Summit and View
The summit is a rough stony plateau with the high point at the western end above the brink of Cawk Cove. The top is very flat and there are many cairns, including a pair of large windbreaks near the high point.
Guidebook writers warn that it is easy to get lost in mist and that the cautious walker should beware of the presence of precipices to the north and west. The vista is fine, with all of the major fell groups well seen and views down into the abyss of Deepdale only yards away.
Other fells visible at close hand include Helvellyn (with its spectacular arête Striding Edge), Nethermost Pike, Saint Sunday Crag and Cofa Pike (a subsidiary summit of Fairfield).
The view south towards Ambleside and Rydal over Rydal Head is also extensive, with Windermere and Coniston Water in view.
Read more about this topic: Fairfield (Lake District)
Famous quotes containing the words summit and/or view:
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Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“He, who, in view of its inconsistencies, says of human nature the same that, in view of its contrasts, is said of the divine nature, that it is past finding out, thereby evinces a better appreciation of it than he who, by always representing it in a clear light, leaves it to be inferred that he clearly knows all about it.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)