Helvellyn

Helvellyn reaches 950 metres and has a broad, grassy western flank and a shattered eastern face cut into two corries by glaciers, with Red Tarn between them. The two ridges enclosing the tarn, Striding Edge and Swirral Edge, are the reason the mountain is climbed so often: Striding Edge is about a kilometre of narrow rock arete with steep ground falling away on both sides and a short down-climb, the Chimney, near the end. It is a scramble rather than a walk. In 1926 a small aircraft landed on the summit plateau and took off again, the first mountain-top landing in Britain, recorded on a stone by the cairn. A memorial nearby commemorates a dog that stayed by its dead owner in 1805, which Wordsworth and Scott both wrote about.

Highlights

• Striding Edge - a kilometre of narrow rock arete with drops both sides.
• Red Tarn - a corrie lake held between the two edges.
• The aircraft stone - marking the 1926 summit landing and take-off.
• The Gough memorial - the 1805 stone recording the dog that stayed with its owner.

When to go

June to September for the edges in dry conditions; in winter Striding Edge becomes a full mountaineering route requiring axe and crampons, and people die on it most winters. Clear settled days are worth waiting for.

Practical notes

Striding Edge is exposed scrambling with real fall risk and is not a walk, whatever its popularity suggests; the crossing is far harder in wind, wet or ice. Glenridding parking fills early. The summit plateau is featureless in cloud and easy to get wrong on descent.

Nearby

Ullswater and Glenridding lie below; Thirlmere is on the western side.

Key facts