Scafell ( or ;
also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
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 ...
, part of the
Southern Fells
Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg, 300px, The Scafells
rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side (762 m)
rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress
rect 707 787 893 861 Esk Pike or Crag (885 m)
rect 245 303 409 358 Sca Fell (964 m)
rect 408 238 637 2 ...
. Its height of makes it the second-highest mountain in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
after its neighbour
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
, from which it is separated by
Mickledore
Mickledore (the name means ''great door'' or ''pass'') is a narrow ridge, 840 metres (2755 ft) high, connecting the mountains of Scafell and Scafell Pike in the English Lake District. It is also a pass between the valleys of Wasdale and ...
col.
Topography
Scafell stands between
Wasdale
Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastw ...
in the west and upper
Eskdale to the east. The highest part of the fell is a ridge running south from Mickledore as far as
Slight Side
Slight Side is a fell in the English Lake District it stands 25 kilometres east southeast of the town of Whitehaven and reaches a height of 762 m (2,499 ft). Slight Side lies at the south western edge of the Scafell Massif, a four-kilo ...
, which is counted as a separate fell by most guidebooks.
[Richards, Mark: ''Mid-Western Fells'': Collins (2004): ] Despite regarding Slight Side as a separate entity,
Wainwright included the wide upland area beyond it to the south west as a part of Scafell. More modern guides have partitioned the plateau off as a further independent top, Great How.
The opposing flanks of Scafell are entirely different in character. To the south, monotonous smooth slopes, stony and lacking vegetation at higher levels, run down toward Burnmoor and the head of Wastwater. But on the east side several large crags loom impressively over upper Eskdale. On the north side, the sheer faces of Scafell Crag provide some the finest rock scenery in the Lake District.
Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg, 300px, The Scafell range as seen looking west from Crinkle Crags
Crinkle Crags is a fell in the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria. It forms part of two major rings of mountains, surrounding the valleys of Great Langdale and Upper Eskdale. The name reflects the fell's physical appearance ...
. (Interactive labels.)
rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side (762 m)
rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress
rect 707 787 893 861 Esk Crag or Buttress ( 750 m)
rect 245 303 409 358 Scafell (964 m)
rect 408 238 637 280 Mickledore ( 840 m)
rect 544 174 826 213 South Summit ( 950 m)
rect 706 310 928 355 Scafell Pike (978 m)
rect 870 238 1108 286 Broad Crag (934 m)
rect 1043 308 1198 360 Ill Crag (935 m)
rect 1238 311 1446 351 Great End (910 m)
rect 0 0 1444 1085 Click hyperlink or button to expand
desc none
From the narrow ridge of Mickledore the northern face of Scafell rises precipitously, an unusually complete barrier to progress along a Lakeland ridge, which frustrates many ridge walkers who find that this is a cliff for rock climbers only. At the top of the rise from Mickledore is Symonds Knott (), the northern top. The wall of crags – Scafell Crag to the west and the East Buttress above the Eskdale side of Mickledore – has two main weaknesses. Running laterally across Scafell Crag is Lord's Rake, a scree-filled chute with several intermediate
cols. It has two upper entrances onto the saddle separating Symonds Knott from the main summit. Formerly passable as a scramble, Lord's Rake suffered from a serious rock fall in 2002 — with subsequent further falls — and recent guidebooks do not consider it a viable route, although it is gradually becoming more stable. The block that was bridged across the head of Lord's Rake collapsed into the gully in July 2016, leaving several small unstable blocks behind, which can be avoided with care. The access to West Wall Traverse is clear of debris.
[Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team](_blank)
Accessed 29 September 2007 The second breach in the crags is Broad Stand, a series of sloping steps which drop down from Symonds Knott almost to Mickledore; however, these steepen immediately above Mickledore and cannot be negotiated safely except by rock-climbers.
The main summit stands a little to the south of the saddle, all around being a sea of stones. An easy ridge then steps down southward over Long Green to Slight Side. On the east are Cam Spout Crag and the fine high waterfall after which it is named.
Beyond Slight Side is a rough upland with many craggy tops and a number of
tarns
A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...
, before the southward descent finally ends in Lower Eskdale. South West of Scafell, below the scarp of Great How, is Burnmoor Tarn, one of the largest in Lakeland. Around deep, it holds trout, perch and pike. The tarn is prevented from following what would appear the natural line of drainage into Miterdale by
moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...
s, and empties southward, reaching the Esk at Beckfoot. Near the southern shore stands Burnmoor Lodge, once a keeper's cottage and a dwelling from the nearest road.
[Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): ]
Summit
The main summit bears a large
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 prehi ...
on a short rocky ridge. Northward is a saddle, marked by a large cross of stones and then the bouldery climb to Symonds Knott, the north top. This gives views straight down to Mickledore. Scafell gives a very different view to that from its higher neighbour with
Wastwater and the coastal plain given great prominence. There is a fine vista of the
Western Fells
The Western Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Great Gable they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale. The Western Fells are characterised by high ridges and an abundance of naked rock.
