About Wansfell
Wansfell is a fell in English Lake District situated 1½ miles (2. 5 kilometres) east of the town of Ambleside. The fell is part of the long southern ridge of Caudale Moor and occupies the swathe of territory between Ambleside and the Troutbeck valley. TopographyWansfell has an extensive summit ridge with two tops. The highest point of the fell is called Baystones with a height of 488 m (1, 601 ft) while Wansfell Pike, which lies a kilometre to the south west reaches an elevation of 482 m (1, 581 ft). Of the two summits Wansfell Pike is regarded as the “true” summit of the fell by many fell walkers because of its superior view, even though it is the lower of the pair. Despite its modest elevation, Wansfell has significant topographic prominence, being linked to the higher fell of Caudale Moor by a col near the Kirkstone Pass road (A592) with the height of around 339. 2 metres. This gives the fell a prominence of 147. 7 metres, which means it just fails to achieve the necessary prominence to be a Marilyn. The summit was deleted from the original list of Marilyns in 1999 but was re-instated due to a change in the recorded summit position. A team including John Barnard surveyed the hill on 18 September 2009 and on 11 February 2010 announced that the summit and col height measurements were 486. 9m and 339. 2m respectively, and thus it was once again removed from the list of Marilyns. Wansfell has strong connections to Ambleside and is seen as very much belonging to the town, with Bill Birkett saying “Wansfell is to Ambleside what St. Pauls is to London”. The popularity of the ascent from Ambleside led to severe erosion which became so bad that the path underwent restoration work in the late 1990s using stone blocks. Sections of the path now resemble a very irregular stone staircase.
Wansfell Description
Wansfell is a fell in English Lake District situated 1½ miles (2. 5 kilometres) east of the town of Ambleside. The fell is part of the long southern ridge of Caudale Moor and occupies the swathe of territory between Ambleside and the Troutbeck valley. TopographyWansfell has an extensive summit ridge with two tops. The highest point of the fell is called Baystones with a height of 488 m (1, 601 ft) while Wansfell Pike, which lies a kilometre to the south west reaches an elevation of 482 m (1, 581 ft). Of the two summits Wansfell Pike is regarded as the “true” summit of the fell by many fell walkers because of its superior view, even though it is the lower of the pair. Despite its modest elevation, Wansfell has significant topographic prominence, being linked to the higher fell of Caudale Moor by a col near the Kirkstone Pass road (A592) with the height of around 339. 2 metres. This gives the fell a prominence of 147. 7 metres, which means it just fails to achieve the necessary prominence to be a Marilyn. The summit was deleted from the original list of Marilyns in 1999 but was re-instated due to a change in the recorded summit position. A team including John Barnard surveyed the hill on 18 September 2009 and on 11 February 2010 announced that the summit and col height measurements were 486. 9m and 339. 2m respectively, and thus it was once again removed from the list of Marilyns. Wansfell has strong connections to Ambleside and is seen as very much belonging to the town, with Bill Birkett saying “Wansfell is to Ambleside what St. Pauls is to London”. The popularity of the ascent from Ambleside led to severe erosion which became so bad that the path underwent restoration work in the late 1990s using stone blocks. Sections of the path now resemble a very irregular stone staircase.