How to Climb the Fells and Avoid the Crowds

YOU'VE come to the Lake District to climb the fells. But sometimes it feels like the whole world and her granny has the same idea. So how do you climb the fells and avoid the crowds?

Local Knowledge and the Wainwrights

There's a procession up Helvellyn, and a string of hikers striding up Scafell Pike. These are the high mountains of England, the ones on everybody's list. They would be the Instagram favourites if it wasn't so often misty on the summits. And so you're never far from the madding crowd.

So this is where local knowledge comes in. Here at the Cedar Manor we've been ticking off the Wainwrights over the past few years. That's the 214 summits listed by Alfred Wainwright in seven marvellously detailed guidebooks to the Lakeland fells. We can let you borrow a copy when you come here, but you'll get hooked and want to buy your own. We can also lend you a map but that's something else you'll want for yourself once you get the fellwandering bug.

Our own wanderings have taken us to the quieter summits. Just as magnificent, just as exciting. In some cases even more exciting. So we want to share with you our alternative mountains, how to climb the fells and avoid the crowds.

Scafell: A True Giant

Scafell

Let's start right at the top. Everyone wants to climb Scafell Pike because it's England's highest. But if you want a real taste of mountaineering, it's neighbouring Scafell that you should be climbing. It has craggy ramparts and lofty ridges. And what Wainwright describes as the "sublime architecture of buttresses and pinnacles" that make Scafell a true giant among the fells.

In fact, when people first started giving names to mountains, the whole of the high land south of Sty Head was known as Scaw Fell, and then the Pikes of Scafell. And if one is just 130ft higher than the other, mountaineers and crag rats know which SEEMS to be superior.

Scafell has places which are not for walkers, though they can be avoided. Wainwright says that "the greatest single obstacle confronting ridge walkers on the hills of Lakeland is the notorious Broad Stand". Get up there, see what he means, and follow his wise detour. But if adventure is all about challenging yourself, this is the place to be and the place to see.

It's not so easily accessible from Langdale or Borrowdale, but you can walk up Scafell from Wasdale Head, calling in afterwards for a pint at one of our favourite inns. Or you can follow a true mountain route from the lovely valley of Eskdale. Wainwright has alternative ascents for those who want a challenging walk, as well as those looking for some scrambling routes.

But as always, know your limits, be prepared, be adventure smart. Do you know where you're going and have the skills to cope if the weather changes? And make sure you've got the right kit.

Wainwright Guide: The Southern Fells

Place Fell: Ullswater's Quiet Giant

Place Fell

Over the hill at beautiful Ullswater there are mountains on all sides. To the west is the mighty Helvellyn, and from here the ascent can be made along the tricky and notorious Striding Edge. Along which you might well be in a queue for an hour or so. How about a magnificent hill to climb where you can avoid the crowds?

Up to the east is Place Fell, overlooking the lake and the villages of Glenridding and Patterdale. It's not so high as Helvellyn, at just 2156ft (657m) but it's a splendid giant all the same. We recommend the route by way of Boredale Hause, where the Fix the Fells team have made some big improvements to an eroded path, and added some easy steps.

The top of Place Fell is a wide plateau with the summit at the south western corner. From here the rocky ridge of Hart Crag runs for a short distance north east across the plateau, dotted with a number of small tarns. Then the ground gradually narrows as it descends to Low Moss, beyond which lie the lesser tops of High Dodd and Sleet Fell. The views on a clear day are stunning, and there's a real sense of achievement being up here away from the crowds.

Wainwright Guide: The Far Eastern Fells

Blencathra: The Saddleback

Blencathra

Peak-baggers feel obliged to trudge up Skiddaw as it's the fourth highest mountain in England. But next door, literally, is one of the finest fells you'll ever see or walk on. Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is a beauty, a dramatic south face greeting visitors heading up the A591 with a series of serrated ridges dropping sharply to the valley. The furthest east of these, Sharp Edge, offers a taste of real mountaineering to rival Striding Edge, but is never as busy.

Blencathra stands at 2847ft (868m) and, says Wainwright, is one of the grandest objects in Lakeland. "This is a mountain that compels attention, even from those dull people whose eyes are not habitually lifted to the hills." There are easier ways to the top, via Roughten Gill or Blease Fell, but Wainwright himself always loved a challenge. He describes with glee the ascent by way of Hall's Fell with its Narrow Edge: "For active walkers and scramblers this route is positively the finest way to any mountain-top in the district. It is direct, exhilarating, has glorious views and scores a bulls-eye by leading unerringly to the summit cairn."

Even harder, he says, is the climb via Doddick Gill: "Hard scrambling throughout. For tough guys only. Not for solitary walkers." And he adds with typical Wainwright humour: "A route to commend heartily to one's worst enemy." The summit itself is windswept and shelterless, but we've been up there with some very tame sheep who helped themselves to our sandwiches. Want a challenge? This is it.

Wainwright Guide: the Northern Fells

Castle Crag: Borrowdale's Hidden Gem

Castle Crag

Here's a tiny mountain with a lot packed into a small space, and a great alternative to avoid the crowds heading up Catbells. In fact, it's not even quite "mountain" height by Lake District standards, at just 985ft (300m), but Wainwright decided it qualifies and we agree. It lies in the "jaws" of Borrowdale, an imposing sight just as significant as Catbells. In fact Wainwright says: "If a visitor to Lakeland has only two or three hours to spare, poor fellow, yet desperately wants to reach a summit and take back an enduring memory of the beauty and atmosphere of the district, let him climb Castle Crag."

Or her! We have to forgive Wainwright for his poor acknowledgement of women walkers and climbers because he's such a good guide and otherwise very entertaining. Women do climb the fells, and always have done. He describes ascents from both Grange and Rosthwaite, each full of fascination all the way. It's an area rich in history, with abandoned quarries. And the perfect circular summit was, it's thought, once a fort or stronghold of the early Britons. Today there's a commemorative tablet below the cairn, a war memorial to the people of Borrowdale.

Do take care on the descent. There's only one safe way off the top and Wainwright describes it in detail.

Wainwright Guide: The North Western Fells

Silver How: Grasmere's Secret Summit

Silver How

Closer to home for us here at the Cedar Manor just outside Grasmere is Helm Crag. It's famous for a recognisable outline, the lion and the lamb, and for that reason there's a continual stream of walkers who want to climb the fell up its well-trodden path. So if you want to avoid the crowds, you don't have to go far to find delightful, secretive Silver How. A lovely name for a lovely little mountain, Silver How is just 1292ft (393m), with a grassy top and great views from the summit.

But there are wonderful rough slopes to be climbed to get there, through juniper and bracken, and by way of some splendid waterfalls: Blindtarn Gill, Wray Gill and Meg's Gill. Silver How is separated from Loughrigg by the road to Grasmere over Red Bank, but after that becomes part of a long ridge above Langdale to the highest point at High Raise. But it's a splendid little climb in its own right.

From Grasmere there are paths that lead from behind Allan Bank, and from opposite the boat landings at Faeryland. But there are also good routes up from Chapel Stile and from Elterwater. There are several little hummocks across the top of the fell but the real summit is above the steep Grasmere face. Give this one a try; we love it.

Wainwright Guide: The Central Fells