Calf Crag is a

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...

in the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, on the eastern side of the High Raise massif.

Topography

The spine of the

Central Fells The Central Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Reaching their highest point at High Raise (2,500 ft or 762 metres), they occupy a broad area to the east of Borrowdale. The Central Fells are generally lower than the ...

runs on a north–south axis with the high point at High Raise. A complex system of daleheads to the east of this apex resolves itself into Calf Crag, a broad-topped ridge featuring a number of rocky tops. Calf Crag is bounded by Wythburndale to the north and by its upper gathering grounds to the west. Far Easedale lies to the south while the head of Greenburn forms the eastern face, both of these sides being craggy. The Wyth Burn flows north east into

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Allerdale, Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for inst ...

while Far Easedale Gill and Green Burn descend to the

River Rothay The Rothay is a spate river of the Lake District in north-west England. Its name comes from Old Norse and translates literally as ''the red one''. This has come to mean ''trout river''. It rises close to Rough Crag above Dunmail Raise at a p ...

and ultimately to

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

. Calf Crag thus stands on the main north-south watershed of the Lakeland Fells. The summit plateau, about a mile across, sends two narrow eastern ridges to the north and south of Greenburn Bottom. The former leads to

Steel Fell Steel Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, lying between Thirlmere and Grasmere. It is triangular in plan, the ridges running north, west and south east. Steel Fell rises to the west of the Dunmail Pass road and can be climbed from the ...

, while the southern spur passes over Gibson Knott before ending at

Helm Crag Helm Crag is a fell in the English Lake District situated in the Central Fells to the north of Grasmere. Despite its low height it sits prominently at the end of a ridge, easily seen from the village. This, combined with the distinctive summi ...

. Southwest from Calf Crag the ground rises over rocky terrain to Sergeant Man and High Raise, although this could hardly be termed a ridge.

Geology

Much of Calf Crag is covered by

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

deposits although the summit knoll is an outcrop of the Lincomb Tarn Formation. This is composed of

dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite ...

lapilli Lapilli is a size classification of tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. ''Lapilli'' (singular: ''lapillus'') is Latin for "little stones". By definition lapilli range f ...

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

with

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomi ...

sills. The eastern crags at Pike of Carrs display the underlying Esk Pike Formation of

volcaniclastic Volcaniclastics are geologic materials composed of broken fragments (clasts) of volcanic rock. These encompass all clastic volcanic materials, regardless of what process fragmented the rock, how it was subsequently transported, what environment it ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999)

Summit

The summit is a rocky knoll with a small crag directly to the south. There is a tidy

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

although the patch of rushes noted by Wainwright is no longer in evidence.Mark Richards: ''The Central Fells'': Collins (2003): A tarn lies between here and a subsidiary top to the west. The view is heavily restricted by higher fells westward, but there is a fine vista of the lake of Grasmere with the

Helvellyn range The Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, "fell" being the local word for "hill". The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest summit of the group. The Helvellyn range forms a ridge extend ...

rising behind. Paths on the fell follow the routes to Steel Fell, Gibson Knott and Sergeant Man. A bridleway over Greenup Edge (a section of the

Coast to Coast Walk The Coast to Coast Walk is a long-distance footpath between the west and east coasts of Northern England, nominally long. Devised by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, th ...

) passes southwest of the top as it leads from

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' t ...

to Far Easedale.

Ascents

Grasmere village is the most convenient starting point with approaches possible along either Far Easedale or Green Burn. The latter makes a direct assault up a grassy strip between Pike of Carrs and Rough Crag, while the Far Easedale route gains the ridge 'behind' the summit. Beginning from the head of Thirlmere a way can also be made up Wythburndale, although this will involve a certain amount of bog-hopping. Indirect climbs are popular as part of the 'Greenburn Horseshoe', also taking in Steel Fell, Gibson Knott and Helm CragBirkett, Bill: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):

References

{{Central Fells Fells of the Lake District