UKC

Great Gable cannot fail to stir a mountaineer’s blood: just murmuring the name will quicken the pulse. Lakeland’s seventh highest summit throws unmistakeable but completely different profiles to the points of the compass. From the southwest it presents the beautiful diamond emblematic of the National Park Authority. From Kirk Fell, it appears as a twisted cylindrical tower, as if a cake has slightly melted in a shop window. From the north, it shows as a supercilious eyebrow raised in disdain for the puny mortal aiming to climb it. You may be mortal but are far from puny, so climb it you must. This route scores over the usual Wasdale Head and Seathwaite approaches in several regards: it is generally quieter, wheeled transport will hoist you to 350 metres, it is rich in history and the views are sensational. The sight of Pillar from Brin Crag has to be in any Lakeland mountaineer’s Top Ten. The Moses in question is a rather hazy figure: Moses Rigg may have been an 18th century quarryman who may have transported cargos legal and not-so-legal of stone, graphite and moonshine along this route. Or he may be myth.

5.50 miles, 8.85 km, 705m ascent, 2:30 – 4 hours. Keswick

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