Partition ...
, together with
Bowfell
Bowfell (named ''Bow Fell'' on Ordnance Survey maps) is a pyramid-shaped mountain lying at the heart of the English Lake District, in the Southern Fells area. It is the sixth-highest mountain in the Lake District and one of the most popular ...
and the
Coniston Fells
Coniston may refer to:
Australia
* Coniston (Northern Territory), a cattle station
**Coniston massacre, 1928
*Coniston, New South Wales
** Coniston railway station, New South Wales
* Coniston, Tasmania, a town in the Derwent Valley
United Kingd ...
.
Ascents
Wasdale
The classic ascent via Lord's Rake path from
Wastwater follows the main Scafell Pike footpath to Hollow Stones, then up to Lord's Rake. Lord's Rake may be followed in its entirety, or near the top of the first col, a diversion may be made onto the West Wall Traverse, the exit of which lies closer to the summit. However one section of Lord's Rake is now threatened by unstable rocks following a rock fall in 2001. An alternative is to ascend from the Burnmoor track via Green How, but this misses the rock scenery of Scafell Crag.
Eskdale
A pleasant but lengthy alternative begins from Boot in
Eskdale, following the
River Esk upstream, and scrambling up to the summit by way of
Foxes Tarn
Foxes Tarn is one of the smallest named tarns in the Lake District of England,The Tarns of Lakeland, Volume 1: West, John Nuttall & Anne Nuttall, p98, Cicerone, 1995 situated slightly to the east of the summit of Sca Fell.
Foxes Tarn is also o ...
. A gentler return can be made across moorland, by way of the Burnmoor Tarn. Also starting in Eskdale, the Terrace route can be followed from Wha House, first ascending Slight Side.
From Scafell Pike
![Sca Fell and Mickledore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Sca_Fell_and_Mickledore.jpg)
The route from Scafell Pike to Scafell (or its reverse) is one of the most frustrating in the Lake District. What seems like a direct route is in fact very hazardous as it has to negotiate Broad Stand crag, which is a dangerous and exposed
scramble
Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game
Music Albums
* ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers
* ''Scrambles'' (album)
...
that has caused many accidents and injuries. It is usually treated as a
rock climb
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
, with appropriate ropes and belay protection. Wainwright warns against its dangers to walkers. Its dangers are more obvious travelling from Scafell Pike, but travelling from Scafell, the route loses a lot of height before the danger is seen.
Instead there are two walking routes, but they entail some loss of altitude. The first is via Foxes Tarn to the East of Scafell summit, and the second is via Lord's Rake and the West Wall traverse.
All routes go via Mickledore.
Rock Climbing
Scafell Crag, the massive north buttress of Scafell, and the overhanging East Buttress to the East of Mickledore Col, are the site of many famous historic and contemporary rock climbs. The history of climbing on these crags is documented by a book by The Fell and Rock Climbing Club called Nowt but a fleein' thing. , Latitude Press.
Name history
Until about 1920, the phonetic spelling "Scawfell" was the most common version. This was used by, among others
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
who, in addition to poetry, wrote a popular guide book to the Lake District,
Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretic ...
(whose work replaced Wordsworth's as the definitive guidebook),
Jonathan Otley (who was one of the first to measure the height of most of the Lakeland fells),
John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into Color blindness, colour blindness, which ...
(who also estimated the elevation of many of the fells), the surveyor of the Wasdale Head Enclosure map of 30 January 1808
[Cumbria Record Office, Whitehaven] and the all hotel keepers and tour operators who lived or operated in the area, as typified by the many adverts in
M. J. B. Baddeley's guide of 1895 (versus the guide text which was consistent with the maps therein). This split between local usage and maps printed by national publishers is further illustrated by the Wasdale Hall Estate Plan and Sales Particulars, dated 30th Sept 1920.
This uses the spelling "Scawfell" throughout except in the map attached which was reproduced with permission of the
Ordnance Survey
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg
, logo_width = 240px
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture =
, picture_width =
, picture_caption =
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, di ...
. The first edition of the Rock and Fell Club Guide was titled "Climbs on the Scawfell Group". The phonetic "Scawfell" was still noticeably in use in the 1950s.
The change to the shorter spelling appears to have originated in the Donald Map of 1774, a document with a noticeable number of placename errors. This was then perpetuated by the
Ordnance Survey
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg
, logo_width = 240px
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture =
, picture_width =
, picture_caption =
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, di ...
from 1867. The Donald map is the first to name many mountains in the Lake District - earlier maps concentrated on showing passes through the mountains. Until 1867 the two spellings are roughly equally split on maps, the shorter form being more common with London publishers. General usage at the time was predominantly "Scawfell". The only notable guide book that used "Scafell" prior to 1867 is Ford. The Ordnance Survey produced detailed procedures on capturing correct placenames in 1825, largely as a result of their survey work transferring to Ireland between 1824 and 1838. However, when they restarted their work in England, given the status of Sca Fell as an essential surveying station (taking bearings of
Slieve Donard
Slieve Donard ( ; ) is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland and the wider province of Ulster, with a height of . The highest of the Mourne Mountains, it is near the town of Newcastle on the eastern coast of County Down, overlooking the Iri ...
and
Snowdon, thereby helping to fix the relative positions of Ireland and England), the familiarity with this mountain probably meant that the "Name Book" procedures were overlooked. Hence the correct enquiries were not made and the mistake of Donald was perpetuated.
