Great End

Great End
Great End from the top of Grains Gill
Highest point
Elevation	910 m (2,990 ft)
Prominence	56 m (184 ft)
Parent peak	Ill Crag
Listing	Hewitt, Wainwright, Nuttall
Coordinates	54°27′50″N 3°11′38″W / 54.464°N 3.194°W / 54.464; -3.194Coordinates: 54°27′50″N 3°11′38″W / 54.464°N 3.194°W / 54.464; -3.194
Geography
Great End Location in Lake District, UK
Location	Cumbria, England
Parent range	Lake District, Southern Fells
OS grid	NY226084
Topo map	OS Landrangers 89, 90, Explorer OL6

Great End is the most northerly mountain in the Scafell chain, in the English Lake District. From the south it is simply a lump continuing this chain. From the north, however, it appears as an immense mountain, with an imposing north face rising above Sprinkling Tarn (lake). This is a popular location for wild camping, and the north face attracts many climbers.

Alfred Wainwright wrote of Great End in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells: "This is the true Lakeland of the fellwalker, the sort of terrain that calls him back time after time, the sort of memory that haunts his long winter exile. It is not the pretty places - the flowery lanes of Grasmere or Derwentwater's wooded bays - that keep him restless in his bed; it is the magnificent ones. Places like Great End..."

The imposing north-eastern cliffs, riven by gullies, rise some 600 ft from the Esk Hause path. Their orientation ensures that the sun rarely reaches them, the gullies often retaining snow well into the spring. From the left when viewed from below the principal fissures are South East Gully, Central Gully and Cust's Gully (see below). To the west of the cliffs a ridge descends more gradually in the general direction of Sty Head. This is known as The Band, and it too sports a harsh gash across its features. On the western side of The Band is the deep ravine of Skew Gill, a tributary of Wasdale-bound Lingmell Beck. At the base of The Band the ridge continues as the complex top of Seathwaite Fell, replete with numerous tarns. The largest is Sprinkling Tarn with its beautifully indented shoreline providing perfect foreground for views of the cliff.

Sty Head is one of the focal points of the District for walkers. The name strictly applies to the col between Great End and Great Gable at a height of 1,560 ft, but is now more generally given to the path which crosses it. This connects two of the most popular starting points for walks in the high fells, Wasdale Head and Seathwaite. Sty Head is also a walker's crossroads with other paths leading direct up Great Gable and following the outflow of Sprinkling Tarn up to Esk Hause.