Summit panorama video from High Pike

[Jacquetta]

Here is the view from the summit of High Pike on a cloudy, windy day. It starts by looking east, then goes clockwise in a 360-degree panorama. The view was a huge reward for the modest effort of climbing to a mere 658 m/2160 ft, albeit the terrain as you climb beside Grainsgill Beck makes for slow going, and the descent needs navigational care:

High Pike

[Paddy Dillon]

Here's my view from High Pike on a sunny day. (Well, the first minute is of views beside Derwent Water, then short clips of a cyclist on the Way above Keswick and the view from Great Lingy Hut, followed by about 40 seconds from the summit of High Pike.) A couple of sunny days in the Lake District made it so hazy that it was difficult to see anything beyond the Northern Fells. Sometimes you need a bit of rain to wash the air clean.

Derwent Water and Skiddaw

[Paddy Dillon]

The waterfall at the end of the clip, by the way, is the top part of Dash Falls, which is what you would see if you DIDN'T climb High Pike, but took the alternative low-level route of the Cumbria Way instead. Dash Falls is actually a succession of waterfalls, but only the top part can be seen at close quarters. The rest of it drops through a wooded gorge, and by the time you look back and realise its full extent, it's already a long way behind.

[Paddy Dillon]

Of course, the 'view' from the summit of High Pike is completely different on a misty day!

Here's how limited the panorama is on a misty day, and here's how you can still get safely off the fell even when the slopes look completely featureless. There are trodden paths on the slopes, and it's just a matter of lining them up in the right order. Once you link with clear tracks on the lower slopes, one of them leads directly to Nether Row.

High Pike - Descent in Mist