Is Helm Crag a Wainwright?
Yes. Helm Crag is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 10 of 27 in Book 3, The Central Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
Climbing Helm Crag from Broadgate Meadow car park, Grasmere
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This route climbs Helm Crag from Broadgate Meadow car park in Grasmere village, run by Westmorland and Furness Council. Parking is paid and the car park sits at about 70 m. The Village Hall bus stop, about 70 m away, is served by the 555, 559 and 599.
The line is 3.3 km long and gains about 350 m, but for the first 1.8 km it hardly climbs at all, staying below about 100 m. That stretch leaves the village on footways, then follows Easedale Road, a lane, for about 700 m in total, with footpaths alongside it in places. It crosses Easedale Beck at about 0.9 km.
The climb starts at about 1.8 km. A public footpath with rock steps and a rock surface on the map, graded hiking by OpenStreetMap, climbs from about 105 m to 365 m in the next 1.2 km. The last 250 m follow smaller paths, partly permissive, to the top at 405 m, and the final few metres leave the mapped path for the summit point.
About 2.4 km of the line follows public footpaths and bridleways, 0.7 km is on the lane, and 1.4 km crosses open access land. Helm Crag is 405 m high, 201st of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Central Fells in Book 3.
The GPX file is the same line, from the car park to the summit. Return the same way, or plan a longer walk with a map before you set out.
Download the GPXFree. The route is © OpenStreetMap contributors and the file is released under the Open Database Licence: you may copy, share and adapt it.
Where Helm Crag stands
Nearest Wainwrights
- Gibson Knott1.2 km away · 420 m
- Steel Fell1.9 km away · 553 m
- Stone Arthur2.1 km away · 504 m
- Tarn Crag (Easedale)2.3 km away · 549 m
- Calf Crag2.7 km away · 537 m
Straight-line distances between summits.
All the fells in The Central FellsAll 214 Wainwrights
Map and route data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Heights along the route from OS Terrain 50. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (NaPTAN, Bus Open Data Service, Lake District National Park Authority rights of way).
Access land © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Heights, grid references and summit positions come from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.3, used under CC BY 4.0.