Great Gable is a mountain in the

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 ...

, United Kingdom. It is named after its appearance as a pyramid from

Wasdale Wasdale (; traditionally ) 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 ...

, though it is dome-shaped from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland

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 ...

s, and there are many different routes to the summit. Great Gable is linked by the high

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland *Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *El Paso, Texas, a city which translates to "The Pass" * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see Li ...

of Windy Gap to its smaller sister hill,

Green Gable Green Gable is a fell in the English Lake District often traversed by walkers en route to its more famous neighbour Great Gable. It can be ascended from Honister Pass, Seathwaite, Allerdale, Seathwaite in Borrowdale, or Ennerdale, Cumbria, Enn ...

, and by the lower pass of Beck Head to its western neighbour,

Kirk Fell Kirk Fell is a fell in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is situated between Great Gable and Pillar on the long ring of fells surrounding the valley of Ennerdale, and also stands over Wasdale to the south. However, it is s ...

Topography

The

Western Fells The Western Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Centred on Great Gable, they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale. The Western Fells have high ridges and an abundance of naked rock. P ...

occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and

to the south east. Westwards, the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumbria. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells forming a horseshoe around this valley.

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

: ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Volume 7 The Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1966): Great Gable and its lesser companion

stand at the head of Ennerdale, with the walkers' pass of Sty Head to their backs. This connects

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 ...

, giving Gable a footing in both valleys. The Borrowdale connection is quite tenuous, but Great Gable is prominent in almost any view up the lake. The upper section of Great Gable has a roughly square plan, about half a mile on each side, with the faces running in line with the four points of the compass. The fells connecting and subsidiary ridges occupy the corners of the square. Great Gable from Scafell Pike 21

The northern face is formed by Gable Crag, prominent in views from Haystacks and the surrounding fells. This is the longest continuous wall of crag on the fell and reaches up almost to the summit. Scree slopes fall away below to the headwaters of the River Liza, which flows down Ennerdale. There are few crags on the eastern slopes, although these fall steeply to Styhead Tarn, a feeder of the Borrowdale system. About deep, this tarn occupies a scooped hollow, dammed by boulders fallen from the slopes above. It is reputed to contain

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

and is a popular location for wild camping.Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): The southern flank of Great Gable falls direct to Lingmell Beck, one of the main feeders of

Wastwater Wast Water or Wastwater () is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost long and more than wide. It is a glacial lake, formed in a glacially 'over-deepened' valley. ...

. Right below the summit are the Westmorland Crags, and then a second tier breaks out lower down. These are Kern Knotts, Raven Crag and Great Napes, all footed by great tongues of

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

. Finally on the west rough slopes fall below the rocks of White Napes to the narrow valley of Gable Beck, a tributary of Lingmell Beck. From the north-western corner of the pyramid the connecting ridge to

runs out across the

col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

of Beck Head (). There is a small tarn in the depression, and sometimes a second after heavy rain. Both are blind, having no apparent inlet or outflow. Gable Beck runs south from Beck Head, while an unnamed tributary of the Liza flows northward. The main spine of the Western Fells continues along the north east ridge to

, dropping to Windy Gap () as it rounds the end of Gable Crag. This ridge is rough and rocky, further worn by the boots of countless walkers. Stone Cove lies on the Ennerdale side while the rough gully of

Aaron Slack Hill passes of the Lake District were originally used by people in one valley travelling to another nearby without having to go many miles around a steep ridge of intervening hills. Historically, in the Lake District of northwest England, trave ...

runs down toward Styhead Tarn. The south-eastern ridge provides the connection to the Southern Fells, across the pass of Sty Head. This is a major crossroads for walkers and climbers, the summit being at around . On the opposite slope is

Great End Great End is the most northerly mountain in the Sca Fell, Scafell chain, in the English Lake District. From the south it is simply a lump continuing this chain. From the north, however, it appears as an immense mountain, with an imposing nor ...

in the

Scafells The Scafells, or Scafell Massif, are a range of fells in the Cumbrian Mountains of England, made up of the remains of a caldera volcano. Fells in the range include Broad Crag, Ill Crag, Scafell, and Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain. G ...

. Kern Knotts lies on this south-east ridge, as does the small pool of Dry Tarn. The south-western ridge gives to high level connection, dropping down Gavel Neese in the angle between Lingmell Beck and Gable Beck.

Geology

Lying on the edge of the Scafell Syncline, the various strata dip to the east. The summit area is formed from a

dacite 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. ...

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

flow (Scafell Dacite), directly underlain by the Lingmell Formation. This

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 co ...

