), Sail, Skiddaw, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Long Side, Haystacks (Buttermere), Crag Hill (Eel Crag), Grisedale Pike, Wandope, Great Calva, Ullock Pike, Lingmell, Scafell Pike, Kirk Fell, Bakestall, Whiteless Pike, Barf, High Crag (Buttermere), Hopegill Head, Lord's Seat, Whinlatter (Brown How - Whinlatter), Carrock Fell, Great Carrs, Pillar, Swirl How, Whiteside (Whiteside West Top), Red Pike (Buttermere), Red Pike (Wasdale), Scoat Fell (Little Scoat Fell), Mellbreak (Mellbreak South Top), Sale Fell, Starling Dodd, Hen Comb, Gavel Fell, Blake Fell

How White Side’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.

Best parking to hike White Side

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Swirls, Thirlmere (paid) — 2.2 km from summit (straight line)
The standard west-side route up Helvellyn via Browncove Crags.
Directions
🚺 The Swirls Car Park (461m) — Free · Accessible · RADAR key🚺 Armbroth Car Park (1587m) — Free
Legburthwaite (United Utilities, small) — 3.0 km from summit (straight line)
St John's in the Vale — Sticks Pass side, High Rigg, Raven Crag.
Directions
🚺 Legburthwaite Car Park (155m) — Free

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.

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Brown Crag and Raise route:

🛖 map (78 m)🚌 Thirlmere Dam Road End (219 m)

On the Helvellyn from Swirls: the walkers’ way up route:

🛖 map (7 m)🚌 Swirls car park (67 m)

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Buses to White Side from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

Stagecoach 555
Kendal – Staveley – Windermere – Ambleside – Rydal – Grasmere – Thirlmere (Wythburn & Swirls) – Keswick
Catch it from: Windermere · Ambleside
Year-round, roughly hourly. The backbone bus of the A591 — ideal for Helvellyn (Wythburn/Swirls), Fairfield, the Central fells and anything around Grasmere/Rydal. From Penrith, take the X4/X5 to Keswick and change.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

My hikes over White Side (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Hazard & Incident Information for White Side

Hazard: Moderate

A fell on the northern Helvellyn ridge with the range's familiar split character — easy grass to the west, but an eastern face of crag and scree falling abruptly into Keppel Cove and Brown Cove. The broad flat summit is easy to misread in cloud, and in winter this is full mountaineering ground, holding hard icy snow with corniced corrie edges. Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team covers this ground.

  • The eastern crags above Keppel & Brown Coves: The eastern face is crag and scree dropping abruptly into the corries, just north of the summit. Keep back from the eastern edge, especially in wind or cloud — the grassy top gives little warning before the steep ground.
  • Winter conditions on the ridge and corrie edges: The Helvellyn range holds hard icy snow well into spring, and cornices form over Keppel Cove. This is full winter mountaineering ground — ice axe, crampons and the skills to use them, and a wide margin kept from the corniced edges.
  • Flat summit & ridge navigation in cloud: The broad, flat, grassy top has few features, and the whole ridge is a whiteout/mist navigation challenge. Take a compass bearing before moving toward Helvellyn (via Lower Man) or down to Glenridding, and don't drift east.
Who should attempt this fell: White Side is straightforward grass on its western side but shares Helvellyn's serious eastern edge — keep well back from the crags above Keppel and Brown Coves, and navigate the flat top by compass in cloud. In winter treat it as proper mountaineering ground: full kit, competence, and real caution near the corniced corrie rims.

Most common causes: Walkers straying toward the eastern crags above Keppel/Brown Coves · Slips and cornice collapse on the steep corrie edges in winter · Navigation errors on the flat summit and ridge in cloud · Underestimating full winter conditions on the high Helvellyn ridge

Local Mountain Rescue: Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team · 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.

Report incorrect information

Navigating White Side in cloud

Care needed

A rough, rocky summit ringed by crags, with no single obvious way off in poor visibility. 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 White Side compares with all 214 — the Clag Index: navigating in cloud. A relative, deliberately cautious guide; the site can’t navigate for you.

Other fells near White Side

Maps & guidebooks for White Side

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