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 of M ...

in the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, on the eastern side of the High Raise massif.

Topography

The spine of the

Central Fells The Central Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. 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 gen ...

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 Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district 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 numbe ...

while Far Easedale Gill and Green Burn descend to the River Rothay and ultimately to

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

. 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, 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 (village), Grasmere. Despite its low height it sits prominently at the end of a ridge, easily seen from the village. This, combined with the ...

. 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), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

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

lapilli tuff Lapilli (: lapillus) 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'' is Latin for "little stones". By definition lapilli range from in diam ...

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 predomina ...

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 rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

.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 human-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 (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

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 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, ...

) passes southwest of the top as it leads from

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...

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