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 ...

and

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

outcrops a little to the west of the summit. Around Beck Head is evidence of the Crinkle Member, welded

rhyolitic Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The miner ...

tuff and lapilli tuff with some breccia. A dyke of

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 ...

and hybridised andesite

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

is responsible for Kern Knotts.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheets 29 and 38'': BGS (1999) and (1998)

Summit

The summit of Great Gable is strewn with

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

s and the highest point marked by a rock outcrop set with a

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 ...

. There is a plaque set on the summit rock commemorating those members of the

Fell & Rock Climbing Club The Fell & Rock Climbing Club (or the Fell and Rock Club or FRCC) is the senior climbing club covering the English Lake District. It was founded in 1906–1907 and, amongst its other activities, publishes rock climbing guides to the area. It ...

who died in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

; an annual memorial service is held here on

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

. The club bought of land including Great Gable and donated it to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

in memory of these members, and the plaque was dedicated on

Whit Sunday Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian holy day of Pentecost. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the Ho ...

1924 by

Geoffrey Winthrop Young Geoffrey Winthrop Young (25 October 1876 – 8 September 1958) was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering. Young was born in Kensington, the middle son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet, a n ...

in front of 500 people. The bronze memorial, weighing 70 kg, was removed on 10 July 2013 by 13 soldiers and carried down the hill via a stretcher. A replacement, with spelling errors corrected, was installed by Royal Engineers in October 2013.Tribute to fallen of First World War gets new lease of life"
Yorkshire Post 25 October 2013 Due to its central position within the Lake District and great

prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

the summit offers panoramic views. All of the main fell groups are laid out, though

Wast Water Wast Water or Wastwater () is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost long and more than wide. It is a glacial lake, formed in a glacially 'over-deepened' valley ...

Crummock Water Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It is long, wide, deep, and has an area of . The lake's primary inflow is Buttermere Dubs, itself the outflow of Buttermere, and its outflow is the River Cocker, which mee ...

and

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 ...

are the only lakes visible. southwest of the summit, overlooking the Napes, is the Westmorland Cairn. This cairn was erected in 1876 by two brothers named Westmorland to mark what they considered to be the finest view in the Lake District. From here ground falls away into the upper Wasdale valley. Further cairns mark the top of Gable Crag. The summit has become a popular site for the scattering of ashes following

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

.Hewitt, Dave (ed.): ''A Bit of Grit on Haystacks: A Celebration of Wainwright'': Millrace (2004):

Ascents

Routes to climb to the summit start from all of the main dales that radiate out from central Lakeland. A popular route is to climb Sour Milk Gill from Seathwaite in Borrowdale, first ascending

before traversing Windy Gap.Bill Birkett:''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):

Other walking routes

described the 'Gable Girdle', a circuit around the fell at mid height. This links a number of existing paths, namely the north and south traverses, Styhead Pass,

and Moses Trod. The south traverse climbs westward from

Sty Head Sty Head is a mountain pass in the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is at an altitude of 1,600 feet (488 m) and there is a small tarn ( Styhead Tarn) near its summit. The pass is at the head of Wasdale, which contains the lake ...

and provides access to the Napes and Kern Knotts for rock climbers. The route offers views of Napes Needle, Sphinx Rock and many other climbing locations. The north traverse similarly runs beneath Gable Crag to Windy Gap. In the west the two traverses are joined by a section of Moses Trod, running up the southern side of Beck Head. "Moses" was a possibly apocryphal trader-cum-smuggler, based at Honister Quarry. His route contoured the fellside from there to provide access to

markets for his illicit whisky. Moses Trod would also function as a route with minimal uphill sections for transporting slate from the quarry to the coast. Aaron Slack provides a fast down from Windy Gap to Sty Head.

Rock climbing

Great Gable has cliffs to the north (Gable Crag) and south (Westmorland Crags, the Napes, and Kern Knotts). The Napes are important in the history of English

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

: Walter Parry Haskett Smith's ascent of the detached pinnacle of Napes Needle in June 1886 is thought by some to mark the origins in England of rock climbing as a sport in its own right. A BBC documentary by Eye to Eye on the history of mountaineering in 1956 filmed Monica Jackson with Horace "Rusty" Westmoreland climbing it.

References

External links

* W. P. Haskett Smith's account of th
first ascent of Napes Needle
from the FRCC Journal, No. 8, 1914. * Computer generated summit panorama
NorthSouth

Unveiling The War Memorial Tablet, June 8th, 1924 (photo)
{{Marilyns N Eng Marilyns of England Hewitts of England Fells of the Lake District Nuttalls Climbing areas of England Cumberland (unitary authority) Monuments and memorials in Cumbria World War I memorials in England