III. 



ASCENT OF SCAWFELL. 



The ascent of Scawfell is sometimes made from 

 the Sty Head Pass ; sometimes from Lingmell ; 

 and sometimes from Langdale, whence the path 

 meets that from Sty Head on Esk Hause. From 

 Esk Hause the summit of the Pike is visible ; but 

 still care is necessary not to ascend the wrong- 

 summit. There are four summits which collectively 

 go under the name of Scawfell ; namely, the most 

 southerly, which is called simply Scawfell ; Scawfell 

 Pike, which is sixty feet higher, and the highest 

 mountain in England (3,160 feet), and the lower 

 hills, Lingmell and Groat End, — the last being 

 the northernmost, and fronting Borrowdale. The 

 Ordnance Surveyors set up a staff on a pile of 

 stones on the highest peak ; so that there need be 

 no mistake henceforth. The two summits, Scaw- 

 fell and Scawfell Pike, are about three-quarters of 

 a mile apart, in a straight line; but the great 

 chasm between them, called Mickledore, renders a 

 wide circuit necessary. There have been foolhardy 

 persons who have passed Mickledore without losing 

 their lives ; and there are strangers, almost every 

 season, who attempt the ascent without a guide. 

 These last usually pay the penalty of their rashness 

 in hours of uneasy wandering and excessive fatigue. 

 When they think they see their way clearly enough, 

 they are pretty sure to find themselves brought up 



