Pike Of Blisco
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Pike o' Blisco, or Pike of Blisco, 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 t ...
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 ...
in
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England. Located between the valleys 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 ...
and Little Langdale, its relative isolation from neighbouring
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 together with slopes falling away immediately from the summit in all directions mean it has excellent views: the view of the
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 ...
across Great Langdale is particularly arresting. The name ''Pike of Blisco'' is the form used on
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
maps. The influential guidebook writer
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 ...
preferred ''Pike o' Blisco'' (he refers to ''Pike of Blisco'' as its "Sunday name"), and wrote, "the man has no blood in his veins who does not respond eagerly to its fine-sounding,
swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, and guile, and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, ...
name".


Topography

Pike o' Blisco stands on the complex ridge of high ground descending south-eastward from the
Scafell massif Scafell ( or ; also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has a height of , making it the second-highest mountain in England after its neighbour, Scafell Pike, from which it ...
. The ridge incorporates
Esk Pike Esk Pike is a fell in the English Lake District, one of the cirque of hills forming the head of Eskdale. Topography The Southern Fells include the highest ground in England, a horseshoe which begins with Scafell and Scafell Pike in the west ...
, Bow Fell,
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 a ...
and
Cold Pike Cold Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It is a satellite of Crinkle Crags and stands above the Upper Duddon Valley. Topography When travelling clockwise, Crinkle Crags is the last of the high cirque of fells forming the head o ...
before turning sharply north-eastward to Pike o' Blisco; it then makes a further abrupt northerly diversion around Blea Tarn to connect to Lingmoor Fell. To the north of Pike o' Blisco is the Oxendale branch 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 ...
, while Little Langdale stands to the south east. The two valleys drain eastward, joining beyond Lingmoor Fell. To the south of Pike o' Blisco is the summit of
Wrynose Pass The Wrynose Pass is a mountain pass in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England between the Duddon Valley and Little Langdale. Etymology The unusual name of the pass is taken from that of the adjacent Wrynose hill, also called Wr ...
, which links Little Langdale with the
Duddon Valley The Duddon Valley is a valley in the southern Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Duddon flows through the valley, rising in the mountains between Eskdale and Langdale, before flowing into the Irish Sea near Broughton ...
, and beyond the pass lies
Swirl How Swirl How is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands between Coniston and the Duddon Valley in the southern part of the District. It rivals the Old Man of Coniston as the highest point within the traditional County Palatine of Lancashi ...
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 Kin ...
. Between Cold Pike and Pike o' Blisco is a wide grassy depression at . On the southern side is the source of the River Duddon, while to the north is Red Tarn, a feeder of Great Langdale Beck. Red Tarn is an elongated pool whose stony bed can be seen through clear shallow waters, reputed to hold trout. Its name comes from the colour of the surrounding soil rather than the water itself.Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): The tarn forms a focal point for walkers, as the wide path from the summit of Wrynose Pass to Great Langdale runs beside it, with a further path branching off across its outflow towards Crinkle Crags. The main path was originally made to serve Red Crag Mine, which now consists of a series of pits and trial borings for
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...
, concentrated about north of the tarn. The mine was worked from 1860 to 1875 but never achieved commercial success.Adams, John: ''Mines of the Lake District Fells'': Dalesman (1995) Pike o' Blisco itself consists of the steep, conical summit area above Red Tarn along with a swathe of hilly country spreading out to the south and east. The summit is defended by Kettle Crag to the north and Black Wars to the west, with Black Crag abreast the ridge descending southward to Wrynose Pass. The eastern part of the fell is centred upon the subsidiary top of Blake Rigg at around in an area of rocky outcrops and small tarns. From Blake Rigg a ridge runs north east to cross the summit of the Blea Tarn road at . This pass, narrow and steep even by Lake District standards, links the two Langdales and is named after the large tarn which sits beneath the eastern crags of Blake Rigg. Its waters hold trout, perch and pike, and the easily accessible shoreline features in many a photograph of the
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 ...
.


Geology

The interbedded
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
of the Blisco Member predominate, with an intrusion of
rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...
running across the eastern slopes.
British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...
: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 38'': BGS (1998)


Summit

Unusually for Lake District fells, Pike o' Blisco's summit is clearly visible from the valley below, in this case
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 ...
. (Consequently, a good view of the valley may be obtained from the summit.) Before 1959 the summit was crowned with a tall, conical
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 ...
which could be seen from the valley, but between 1958 and 1959 it was apparently vandalised. It has subsequently been rebuilt, although it does not appear as tall today as it does in Wainwright's 1958 drawing.


Ascent routes

There are two distinct routes to the summit from the popular walkers' resort of Dungeon Ghyll at the head of Great Langdale. One goes via Stool End farm at the foot of
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 eighth-highest mountain in the Lake District and one of the most popula ...
; from here it follows the
public footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide va ...
over the Oxendale Beck and up to Red Tarn, at around above sea level, before ascending Pike o' Blisco's steep west face. The other route, which takes a generally more even gradient, climbs the mountain's east face using a path that starts from the Little Langdale road.Richards, Mark: ''Mid-Western Fells'': Collins (2004): It is also possible to climb Pike o' Blisco from Little Langdale, via a public footpath from Wrynose Bridge on the road to
Wrynose Pass The Wrynose Pass is a mountain pass in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England between the Duddon Valley and Little Langdale. Etymology The unusual name of the pass is taken from that of the adjacent Wrynose hill, also called Wr ...
, about from the head of the valley. An alternative route from this direction, recommended by Wainwright, involves
scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...
up a gully in the crags above the valley head, then walking across pathless terrain to the summit. The easiest route of ascent, however, is from the Three Shire Stone at the head of the Wrynose Pass, where vehicles may be parked at . Pike o' Blisco is often climbed as a circuit around the head of Great Langdale incorporating
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 a ...
and
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 eighth-highest mountain in the Lake District and one of the most popula ...
, sometimes extended to include
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 t ...
and even the Langdale Pikes.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pike Of Blisco Marilyns of England Fells of the Lake District Hewitts of England Nuttalls Cumberland (unitary authority) Westmorland and Furness