From the shores of Wastwater

For a general description of Wastwater Screes, see Illgill head

Whin Rigg is the lesser of the two summits on the Screes ridge, yet the face of this fell is even more craggy and precipitous than that of Illgill Head. Comparatively few people know Whin Rigg by name, and its summit is not clearly seen from anywhere except from the ridge itself, due to a relatively low prominence of less than 60 metres.

From the lake, Whin Rigg appears as the highest of a series of large buttresses above the Wastwater Screes. These cliffs are very unstable, and there is much rotten rock. Rockfalls are common, and it can be deduced that at one time the bulk of the fell was much larger than it is now. Disintegration of the crags has led to the formation of the Screes that we see today.

Despite the safety hazards, people do go climbing above the Screes, and indeed during my stay in Wasdale I saw several people picking out routes on some of the crags. The open faces are most likely safer than the gullies, which are damp and heavily vegetated, and probably more prone to rockfall. It goes without saying that scrambling on the Screes is very much more dangerous than roped climbing.

The summit of Whin Rigg is better than that of Illgill Head. It has a more prominent immediate top, and there are a few rock outcrops to relieve the tedium of the endless grass encountered on the ridge. Most of the view north is blocked by intervening high ground, but the coastal plains and lesser fells to the west are seen in more detail here than from Illgill Head.

The descent path, running parallel to Greathall Gill, is a calf-killer. Grassy to begin with, stony and eroded in the lower stretches, it is unrelentingly steep throughout its length and very tiring.

Although it's common to think of the two fells as pretty much the same entity, and are almost invariably climbed together, Whin Rigg has a character of its own and an unusual view.

From Netherbeck	The Screes
Evening light on the Screes	The summit from the ridge
View towards Muncaster Fell	Across the valley