Talk to me please about this decent. No much info apart from its mega tech.

Looking to do this on Sunday during a fairly serious loop.

Not much on YouTube. I’ve seen the Danny mac video but they ride off piste to. We are well into tech/ fairly decent riders.

Any light shed be nice  Cheers

Suggest you walk it the other way first. Think you’ll change your mind about attempting to ride. It’s a serious hike a bike up with repeated big steps. I don’t think anyome outside MTB trials god or nearly pro downhiller is going to ride that (sure someone will be along to claim they have done it).

Of course you could climb down the first bit and ride the bit from the tarn, that would be nice and technical. The stuff above the tarn…. I’m thinking not.

I’d agree with that, it’s a proper hikeabike up! Fair play to anyone that can manage that!

Why would you do it that way?

A group of us did it the ‘right’ way round 3 weeks ago and it was great. We commented on the bike carry up from Small Water that you couldn’t ride down it….mega tech and no flow. We went up Garburn and descended into Kentmere, then over Gatesgarth to Haweswater, then a hell slog up to Nan Bield and down towards Staveley. Full on descents and even coming off NB that way has some twitchy moments.

Hell no !

I’ve done it a couple of times and it’s good. As others have said, it’s mega techy and you’ll be walking in a couple of places, but a heck of a lot more of it goes than you’d think. If you’re thinking of doing it then go for it, if only to scratch the itch and cross it off the list.

Man Bield is best attempted as a figure of 8 with Gatesgarth from Longsledale up across and down the north side of Nan Bield and then back up Gatesgarth, across and down Nan Bield into Kentmere.

It is quite chunky in places and is more than I can manage. My riding buddie is very good at taking his brain out and enjoys it as a short blast – hike up and bash down. It is no worse than plenty of other big tech downhills in the Lakes.

We’ve done it a few times. It’s fairly tech but not silly. It’s quite stop/start and the main thing that interferes with your line is that so many of the switchbacks are tight and narrow and full of rocks, so getting around them clean ain’t easy.

There are a couple of spots that you’ll probably end up hopping off to get over/round so don’t expect to get it all “no dabs” but overall 95% ridable,

It’s a good descent, certainly a challenge. It’s on Strava as “Man Bield”

It’s only challengingly tech as far as the tarn. Below that is a (very nice) typical Lakes descent, much more open with plenty of line choices.

Route suggestion: If you’re doing it from Staveley, then after Man Bield come back up Gatescarth, over Harter Fell and then do the conventional side back into Kentmere.

(Edit: Too slow,  Basically what Tomaso said)

We’ve done it a couple of times, it was an itch we had to scratch after chatting about it hiking up one time. Loop round from Ings, Garburn, Yoke, Ill Bell, Foswick, Mardale Ill Bell to Nan Bield Shelter, North to Small Water, Hike back up to the Shelter, Nan Bield South, Sadgill and back over Stavely Head Fell to Ings.

Cracking ride, Mardale Ill Bell its a nice tester and the North NB is a techy one for sure, but is a lot more rideable than it looks when heading up.

Santa – Ecky’s right – it’s a cracker, if you enjoy tech stuff.  It’s not crazily tech anyway to be honest, although there are one or two very tricky/intimidating bits (one in particular, near the top). Just depends what you’re used to.  You can do both sides of Nan Bield in a day, but it’s  a big day.  Highly recommended though.

Cheers for the replys guys.

Route is very similar to what Carlos has just but up. From Kentmere.

Was going to hike gatesgarth from haweswater and nip across to nb via harter fell.

Didn’t want to put full ride on as its fairly cheesky in bits.  Sounds like a goer to me. Decents always look worse whilst carrying up than when moving coming down. In my experience.

Definitely a goer if you like very technical stuff – it’s been a few years since I’ve done it and it is really good. I’ve done it in the dry and in the wet – it’s a bit too tough in the wet to be a worthwhile ride, but in the dry it’s absolutely top stuff.

cheers munro.

Are you a regular ‘munroer’.  We are heading up in a couple of wks and might chase you for the best you know of if you know your stuff.

I’ve done Harter Fell > Nan Bield (South) before.

Harter Fell (From The Summit to where the Switchbacks start on Nan Bield Pass ) is extremely tech. Has anyone ever cleared this ???

I have never seen Nan Bield North,  is it as techy as Harter Fell ?

@trevmccdonald – yeah, the top section from Harter Fell to Nan Bield saddle is great, and yes, I’ve cleaned it. It’s easier than Nan Bield to Haweswater – that’s got some proper techy sections on it! But, if you’re happy riding Harter fell, I’d say have a go at Nan Bield to Haweswater – it’s proper good fun.

Best loop to get them all in (imo), is staveley, garburn (from troutbeck), mardale and Ill Bell, then Nan Bield to Haweswater, up gatesgarth, over Harter fell then down Nan Bield south to kentmere. Top day out that

Good to see that someone has cleared it, I’ve only done Harter Fell / Nan Bield once and I was wondering if parts of the Harter Fell DH were unrideable, if only due to some of the extremely tight switchbacks I remember seeing. Obviously it was very stop-start for me, ride some then carry some. But then I’ve only done it once, there could have been easier lines that I didn’t see.

Yeah, it’s definitely one that took me a couple of attempts before unlocking the whole thing – there are a few lines that you only really see once you’re on top of them, and if you take a wrong turn you can end up in a rocky dead end.

Lots of cheeky on the above  routes…. suggest dont do it when busy !

Have riden it a few times. Prefer the descent from saddle to staveley myself…

I’ve crashed spectacularly coming down Harter Fell, but never cleared it 😎