All The Gear No Idea: The Lake District

Great Gable

The towering dome of rock keeping watch over the high, rocky gateway at Sty Head.

Pillar

A majestic, fortress-like boundary peak climbing out of the lonely upper Ennerdale forests.

Haystacks

A highly intricate playground of rock step scrambles, hidden tarns, and dark slate lines.

High Stile

The airy, dramatic skyline tracking above the deep, pristine waters of the Buttermere valley.

Great Gable

The towering dome of rock keeping watch over the high, rocky gateway at Sty Head.

The Western Fells lie within a wide sector, driving deep into the heart of Lakeland at Sty Head. They are bounded in the northwest by the Cocker Valley, ‘jewelled by the lovely lakes of Buttermere and Crummock Water’. South-west their boundary is Wasdale, running towards the sea.

“Geographically, this area splits cleanly into two characters... Around Sty Head and Ennerdale, it is a wild, crowded assembly of crags and precipitous peaks that challenge the climber. Yet as the ridges travel west toward the sea, the rugged stone dies away into smooth, rounded green swells and lonely, sheep-pastured foothills that are among the most peaceful walks in the district.” — Wainwright 1966, Book Seven: The Western Fells

The rugged territory around Sty Head is crowded with fine peaks: the hoary old favourite, Great Gable; the magnificent Pillar; the fascinating Haystacks; and the exhilarating spine of the High Stile ridge. Further west the slopes are smooth and rounded, declining into grassy foothills and rolling sheep pastures – terrain described by Wainwright as splendid walking country but comparatively unexciting and unfrequented.