The Scafells
1NY182074 A track continues from the further end of the car park. Keep ahead on a well used path uphill to left of the stream. (After a gate, you could turn up left to ascend via Lingmell, see Spring 2022 issue.) At 300m level the stream divides; the path follows the righthand one. At 500m level, the slope eases at Hollow Stones below the formidable Scafell Crag. (From here it’s possible to head up into the Lord’s Rake gully, omitting over-popular Scafell Pike.)
2NY201072 Fork left, north-east up good path zigzags. Above the Lingmell col the path turns abruptly up to the right. It bends up right along a shelf of bare rock then turns uphill again to a large cairn at the plateau edge. Cairns lead onto the steeper summit knoll to Scafell Pike summit.
3NY215072
Briefly return on the approach path, north-west, down off the summit knoll onto the plateau. Turn left, west, following a line of smaller but well built cairns and traces of a path, soon bending slightly left (west-south-west).
As you descend more steeply off the plateau’s edge, the path is clearer, slanting down to the Mickledore pass with its stretcher box.
4NY210069 A narrow ridge leads ahead to end against the crags of Scafell. About 30m before its far end, a gravelly little groove leads very steeply down to the right. (This descent off Mickledore is awkward and exposed: the alternative is to descend left, towards Eskdale, for the path to Scafell by Foxes Tarn.) The gravel groove becomes a path slanting down left to the base of the Scafell crag. The path, now delightful, runs along the base of the crags, into the foot of the Lord’s Rake gully. The gully floor is scree and stones; the right-hand wall gives useful handholds. At the top, a jammed boulder gives a scrambling move to a passage behind a rock tower. The faultline gully continues ahead, down then up again to another gap. Through this the gully line again
descends, then levels to a short scree gully onto the west ridge of Scafell. Turn uphill on a rough path up to a saddle with a cross-shaped cairn. Turn right to Scafell summit.
5NY206064 Leave the summit south-east to find the wide ridgeline descending roughly south. It levels to the slight rise Long Green. Then head down south to the ridge-end hump Slight Side. This has two summits, both bare rock.
6NY209050 Direct descent is due west slanting down grass terraces through rock outcrops. More easily, head back north into the slight col separating the summit from Scafell, then bear left to slant west down grassy slopes. Cross flat, tussocky ground to descend between Oliver Gill (left) and Hardrigg Gill (right). Stay close above Oliver Gill, then cross Hardrigg Gill at granite slabs where the slope eases. A path is just beyond, downstream to the shore of Burnmoor Tarn.
7NY186046 Turn right, on a clear path, the old Coffin Road. This runs north through a wide, shallow pass. The path continues down north towards the head of Wast Water, joining a wider path arriving from Illgill Head. The path runs