Kentmere Pike 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 moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Lake District, rising between the valleys of

Kentmere Kentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, at the 2011 census Kentmere had a population of 1 ...

and

Longsleddale Longsleddale () is a valley and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the hamlet of Sadgill. The parish has a population of 73. As the population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100, deta ...

. It is the highpoint on the ridge between Harter Fell and Shipman Knotts.

Topography

The western Kentmere slopes fall over the rough ground of Hallow Bank Quarter to Ullstone Gill, a tributary of the River Kent. Beyond here Smallthwaite Knott, an outlier of Harter Fell, separates Kentmere Pike from the main valley. There is extensive evidence of former quarrying on this flank. By contrast the Longsleddale side wears a rim of crag above the narrow upper course of the River Sprint. Goat Scar, Raven Crag and Brown Crags are the main faces, while Steel Pike appears from the valley bridleway as an independent rocky peak. The remains of the large Wrengill Quarry are just north of here, together with a mine entrance a little higher up the slope. The ridge northwards to Harter Fell drops to a wet depression and then climbs up the grassy ridge, following first the wall and then a broken fence. South-eastwards the ridge continues to the cairned top of Goat Scar, which provides a good viewpoint for the craggy throat of Longsleddale. From here the high ground turns due south to Shipman Knotts.

Summit

The top of the fell is a grassy dome with a stone wall running along the ridge. An

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

column stands just to the east of the wall whilst a small summit cairn has been built to the west. Both are of equivalent height. The view of Lakeland is intermittent between the tops on the Ill Bell ridge, the Coniston fells and a portion of the

Scafell Scafell ( or ; also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a mountain in the English Lake District, part of the Southern Fells. Its height of makes it the second-highest mountain in England after its neighbour Scafell Pike, from which ...

group being visible. An open vista to the south encompasses

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in length, and almost 1 mile (1.5 km) at its wides ...

and Morecambe Bay.

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', publis ...

:''

A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...

'', Book 2:

Ascents

Kentmere Pike is most commonly climbed as part of the Kentmere Horseshoe. This circuit takes in the ridges on either side of the valley, together with the higher fells at its head. Direct ascents can also be made from either flank. An ancient grooved path rises up the fellside from the end of High Lane in Kentmere, meeting the ridgetop wall to the south of the summit. From Longsleddale the walled track that leads to Gatesgarth Pass can be left just north of Steel Pike. The line of an old fence is then followed to the ridge.

References

{{Far Eastern Fells Fells of the Lake District Hewitts of England Nuttalls