Saturday 1 July 2000

Dow Crag

The impressive buttresses of Dow Crag
Height: 778m (2,552ft)
Prominence: 129m (423ft)
Region: Southern Fells
Summit feature: Rocky outcrop
Classifications: Nuttall, Hewitt, Wainwright, Birkett
Times climbed: 4
Related trip report:
The Old Man of Coniston, Dow Crag & White Maiden - 22/05/2019
Dow Crag via the South Rake & the Coniston Fells - 09/12/2018
The Coniston Round - 17/05/2014
Dow Crag & The Old Man of Coniston - 02/03/2013
The summit is no more than a pile of rocks
What Wainwright said:

"Second only to Scafell Crag in the magnificence of its rock architecture is the imposing precipice towering above the stony hollow of Goat's Water, a favourite of climbing ground hallowed by memories of the earliest and greatest Lakeland cragsmen and so obviously the supreme natural attraction hereabouts that its name is given to the whole of the fell which it is part".

A popular fell with rock climbers, Dow Crag was originally just the name for the eastern face of the fell, the land having no need for a name until the inception of hill walking in the 19th Century. Dow was originally named Doe and is still locally pronounced as such.

Dow Crag forms the highest point of the southwestern branch of a series of ridges that meet at Brim Fell. The subsidiary peaks of Brown Pike and Buck Pike continue to Walna Scar Road, a crossing between Coniston and Seathwaite originally constructed to facilitate trade. A car park part way along the road now provides walkers with a head start to the summit of Dow Crag.

Not marked by a cairn, the summit of Dow Crag is no more than a rocky point above the crag with excellent views to the south and west.

Return to Lake District – Southern Fells

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