Red Pike (Wasdale)

Red Pike
Highest point
Elevation	826 m (2,710 ft)
Prominence	c. 62 m
Listing	Wainwright, Nuttall, Hewitt
Coordinates	54°28′59″N 3°17′24″W / 54.483°N 3.29°W / 54.483; -3.29Coordinates: 54°28′59″N 3°17′24″W / 54.483°N 3.29°W / 54.483; -3.29
Geography
Red Pike Location in Lake District, UK
Location	Cumbria, England
Parent range	Lake District, Western Fells
OS grid	NY165105
Topo map	OS Landranger 89, Explorer OL4, OL6

Red Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It is 826 m or 2,709 ft (826 m) high and lies due north of Wast Water. It is often climbed as part of the Mosedale Horseshoe, a walk which also includes Pillar.

The fell can be confused with Red Pike (Buttermere), not least because its namesake is only three miles away, so according to Alfred Wainwright it is conventional to call it Wasdale Red Pike.

The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Red Pike is an outlier of the southern arm.

The main watershed runs broadly westwards from Great Gable, dividing the headwaters of Ennerdale and Wasdale. Travelling in this direction the principal hills are Kirk Fell, Pillar, Scoat Fell, Haycock and Caw Fell. Scoat Fell throws out a long southern ridge terminating in Yewbarrow and Red Pike stands part way along.

The Red Pike ridge occupies a broad area of high country between Nether Beck in the west and Mosedale in the east. The Mosedale face is steeper with considerable areas of Crag, whilst the western slopes descend slowly over a couple of miles. The ridge begins at an unnamed col to the southeast of Scoat Fell. This narrow depression is squeezed between Black Comb, the birthplace of Mosedale Beck, and Scoat Tarn, the primary feeder of Nether Beck. From the depression it is only a short climb to the summit of Red Pike, the majority of the ridge lying beyond on the long south easterly descent to Dore Head. At this col the watershed turns south west, rising to the twin summits of Yewbarrow. Dore Head is the source of Over Beck, the stream separating Yewbarrow from the long western flanks of Red Pike.