Great Carrs

On the night of 22 October 1944, a Royal Canadian Air Force Halifax bomber on a navigation exercise from RAF Topcliffe came down through thick cloud and hit the fell, killing the crew. Parts of the aircraft lie on the slope of Broad Slack. A memorial cairn with a wooden cross stands about 150 yards south of the summit, and one of the Rolls-Royce engines is in the Ruskin Museum in Coniston.

For a direct ascent, Wet Side Edge from Little Langdale is the favourite. Parking in the hamlet is limited to a few roadside spaces near the Three Shires Inn. Go by Slater's Bridge and old quarry tracks, cross Greenburn Beck and climb over Rough Crags, where a rake avoids the steep rocks, then follow Wet Side Edge past Little Carrs to the top. Allow about 4 miles and 2,140 feet of ascent. Starting at the top of Wrynose Pass, you join Wet Side Edge higher up and save a lot of climbing. There are pathless routes by Hell Gill and Broad Slack, but Broad Slack is ferociously steep. Plenty of people arrive from Swirl How or Grey Friar instead.

Easy slopes fall to the west and crags to the east. The summit is a small cairn on grass right at the lip of the drop into the head of Greenburn, so mind the edge.

Northwards, rank after rank of fells fill the view. On a clear day you can also pick out the Isle of Man and the Pennines, along with the Scafells, the Helvellyn range and Skiddaw.