Walk 11 - Grisedale Pike - 14th Feb 2017
 

Wainwright's Walking Guide to the Lake District Fells - Book 6 The North Western Fells
 

#14 Grisedale Pike 2595 ft
Distance
4.6 miles
Time
3.5 hrs
Lowest Point
395 ft
Highest Point
2595 ft
Total Ascent
2442 ft
 
Walk Rating - moderate
 

Mini Route Map
(larger map at the bottom)

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  14.42 Panorama 140 Braithwaite  
 
 
  14.42 Braithwaite  
   
  15.04  
   
  15.18 Looking back at Skiddaw  
   
  15.33 The view to the south has several ridges which we would visit in later years. Closest is Barrow and Outerside. Behind them Causey Pike and Scar Crags. Even further away Cat Bells and Maiden Moor.  
       
   

 

Excepting Catbells only, Grisedale Pike is probably the most climbed fell in the north-western area and invariably the ascent is made by the route here depicted. Now that the start has been improved the whole walk is delightful.

  
   
Alfred Wainwright - The North-Western Fells - Grisedale Pike 8
  
       
 
 
  15.38 Looking back. The path levels off for a bit before the final ascent.  
 

The Clouding Glory

by Inkpotpoet

 

  

 

 

 

   As if looking out from
   a snow globe paper weight
   Braithwaite waves a fond cheerio
   as Grisedale’s arm reaches
   out a beckoning
   hand.

   Soon the landscape loses its civility
   for its harsh meander through
   bracken, gorse and rock.

   The clouds creep in.

   A black cloak shawls
   Grisedale’s shoulders
   as Skiddaw sits sombrely afar
   and Derwent smiles
   its silver lips
   bright beneath this deadening sky.

   Hope, sitting in the young man’s eyes,
   wistfully conjures blue skies.
   Yet there is a
   magnificence in the lone figure
   standing together
   with others in the Coledale Round.

   Onwards through the bracken
   framed path

   the tumult fuelled clouds a guide
   over the laminate mudstone path
   the world reaches out
   from the summit
   a chorus of snow-covered peaks
   along with spines piercing the grey.

   We stand tall.

 

  

 

 

   (C) A.J Westley 10th April 2023

  
     
 
 
  15.42  
   
  15.49 Amazing clouds over Skiddaw  
   
  15.50 Looking up the ridge towards Grisedale Pike's summit.  
   
  15.54 The last pull up to the summit  
   
  15.54  
   
  15.55 Loking over the valley to Scar Crags, Sail and Crag Hill.  
   
  16.05  
   
  16.05 Panorama 141 Having set a turning back time of 4 o'clock we reached the summit a little later. We had decided to press on because the path up had been clear and straightforward to navigate, so we had no fear of getting lost on the way back, even though we knew we would have to do the last bit in the dark.  
   
  16.17 Panorama 142 Reasonable visibility although the light was falling at the summit. The summit to the South West is un-named according to Wainwright, however I found it named as both Hobcarton Head and Hobcarton Crag in different places. Wainwright calls it simply "subsidiary summit" and names the cliffs below Hopegill Head as Hobcarton Crag.  
 
 
  16.19 Grisedale Pike summit  
 
 
   
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