Howgill Fells
Want to climb mountains in winter but don’t have the technical skills? James Forrest heads to the rounded, grassy Howgills for an easy wintry outing.
Alfred Wainwright described the Howgill Fells as looking like a herd of sleeping elephants. If we run with this for a second, then maybe the smooth, rounded body lines of a family of dozing elephants are exactly what you need for a ‘safe‘ snowy day in the fells, especially if your technical winter skills aren’t up to alpine scratch. No crampons or ice axes needed to climb the gentle slopes of an elephant’s trunk, right? Little chance of falling to your death down an icy precipice when you’re descending the curved mound of an elephant’s bottom, right?
The Howgill Fells are not only easy in winter, they are usually quiet too. Lost in a no-man’s land between the Lakes and the Dales, part of Cumbria but located within the expanded Yorkshire Dales National Park, these grassy, domed hills are less frequented than their more famous neighbours. And that means a day in the wintry Howgills can offer a welcome dose of silence and solitude. This route from Sedbergh climbs over gentle, easy slopes to The Calf – the highest point of the Howgills – and visits Cautley Spout, England’s highest waterfall... but offers no signs of any real elephants, I’m afraid. Sorry.