Red Pike

Red Pike stands in Wasdale, a narrow valley in the English Lake District. It is a fell, a kind of hill, 826 metres high. To the south lies Wast Water, England’s deepest lake. The fell is often climbed as part of the Mosedale Horseshoe, a ridge walk that also includes Pillar. It is sometimes confused with another Red Pike in Buttermere, only five kilometres away, so it is usually called Wasdale Red Pike. Alfred Wainwright recognised the fell in his guides, noting its steep eastern face above Mosedale. The western slopes are gentler, descending over three kilometres to Nether Beck. Low Tarn, a shallow pool in the middle of the plateau, drains into Over Beck. Scoat Tarn, a deeper corrie tarn at the head of Nether Beck, lies in a hollow held by grassy moraines. The summit bears a cairn on the edge of the Mosedale Crags. Westwards the slope is grassy and easy underfoot. The southern top has another cairn and, a little beyond, The Chair, a windshelter built onto a rock outcrop. From there the view south takes in the Scafells and the Wasdale Screes. Northward the view is blocked by Scoat Fell and Pillar. The Chair once gave its name to the fell before the present summit cairn was built.