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

in the English Lake District, situated west of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

in the valley of

Great Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

. Along with the neighbouring fells of

Harrison Stickle Harrison Stickle is a fell in the central part of the English Lake District, situated above Great Langdale. The fell is one of the three (although the number is debated) fells which make up the picturesque Langdale Pikes, the others being Pike ...

and

Pike of Stickle Pike of Stickle, also known as Pike o’ Stickle, is a fell in the English Lake District. It reaches a height of 709 metres (2,326 feet) and is situated in the central part of the national park in the valley of Great Langdale. The fe ...

it forms the picturesque

Langdale Pikes Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

, which when viewed from the area around Elterwater village gives one of the best-known views in the National Park.

Topography

The Langdale Pikes form a parapet to the lower hinterland to their north. From 'behind' they are unimpressive, but their southern faces fall full length over crags to the floor of Langdale, nearly below. Loft Crag has a peaked summit which apes in lesser proportion the fine knoll of Pike of Stickle. To the east, between Loft Crag and Harrison Stickle is the subsidiary top of Thorn Crag. This is sometimes counted as a Langdale Pike in its own right, but only Birkett amongst the major guidebooks takes this view.Bill Birkett: Complete Lakeland Fells: Collins Willow (1994):

Ascents

Loft Crag has a summit elevation of . It lies between Harrison Stickle and Pike o' Stickle and is usually climbed in conjunction with these two peaks. The starting place for the direct ascent of the fell is The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Great Langdale. A path leads north-westerly across the hillside passing Dungeon Ghyll Force waterfall and going between Thorn Crag and Gimmer Crag to a col between Loft Crag and Harrison Stickle. From there it is a straightforward climb to the summit. A more circuitous ascent can be undertaken from the same starting point but taking the well trodden (and repaired) path up Stickle Ghyll to Stickle Tarn. From here the fells of Pavey Ark and Thunacar Knott can be climbed before tackling the three Langdale Pikes.

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 ...

: ''

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 3 The Central Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1958): Mark Richards: ''The Central Fells'': Collins (2003):

Summit and Gimmer Crag

Loft Crag is a fine viewpoint which gives an attractive vista of the fells around Great Langdale. Because the fell juts further out into the valley than the other two Langdale Pikes, it gives a more impressive and full view of the valley. The fell has a small sharp summit below which rises Gimmer Crag, which is one of the top rock climbing venues in the Lake District. The crag is made of volcaniclastic siltstone and mudstone. Climbing in the Lake District was pioneered in the early 1880s by Walter Parry Haskett Smith. British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps: sheet 38; BGS (1998)

References

Image:Langdale_Pikes_from_Rossett_Pike.jpg, The Langdale Pikes seen from

Rossett Pike Rossett Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It is located at the head of Mickleden, one of two tributary valleys of Great Langdale. Topography A bridge of high ground connects the Southern and Central Fells, running from Bow Fell in ...

at the head of Great Langdale. Loft Crag is the peak on the right hand side of the three pikes. {{Central Fells Fells of the Lake District Nuttalls South Lakeland District