Hiking and Scrambling Around Great Gable

Exploring Napes Needle and Sphinx Rock in the English Lake District

Sep 24, 2009

A scrambling circuit around Great Gable, discovering Napes Needle and Sphinx Rock cannot be found in many guide books yet makes for a fantastically challenging day out

Great Gable is no shrinking violet. On all sides, it displays a plethora of crags, scree & rocks and from a distance seems to rise that much higher than its neighbours. As Alfred Wainwright says in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells - Book Seven, The Western Fells, "The mountain is strong yet not sturdy, masculine yet graceful. It is the undisputed overlord of the group of hills to which it belongs"

Whilst most hikers aim to reach the summit, an altogether more entertaining route follows the Gable Girdle round the mountain with several opportunities to break off and head for the summit.

Sty Head

Whilst the girdle can start from anywhere, most start it from Sty Head at 1,550 feet which can easily be accessed from Wasdale or Borrowdale, near Keswick.

Sty Head is a busy place with walkers heading south to Scafell Pike and east to the Langdale Pikes also passing by this way. Two paths head off roughly north west, one being the breast track taking the hiker to the summit, the other fainter path soon branching off left on the start of the girdle.

Threading Napes Needle

The south traverse of Great Gable takes the hiker across relatively easy ground initially until it reaches Great Hell Gate, a scree shoot which has to be crossed. This marks the eastern boundary of the Great Napes, a series of crags where the famous Napes Needle can be found.

The true route of the girdle traverses below the needle and on a dull day the needle cannot be distinguished from the surrounding rock. However, a more entertaining detour to see the needle in its true glory involves taking a rising branch path into Needle Gully. This leads the hiker to the base of the pinnacle where the path 'threads the needle' by climbing up between the needle & the mountain then down the other side to the 'Dress Circle', the traditional balcony for watching the ascent of the needle.

Sphinx Rock and Wastwater

Continue from the Dress Circle and the path reaches Sphinx Rock, otherwise known as Cat Rock dependent on the angle it is viewed. One of the best known views in the Lake District is of Wastwater with the silhouette of Sphinx Rock in the foreground.

The branch path now descends back down to the south traverse before crossing the second scree shoot of Little Hell Gate and crossing the path from Wasdale heading for the summit before traversing to Beck Head.

Beck Head and Moses Trod

Moses Trod heads down from Beck Head then contours around adjoining Green Gable. It owes its existence to a quarryman known as Moses Rigg who devised the route as the shortest way of conveying slate from the quarries at Honister Pass to Wasdale Head and onwards to the port of Ravenglass. But in addition to slate, his pony-drawn sled concealed his own illegally distilled whisky, which he smuggled for sale on his travels. The remains of a hut high on Gable Crag has been linked to Moses and is known amongst climbers as 'Smugglers' Retreat'.

The north traverse starts soon after branching off from Moses Trod to follow a path along the base of Gable Crag, leading to Windy Gap where the popular tourist route down Aaron Slack is followed back to Sty Head.

The full girdle should take 3 hours and can be comfortably be included in a day out from Wasdale or Borrowdale.

References

Alfred Wainwright, A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells - Book Seven, Western Fells Michael Joseph 1998

The copyright of the article Hiking and Scrambling Around Great Gable in Hiking & Trails is owned by Jane Hodgson. Permission to republish Hiking and Scrambling Around Great Gable in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.