Lakes Passes Graded List

Excellent idea for a thread OP and love the list thus far. Will have to mull over the list later, there are a few I’d reorder, several on my “to do” list and a few I haven’t done in years and years that might be worth revisiting based on the comments. Great work.

@Garry_Lager

Climbing has a lot to teach us – what better way to have an argument then give every trail a (complicated) grade, followed by ethical argy-bargy on how / if one should ride said trail 🙂

Haha yeah there’s a lot of scope for it. Different grades depending on suspension and wheel size, with ‘Purists’ insisting on doing everything on a rigid 26er with canti brakes. ‘Onsight’ vs redpoint if you had a few goes, or worked if you practice bits separately etc.

Haha yeah there’s a lot of scope for it. Different grades depending on suspension and wheel size, with ‘Purists’ insisting on doing everything on a rigid 26er with canti brakes. ‘Onsight’ vs redpoint if you had a few goes, or worked if you practice bits separately etc.

well obviously you can’t tick it if you dabbed 😉

All this was ridden before tubeless tyres young’un

Motivated by this I ticked off a couple I’d not done before; up Helvellyn via Kepple Cove, descending via Dollywagon and Grisedale. Done in 3 hours, navigation was straighforward and the descent more than justified the climb which was far more reasonable than expected (I’ve only been up Striding Edge before). A fair amount of snow on top but the descents were clear.

I’ve relegated Dollywagon a spot, Wharnscale is definitely harder.
Grisedale I’ve added a note.

funnily enough, that route you describe (Langstrath, Stake, Rossett, Styhead etc) features in the next edition of the mag. It’s a brilliant loop, one of my favourites

Roughly how long did this take please? I’d been looking at similar but parking in Wasdale to allow both descents of Sty Head

Yeah, Dollywagon is considerably easier than Wharnscale. There’s maybe one short section with really challenging waterbars on Dollywagon, while Wharnscale is consistently challenging along the majority of the descent.

Langstrath/Stake/Rossett/Styhead is a 4 to 5 hour ride. My moving time on Strava from when I shot it for the mag was 4.5 hours.

Roughly how long did this take please? I’d been looking at similar but parking in Wasdale to allow both descents of Sty Head

Hi Mark. I was going to ask if you fancied the Rosset, styhead, langsttath, stake route with a cheeky Borrowdale Bash inserted in the middle of it. ( Working on the assumption you’d need something new to tempt you that way again)

Give me a shout if you do fix a date for this as I’d love to do it

a cheeky Borrowdale Bash inserted in the middle of it.

You mean one descent? or a whole loop?
Not sure I’ve got the legs for adding much on to a 5 hour ride!

Keen to do it but pinning down a date may be an issue. I need to start taking some afternoons off work to get all the rides on my to do list done.

Bittova thread resurrection.
Off to the Lakes this weekend and looking for some inspiration, so dug up this thread. Was actually surprised to find that I’ve done quite a few of these.

However, I’ve not done:

Iron Keld
Stake pass
Scarth Gap
Sticks West
Boredale Hause
Grisedale Hause
Greenup

Grisedale Hause…. do you mean south from Gridedale Tarn down Great Tongue? Is that the one?

I’ve seen Various comments about Greenup. Is this a sandbag? Is it actually hell on earth and just put in the list to catch out people like me?

Current vague plan is Loadpot Hill, Cockpit, Boredale up them down the other one, perhaps a there and back on Ullswater Bridleway one day. If we did do Boredale, iscit best to do Boredale Head- Boredale Hause – Bannerdale or the other way round?

Perhaps Rosset, Styhead, Stake another day, with an optimistic option of Wharnscale/ Honnister if we’re feeling brave.

I could of course try some of the difficult ones which I’ve only carried upwards, eg Nan Bield, but would like to try something completely new.

Anyone got any good suggestions of routes that tick some good passes?

The other possible plan is Ullock Pike ( Friday)

I still think the hardest continuous piece of singletrack in the lakes is the eastern edge of Ullswater, south to north.

And here I mean clean the entire rolling stretch, not on an electric cheater bike, without a dab or a stop to take a breather.

The top few switchbacks of nan bield can be cheeky if loose tho?

Grizedale hause was from Grizedale tarn to patterdale and is easily in the top 10 lakes descents in my view. I’ve never descended the other side on little tongue above Grasmere. It’s utter misery pushing up though and I’d imagine similar going down.

If you want to ride it (the patterdale side) my suggestion would be to start at Wythburn church, head south along the fire road, then over a deer fence along the permissive footpath to raise beck. Carry up raise beck (there’s a couple of rocky steps where it helps to have a hand free, so you need to be comfortable carrying the bike or go with someone so you can give each other a hand). Ride round the South side of the tarn then continue down to patterdale. Head to Glenridding and then greenside mines (the youth hostel). Take the bridleway south of Raise to Whiteside bank (steep, much of it is a push for mere mortals) then go to the summit of Helvellyn. Descend via Birk side. This is another top 10 descent though wasn’t in the list as it’s not a pass. It’s fairly difficult in a few places, plus there’s a lot of steps which can be quite tiring. Probably easier than wharnscales for example, but perhaps harder than nan bield.

Don’t do greenup until you’ve ridden everything else, especially if you’re visiting the area from elsewhere. It’s not a complete sandbag, but not far off. Fix the fells started work on the south side a few years ago, haven’t been up since so not sure how it’s looking these days though. Perhaps that’s my plan for the weekend 🤔

Adding wharnscales to rosset-styhead-stake is a serious day out, if that’s what you were meaning. Take lights if you try it, you’ll probably need them. Don’t underestimate the carry up rosset, or the push up stake pass for that matter. They don’t look long on a map, but there’s a lot of height gain.