High Pike 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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 ...

, located five kilometres north of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

. Situated in the

Eastern Fells The Eastern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Centred on Helvellyn they primarily comprise a north–south ridge running between Ullswater and Lakeland's Central Valley. Partition of the Lakeland fells ...

, it can be confused with another Lake District High Pike in the

Northern Fells The Northern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Including Skiddaw, they occupy a wide area to the north of Keswick. Smooth, sweeping slopes predominate, with a minimum of tarns or crags. Blencathra in ...

. High Pike reaches a height of . It is sometimes referred to as Scandale Fell, although this name really only applies to the high ground at the head of Scandale.

Topography

When viewed from the south around High Sweden bridge near Ambleside, High Pike has the look of a remote peak standing alone with cliffs falling away from the summit on its eastern side. However, in reality it is just a slight rise on the long southern ridge of

Dove Crag Dove Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. Situated in the Eastern Fells of the national park, seven kilometres south-south-west of Glenridding, it reaches a height of . The fell is often climbed as part of the Fairfield horseshoe walk ...

with only about five metres of

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 ...

which prevents it even qualifying as a “Nuttall”; nevertheless both

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 ...

and

Bill Birkett Thomas William Birkett (born 1952) better known as Bill Birkett is an English civil engineer, climbing writer, photographer, rock climber, and mountaineer, from the Lake District, Cumbria, who has undertaken many expeditions around the world. ...

mention the fell in their books on the Lakeland Fells.

Geology

The crest of the ridge consists of the

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 ...

laminated claystone and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

of the Esk Pike Formation. Beneath is the

dacitic 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. ...

welded

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 Lincomb Tarns Formation.

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)

Ascents

High Pike is often climbed as part of the

Fairfield horseshoe Fairfield Horseshoe is a classic circular hillwalking ridge walk route starting from Rydal or Ambleside in the English Lake District that takes in all the fells that surround the valley of the Rydal Beck. The round The walk is extremely popular ...

walk. The ascent from Ambleside leaves the centre of the town northerly and goes by Low Sweden Bridge to reach the open fell where a sizeable

dry stone wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

is followed firstly over

Low Pike Low Pike is a small fell in the England, English Lake District. It has a modest height of 508 m (1,667 ft) and is situated three kilometres north of Ambleside. Low Pike is well seen from the streets of the town as the first prominent f ...

and then down to a depression at before climbing to the flat grassy summit of High Pike with its cairn standing on the edge of crags overlooking Scandale.

Summit

Much of the view from the top is curtailed by higher fells but there is a view of the

Far Eastern Fells The Far Eastern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Reaching their highest point at High Street (828 metres or 2.718 ft.), they occupy a broad area to the east of Ullswater and Kirkstone Pass. ...

over the

Scandale Pass 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 ...

and an excellent view of Ambleside and the head of

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 ...

References

* A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Eastern Fells, Alfred Wainwright, * Complete Lakeland Fells, Bill Birkett, {{Eastern Fells Fells of the Lake District