Blencathra is an intimidating Wainwright. Not because of it’s size, though it is rather larger. But, because of the famed ascent via Sharp Edge, a renowned Grade 1 scramble. Using that ridge as your chosen path is not recommended unless you have the experience and weather is completely clear and dry. Will I ever be able to ascend Blencathra that way? I’m not sure. At this point, it doesn’t seem likely as the idea is incredibly scary to me but, you never know. A snowy winters day in February however, was never going to be the time to try.
In this post, I’m going to share the winter-friendly route we took to the summit and, to be honest, this makes an intimidating mountain, very easy indeed. The walk totals around 8km and was completed in just under three hours so it’s perfectly manageable for even less experienced hikers.
To begin, there are a couple of parking options but, the best of all of them is at the top of Blease Road coming out of Threlkeld, near the Blencathra Centre. Funnily enough, my sister went on a geography field trip here when she was in high school. I was always confused when she said she “went to Blencathra” but now I realise it was the Field Centre, not the actual mountain itself. Anyway, one thing to bare in mind about the car park: the last section of road as you enter it is not kind on low cars. Our poor car did scrape on the bottom though we did try our best to avoid it. From the sounds of other people exiting and entering the car park, it was clear most had the same issue. If you have a higher car though, you’ll be absolutely fine. On the plus side, the car park itself is free.
From the car park, we headed up the path that’s closest to the car park entrance, a grassy track that begins the long ascent to the hill tops. The route is fairly steep from the offset but, other than that, won’t prove particularly challenging. Then, one you’ve reached the crossroads, you want to turn left, almost going back on yourself to run parallel to the car park, albeit much higher up. Even from here, you have fantastic views across to Latrigg, Skiddaw Little Man and further across to the Central Lakes. There was a lot of snow on the fells on this occasion and it made for an incredible view.
It certainly seemed as if the central fells had got a lot more snow than Blencathra at this point and, whilst there was some deep snow in areas, most of it wasn’t too deep on the path itself. Soon, the grass path begins to zigzag it’s way up the hillside to reach the first false-summit of the day. Usually, I find these very demoralising but, it was so good to be out and the day so beautiful that I didn’t seem to mind on this occasion. It helps that I knew this was going to be a short, out-and-back route, too.
The first of these is Blease Fell which is already fairly tall at 806m. Sadly, this doesn’t count as a Wainwright on it’s own right and is instead classed as a shoulder summit of the western side of the Blencathra massif. Then, there is the second false summit, this one with a cairn on the top to lure you even more into a false sene of achievement! Gategill Fell Top sits at 852m and you guessed it, it’s not a Wainwright, it’s one of the many Blencathra tops. However, the good news is, you can (on a clear day) see over to Blencathra from here and it’s only a short way to go. Here, see if you can spot Lingy Hut on the hills to the left! We reminisced about the Cumbria Way as we walked and our lunch spot here at neigh on 5pm.
The snow was truly magical and soon enough we had arrived at the Blencathra summit which sits at 868m, marked by a trig point. I always thought Blencathra must be in the top 10 but, in fact it’s only ranked 14th tallest of the Wainwrights. I say only but, given that there are 214 of them, 14th is pretty good going! It actually goes by another name too: Saddleback. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, this was the main name by which the mountain was known and it was marked as such on Ordnance Survey Maps. It was called ‘Saddleback’ because of it’s shape when viewed from the east. It was Alfred Wainwright who brought the older Cumbric name, Blencathra back into popular usage. You’ll notice that on the OS maps of today, both names are used instead.
Once you’d reached the top, we didn’t hang around as it was a little windy and there were quite a few people at the summit too. Instead, we turned straight around and headed back the way we came. The way back down was actually slightly more difficult as the icy snow was a little bit slippery! It didn’t prove too troubling though and soon enough, we dropped below the snow-line and could see the car in the valley.
Another advantage of this car park is the Blencathra Field Centre that I mentioned earlier. At the end of the walk, we popped over to the centre to use their public toilets and there is also a vending machine too, if you fancy a snack! All that was left to do was get in the car for the drive back home.
This was a lovely snowy route! It perhaps doesn’t have the drama of other ascents of Blencathra or elsewhere in the Lake District but, as a gentle ramble up a large mountain goes…I’d say it’s a pretty good one. You’ve got views of the fells, Derwent Water and Keswick, as well as the Solway Peninsula. What more could you ask more?
Have you used this route to reach Blencathra’s summit? Check it out for yourself on Mappedometer here.
Amie x
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