High Pike (Scandale)
| High Pike | |||
| Westmorland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Looking up to High Pike from Low Pike. | |||
| Range: | Lake District Eastern Fells | ||
| Summit: | 2,152 feet NY373088 54°28’12"N, 2°58’5"W | ||
High Pike is a fell in Westmorland which reaches a height of 2,152 feet, within the Lake District’s Eastern Fells. It is to be found three miles north of Ambleside. It shares a name with another Lake District fell: High Pike (Caldbeck) in the Northern Fells.
The hill is sometimes referred to as Scandale Fell, although this name really only applies to the high ground at the head of Scandale.
Landscape
When viewed from the south around High Sweden bridge near Ambleside, High Pike has the look of a remote peak standing alone with cliffs falling away from the summit on its eastern side. However, in reality it is just a slight rise on the long southern ridge of Dove Crag with only about fifteen feet of prominence. Nevertheless, both Alfred Wainwright and Bill Birkett mention the fell in their books on the Lakeland Fells.
Geology
The crest of the ridge consists of the volcaniclastic laminated claystone and siltstone of the Esk Pike Formation. Beneath is the dacitic welded lapilli-tuff of the Lincomb Tarns Formation.[1]
Ascents
High Pike is often climbed as part of the Fairfield horseshoe walk. The ascent from Ambleside leaves the centre of the town northerly and goes by Low Sweden Bridge to reach the open fell where a sizeable dry stone wall is followed firstly over Low Pike and then down to a depression at 1,570 feet before climbing to the flat grassy summit of High Pike with its cairn standing on the edge of crags overlooking Scandale.
Summit
Much of the view from the top is curtailed by higher fells but there is a view of the Far Eastern Fells over the Scandale Pass and an excellent view of Ambleside and the head of Windermere.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about High Pike (Scandale)) |
References
- ↑ British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, England & Wales Sheet 38: BGS (1998)
- Wainwright, Alfred: A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book One — The Eastern Fells (1955)
- Complete Lakeland Fells, Bill Birkett, ISBN 0-00-713629-3
