Catstye Cam
| Catstye Cam | |
|---|---|
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 890 m (2,920 ft) |
| Prominence | 63 m (207 ft) |
| Parent peak | Helvellyn |
| Listing | Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright |
| Coordinates | 54°32′00″N 3°00′33″W / 54.53326°N 3.00909°WCoordinates: 54°32′00″N 3°00′33″W / 54.53326°N 3.00909°W |
| Geography | |
 Catstye Cam
Location in Lake District, UK
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| Location | Cumbria, England |
| Parent range | Lake District, Eastern Fells |
| OS grid | NY348158 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 90, Explorer OL5 |
Catstye Cam is a fell in the English Lake District. It is an outlier of Helvellyn in the Eastern Fells.
The name of the fell is also given as 'Catstycam', a spelling preferred by Alfred Wainwright in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. A third variant, 'Catchedicam', is also quoted by him. Other guidebooks such as Collins Landranger and Birkett follow Wainwright with 'Catstycam', although the maps of the Ordnance Survey always use 'Catstye Cam'.
The Helvellyn range runs broadly north to south for about 7 miles, remaining above 2,000 ft (600 m) throughout its length. Helvellyn itself sits near the centre of this ridge and displays the characteristic form of many of these fells, namely smooth grassy slopes to the west and shattered rock to the east. Helvellyn sends out two eastward arêtes, razor-thin ridges between deep mountain corries. The southerly spur is Striding Edge, easily the most famous ridge in the district, and its northern partner is Swirral Edge. From the summit plateau of Helvellyn a rough slope drops to the start of Swirral Edge, and this narrow ridge curves gracefully down and then back up over half a mile, terminating at Catstye Cam.
Taking on the classic mountain shape of a pyramid, Catstye Cam draws the eye in any view where the overtopping bulk of Helvellyn is hidden behind. As Wainwright said "If Catstycam stood alone, remote from its fellows, it would be one of the finest peaks in Lakeland. It has nearly, but not quite, the perfect mountain form with true simplicity in its soaring lines, and a small pointed top, a real summit that falls away on all sides". Even with the connection to Helvellyn, Catstye Cam still has a prominence of over 200 ft due to the pronounced bow of Swirral Edge. High Spying How on Striding Edge, by comparison, is nothing but a rock turret, an independent peak in almost no-one's estimation.
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Wikipedia