Great Gable from Borrowdale

About

Considering its unsighted most of the way, the approach to Great Gable from Borrowdale is one of the best routes up the mountain. To get to it you have to deal with the intervening corries and hills and this is what makes it special. They provide stepped and twisting approaches full of interest at every turn. The most common walk to Great Gable from Borrowdale is up past Taylor Gill Force and Sty Head. It is a superb route but relatively easy and because of its ease is best reserved for descent. The steep scrambly path up beside Sour Milk Gill and onwards via Gillercombe makes a better outward route. You can choose to do the scramble up the gill or follow the path by its side and then you can explore the lonely hanging valley of Gillercombe. From Gillercombe a steep pull brings you up the eastern flanks of Green Gable from where you get a close in view of Great Gable supported by its impressive north-facing crags.

Grade: Strenuous (alternative grade 1, 2 or 3 scramble up Sourmilk Gill)
Start/Finish: Seathwaite (NY235121)
Distance: 5.6 miles (9km)
Time: 4-5 hours
Height gain: 825m
Maps: OS Landranger 90, OS Explorer OL4, Harveys’ Superwalker (1:25 000) Lakeland West, British Mountain Maps Lake District (1:40 000).
Terrain: Steep-sided valley, steep gill, hanging corrie, steep head wall, grassy summit, narrow stony col, crags, rocky summit, broad craggy ridge, broad col, tarn and open corrie.

1. From Seathwaithe take the path through the buildings that leads West past the camp site to the foot of Sourmilk Gill (waterfalls). The path climbs steeply up the south bank. If you choose to do the scramble, follow the bed of the gill. Depending on which line you follow, the grade will range from 1 to 3. The easiest lines tend to be on the right-hand side of the gill.

2. From the top of Sourmilk Gill enter Gillercombe and follow the path South West then South to skirt the lower slopes of Base Brown. Climb South out of Gillercombe to gain the broad col between Green Gable and Base Brown. A steep pull South West then West up the stone scattered ridge leads to the summit of Green Gable.

3. Its worth spending a bit of time on top of Green Gable because it’s a great place to view the crags of Great Gable. Once you have finished a short descent South leads to the narrow exposed col of Wind Gap. The whole character of the walk changes at this point as the ground turns mainly to rock and has a particularly high mountain feel to it.

4. The path up Great Gable does a side-step and climbs a ramp and ledges South West to avoid the steeper crags. Gradually the gradient recedes as the stony summit plateau is gained. The summit is marked by a prominent group of rocks with a cairn and a bronze war memorial dedicated to members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club that fell in the Great War.

5. The descent to Sty Head from the summit should be properly identified by taking a bearing. The summit confusion of boulders, crags, rocks and cairns can be disorientating even in clear weather. The path follows the broad southeast ridge directly down to the Mountain Rescue Box at the summit of the pass.