Difficulty : Hard & strenuous. Time (using Brown Tongue both up and down) Approx 5 hours

This route describes the most direct ascent of England's highest mountain and offers a choice of alternative return routes; for those who wish to climb Scafell Pike and leave quickly the same route should be used for ascent and descent.

Leave the Wasdale Head Green (car park) and walk back down the road away from the pub for 200 yards until the road bends sharply after the old bricked up school house building. Here turn left and over the stile and head across the field and over the bridge crossing Lingmell Beck. Once across take the path which heads up over the shoulder of Lingmell and joins the main Scafell Pike path at a kissing gate at the bottom of Brown Tongue. From here the path is pitched and steep and heads up to on the left hand bank of the beck until crossing it at the bottom of Brown Tongue itself. It should be noted that there is no bridge here to cross the beck and after periods of heavy rain this crossing can be difficult and will almost certainly mean wet feet!

Once across the beck the path steepens once again as it climbs the fell; at the top of this steep section the path splits in two and it is important to take care and look for this split as the cairn which once marked it has now been demolished. Once at this bifurcation in good weather you will be looking ahead directly at Pike Crag which is the cliff that separates you from the summit of the mountain, and on your right will be Scafell Crag. At this point you should take the left hand path which will take you to Lingmell Col and from there up to the summit of the Pike.

The summit is a rocky one with a single round cairn marking the highest point and it is here that most navigational problems occur. It is very easy to become disoriented here and set off down on a wrong path as there are tracks leading in all directions. It is wise to take a compass bearing from the summit and to pay attention on the way up; it is simple to recognise your path by its position in relation to the OS trig point that is also on the summit.

The simplest return path is to retrace your route up, although it is also possible to return via the Corridor Route as in the map below.