The Lake District has been a frequent holiday destination since I was a kid, but I’ve never climbed England’s highest mountain there. Partly that’s because it has a reputation for being a tricky climb, which it’s really not (unless you choose to make it tricky). Partly because it’s not so easy to get to (versus say Helvellyn, which I’ve climbed more times than I can remember, because it’s ‘right there’ from Patterdale or Glenridding).

Planning

There are a bunch of great resources offering routes and other advice:

• Scafell Pike – The Complete Guide to England’s Highest Peak
• Climbing Scafell Pike │Cumbria
• Scafell Pike Walk
• Scafell Pike – Maps and Routes

After checking them all out I decided on Wasdale Head as the starting point, then a (hopefully) gentle descent down to Great Langdale. This essentially combined two different routes, with the Scafell Pike summit as the connection point.

Having different start and end points was made possible by family members offering lifts. Sadly neither point is particularly easy to get to by public transport.

Getting there

The scafellpike.org.uk site has an amusing graphic showing estimated driving times to Scafell Pike, but even though we were already in the heart of the Lake District it took 90m to get to Wasdale Head. The drive took us through parts of the National Park I’d never been to before, and there was plenty of natural beauty to soak up along the way.

The ascent to the summit

From Wasdale Head it’s a pretty steady climb all the way to the top. We chose the Mickledore approach, as Charlotte likes climbing.

From there, the approach to the summit is a bit of a rocky moonscape.

As we neared the summit we rejoined with the masses who’d chosen the Hollow Stones route, and it all got a bit busy. We’d made good time, arriving at the summit 2h after starting out.

Chambers Crag

From the summit we should have continued on to Broad Crag and Ill Crag, running along the top of the ridge line. But Charlotte fancied a different route, and asked if we could go down Chambers Crag. We had time on our hands, conditions were good, and so I happily changed the plan.

This got us an interesting descent into the valley, which of course meant more ‘up’ later. There was also some more scrambling :)

I’ve only found one resource online describing a route via Chambers Crag, Scafell Pike – The Crazy Route! It wasn’t so crazy, but it certainly got us away from the crowds. We saw two people coming up that way, and got to Knotts of the Tongue before bumping into anybody else.

Down again

The descent was pretty mundane, and perhaps less gentle than I’d hoped, with pretty much constant steps down all the way to the ford marking the entry into Langdale Fell valley. From there it was a level (and often waterlogged) stroll to the car park next to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.

The drive home from there was 45m, and we were back in time to freshen up before dinner after a full day of activity.

It’s pretty obvious when we stopped for lunch on that final chart ;)