Great End

From Borrowdale, Great End is the dark wall of cliff at the head of the valley. Almost everyone climbs it from Seathwaite, where you park along the roadside on the lane to the farm. It is full early on fine weekends. Without a car, take the 78 Borrowdale bus to Seatoller and walk up the lane.

The usual way is south past Stockley Bridge, up Grains Gill and then Ruddy Gill, named for the red colouring in its rock, to Esk Hause. From there the top is a short detour off the main path to Scafell Pike, and many people add it on the way. You can also go up Styhead Gill, past Taylorgill Force, to Sty Head, then climb the western ridge called The Band. From Wasdale the approaches come in via Sty Head or up Lingmell Gill and Spouthead Gill. From Great Langdale you reach Esk Hause by Rossett Gill.

The upper slopes are stones and boulders, with pitched sections lower down. The walkers' routes have no exposure. The north face is another matter: its gullies are climbing routes, not paths.

There are two cairns of about the same height. The north-western one sits nearer the cliff edge and has the better outlook, straight down the length of Borrowdale to Derwentwater. Scafell Pike is a little over a mile away to the south-west. Round How, a lower top above the Corridor Route, has a small tarn called Lambfoot Dub beside it.

The gullies

The three big gullies on the north-east face are South East Gully, Central Gully and Cust's Gully. The last is named after Arthur Cust, who climbed it in winter in 1880.