Wainwright stated that, originally, the name Scawfell/Scafell referred to the whole of the massif from Great End south to
Slight Side
Slight Side is a fell in the English Lake District it stands 25 kilometres east southeast of the town of Whitehaven and reaches a height of 762 m (2,499 ft). Slight Side lies at the south western edge of the Scafell Massif, a four-kilo ...
; only more recently had the general term become applied solely to the part of the
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 ...
south of
Mickledore
Mickledore (the name means ''great door'' or ''pass'') is a narrow ridge, 840 metres (2755 ft) high, connecting the mountains of Scafell and Scafell Pike in the English Lake District. It is also a pass between the valleys of Wasdale and ...
. Wainwright's comments on this in book 4: "When men first named the mountains, the whole of the high mass south of
Sty Head was known as Scaw Fell....".
[ However, Jonathan Otley, writing in the first concise guide to the Lake District, maintained that local shepherds applied the name "Scawfell" only as far as ]Mickledore
Mickledore (the name means ''great door'' or ''pass'') is a narrow ridge, 840 metres (2755 ft) high, connecting the mountains of Scafell and Scafell Pike in the English Lake District. It is also a pass between the valleys of Wasdale and ...
, with the summits beyond called simply "the Pikes". Otley also comments that the Donald map of 1774 and the Ordnance Survey were incorrect in their naming.
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
and Scafell were referred to by the Ordnance Survey in their 1811 report as "Sca-Fell Higher Top" and "Sca-Fell Lower Top".[Lieutenant-Colonel William Mudge, RA FRS and Captain Thomas Colby, RE An Account of the Trigonometrical Survey Carried on by Order of the Master-General of His Majesty's Ordnance in the Years 1800,1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808 and 1809. publ.1811] This can be confirmed from the 1811 account, a modern map and some elementary trigonometry. .
Once Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
(which has its own convoluted name history) had been identified as England's highest mountain, that fact and the greater interest in climbing and fell-walking necessitated the Scafell Range being broken down into a number of individually named elements. This process was completed before the death of Jonathan Otley in 1856, as Otley commented on this change.
It was once believed that Scafell was the highest mountain in this part of the Lake District – it is much more prominent in views from many directions than its higher neighbour – with the three apparently inferior peaks to the north (those now known as Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
, Ill Crag
Ill Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. At , it is the fourth-highest Hewitt and Nutalls anGoogle Search "Highest Mountains In England" peak in England, after Scafell Pike, Sca Fell, and Helvellyn. Ill Crag overlooks Eskdale and has sp ...
and Broad Crag
Broad Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. It is the fifth-highest peak in England at a height of . The mountain was gifted to the National Trust in 1923 by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club.
The peak forms part of the Scafell chain, an ...
) being known collectively as the "Pikes of Scawfell". The heights of many of the fells were first measured by John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into Color blindness, colour blindness, which ...
(Scafell: ) as a result of his study of meteorology and Jonathan Otley, who published a height of for "Scawfell" on his map of 1818. The Ordnance Survey first gave a height of ,[ but this remained essentially unpublished until the maps of Cumberland were printed. ]Dorothy Wordsworth
Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had no a ...
did discover shortly after her ascent of "The Pikes" (Scafell Pike) in 1818 that this peak was higher than Sca Fell - presumably from Otley's map and guide book.
Gallery
File:Scafell massif winter.jpg, Scafell massif from Middle Fell.
File:Scafells.jpg, Scafell massif from Middle Fell
File:Lords' rake scafell in snow 2010.jpg, Lords Rake, Scafell, Cumbria - 2010
File:Scafell crag in snow.jpg, Scafell Crag, Cumbria, from the north, 2010
File:Scafell from scafell pike in snow 2010.jpg, Scafell from Scafell Pike, - 2010.
File:Scafell broadstand in snow 2010.jpg, Detail in snow of Broadstand, Scafell, Cumbria - 2010
File:Scafell crag lords rake.jpg, Scafell Crag with Lord's Rake on the left.
File:Ascent to mickledore scafell.jpg, The ascent from Wasdale to Mickledore (on the right)
File:Scafell botterills slab.jpg, Botterill's slab on Scafell Crag, first climbed in 1903.
Notes
{{Southern Fells
Hewitts of England
Fells of the Lake District
Nuttalls
Mountains under 1000 metres
Furths
Borough of Copeland