Kirk Fell

Kirk Fell fills the view north from Wasdale Head. The name comes from Old English for the hill above the church, and St Olaf's church sits in the hamlet below. Park on the village green at Wasdale Head or at the National Trust car park at Lake Head, a little over a kilometre down the road.

The direct way up is the south-west slope: 2,000 feet of grass and scree with little variation and almost nowhere to stand upright and rest. The gentler line follows Black Sail Pass from the Wasdale Head Inn, past Row Head and over Gatherstone Beck. From the top of the pass a path climbs the western side of the fell by a loose scree gully with a couple of chockstones that need care. From Great Gable you come up from Beck Head on loose stones.

The plateau

In plan the top is a figure of eight. The main summit, at the western end, has a cairn and a wind shelter. The east top, 787 m, has its cairn on a rocky outcrop, and between the two lie Kirkfell Tarns, two small, shallow pools that can dry out. Old posts from the Ennerdale Fence cross both tops. Great Gable fills the eastern view, the Scafells rise across Wasdale, and the High Stile and Grasmoor ranges are in sight to the north.

Kirk Fell and Great Gable make a good round together. Go up Black Sail Pass, over both tops, down to Beck Head and its small tarn, then up Great Gable and back via Sty Head. It is about 13 km with nearly 1,100 m of ascent.

In June 2022 three Cumbrians went up and down the direct route thirteen times in three days, climbing the height of Everest.