High Crag (Helvellyn)

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High Crag
High Crag from Dollywaggon Pike.jpg
High Crag seen from Dollywaggon Pike,
with Nethermost Pike beyond
Highest point
Elevation 884 m (2,900 ft)
Prominence 13 m (43 ft)
Parent peak Nethermost Pike
Listing Birkett
Coordinates 54°30′50″N3°00′57″W / 54.514°N 3.0158°W / 54.514; -3.0158 Coordinates: 54°30′50″N3°00′57″W / 54.514°N 3.0158°W / 54.514; -3.0158
Geography
Lake District National Park UK relief location map.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
High Crag
Location in Lake District, UK
Location Cumbria, England
Parent range Lake District, Eastern Fells
OS grid NY343136
Topo map OS Landranger 90, Explorer OL5/OL4

High Crag is a minor fell on the Helvellyn Range in the eastern region of the English Lake District. It sits on the ridge to the south of Helvellyn and Nethermost Pike. It rises sharply above the head of Ruthwaite Cove, and has attracted the attention of rock climbers. Its rock type is a lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Tuff Formation.

Contents

Topography

High Crag seen from Ruthwaite Cove High Crag from Ruthwaite Cove.JPG
High Crag seen from Ruthwaite Cove

High Crag is a rocky crag, over 100 m high, which rises abruptly above the head of Ruthwaite Cove ( /ˈrʌθ.ətkv/ ) [1] and which forms a minor fell on the south ridge of Nethermost Pike, at a point some 350 m north of the col between that mountain and Dollywaggon Pike. [2]

A cairn marks the summit, which is 884 m high and has a prominence of 13 m from the ridge. [3] To the west the ground slopes gradually away from the summit, merging with the western slope of Nethermost Pike.

Routes

Walkers may reach the summit of High Crag by taking a short diversion from the ridge path. Small paths lead to and from the summit cairn, but are much less worn than the path that bypasses it, only 60 m from the cairn.

For climbers, two gullies and a buttress lead up the steep eastern face of High Crag. [4]

Summit

The flat summit of High Crag is marked by a cairn which is visible from the neighbouring tops.

The summit is a high perch from which there is a bird's-eye view down into Ruthwaite Cove, flanked by the two eastern ridges of Nethermost Pike and Dollywaggon Pike, and with its tiny tarn, Hard Tarn. Then the view goes on down Grisedale to Ullswater and Place Fell, with the Pennine Hills in the distance.

Geology

Piece of lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Tuff Formation, found on High Crag Rock - Helvellyn Tuff Formation.JPG
Piece of lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Tuff Formation, found on High Crag

High Crag is composed entirely of lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Tuff Formation. [5] This formation is part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, formed during a period of intense volcanic activity on the edge of an ancient continent during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago. The Helvellyn Tuff Formation was formed by an explosive volcanic eruption which produced a large-volume pyroclastic flow of very hot gas and rock. Individual lapilli or pieces of semi-molten lava within the flow were flattened by the weight of deposits above them. [6]

Related Research Articles

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Nethermost Pike Fell in Cumbria, England

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Clough Head

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Red Screes

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Steel Fell

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High Pike (Scandale)

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Calf Crag

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Watsons Dodd

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Birkhouse Moor

Birkhouse Moor is a fell in the English Lake District, an outlier of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It is properly an eastern ridge of Helvellyn, but was treated as a separate fell by Alfred Wainwright in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. That convention is followed here.

Sheffield Pike

Sheffield Pike is a fell in the English Lake District, a prominent intermediate top on one of the eastern ridges of Stybarrow Dodd. It separates and stands high above the Glencoyne and Glenridding valleys, on the eastern side of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells and it looks down onto Ullswater.

Glenridding Dodd

Glenridding Dodd is a small fell in the English Lake District, at the end of a ridge descending from the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It stands above the village of Glenridding and on the western shore of Ullswater. Although small and not of great elevation, its top is a fine viewpoint for Ullswater and for the fells clustered round the valleys above Patterdale.

References

  1. Alfred Wainwright (2003) [1955]. A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells Book 1: The Eastern Fells. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN   0711222274.
  2. Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map
  3. "Database of British and Irish Hills" . Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  4. "High Crag (Ruthwaite Cove)". UKClimbing.com. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  5. "1:50,000 Geological Maps" (Map). Sheet E029, Keswick (Solid). British Geological Survey. 1999. ISBN   0751832294. - may be viewed on the "Geology of Britain viewer". British Geological Survey. or on the BGS's iGeology smartphone app
  6. D. G. Woodhall (2000). Geology of the Keswick District (Sheet Explanation of BGS Sheet E029). Nottingham: British Geological Survey.