Stybarrow Dodd - Topography

Topography

The Helvellyn range runs broadly north-south for about 7 miles (11 km), remaining above 2,000 ft (600 m) throughout its length. Stybarrow Dodd's northerly neighbours are Watson's Dodd and Great Dodd, the three fells having a similar character and being commonly referred to as "The Dodds". To the south is the depression of Sticks Pass, beyond which the ridge continues to Raise, White Side and Helvellyn.

Sticks Pass crosses the range at 2,445 ft (745 m), this being the highest pass in the District crossed by a regular bridleway. Now of use purely to hillwalkers, it once provided the only connection between the communities on either side of the Helvellyns. The name is believed to be taken from the guideposts originally used to mark the route. The becks flowing from either side of the pass summit are both officially named Sticks Gill, the '(East)' and '(West)' having been added by Alfred Wainwright in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells and utilised by later guidebook writers.

Stybarrow Dodd is characterised by wide grassy slopes with very little outcropping rock. Such rough ground as exists tends to garner considerable attention on Ordnance Survey maps. The western flank above Thirlmere falls in gentle gradients to about half height and then steepens in the final descent to the valley floor at Fisher Place. A low ridge runs parallel to the lakeshore, ending at Great How above the dam, and this once diverted Stybarrow Dodd's drainage north to the Vale of St John. As part of the raising of Thirlmere reservoir in 1884 a water race was constructed which diverted all of these streams into the lake. The captured streams forming the boundaries of the fell are Stanah Gill in the north and Sticks Gill (West) to the south.

The eastern side of Stybarrow Dodd is more complex with a ridge running down 4 miles (6.4 km) to Dockray and the popular Aira Force waterfall. This ridge begins as a broad plateau, variously named Green Side or White Stones, which runs due east before falling precipitously over the screes of Glencoyne Head. The high ground splits here to provide the walls of Glencoyne, with Sheffield Pike and Glenridding Dodd to the south and Hart Side to the north. Stybarrow Dodd's northern boundary on this face is Deepdale, this long and marshy valley separating it from Great Dodd since Watson's Dodd has no footing on the eastern side of the ridge. Sticks Gill (East) provides the southern frontier, running down to Ullswater via Glenridding.

The ridge northward from the summit to Watson's Dodd is broad and grassy, carrying a fair path which saves time for the ridgewalker by bypassing both tops. This path also runs southward to Sticks Pass although on this flank the fell throws out more of a shoulder than a ridge.