The summit
A timid huddle of stones marks the summit – all else is grass. If the ground is dry settle on the turf and admire the girdle of friendly fells, particularly of the Far Eastern fells due east.
Safe descents
From this benign crest perilous crags are little suspected, even in clear conditions, but they are very real for anyone who strays N and NE from the summit. The wisest precaution is to head east off the ridge path (2), passing a large erratic en route, to join a broken wall that descends to the headstream of Hag Beck. Bear left to the ladder-stile, crossing the old deer-park wall at the head of Glemara Park, and accompany the beck down-dale bound for Patterdale.
Ridge routes
St Sunday Crag →2km/1¼ miles ↓15m/50ft ↑235m/770ft
A grassy ridge leads SW to the wet depression above Blind and Cold Coves. Either follow the worn highway up the ridge or ease the gradient by slanting S (half-left) with a path aiming towards the prominent shoulder of Gavel Pike, before turning to the summit on the Cape.
Arnison Crag →2km/1¼ miles ↓230m/750ft ↑80m/260ft
Aim E, and on finding a large white erratic boulder descend, quickly picking up a broken wall leading down to Hag Beck. Go left to the deer-park wall at the head of Glemara Park and follow it up right. At the wall’s high point bear up right again onto the grassy ridge which undulates to reach the rocky summit.
4
Catstycam 890m/2920ft
| Start | |
| Climb it from | Glenridding 25 |
| Character | Exuberant pyramid, finishing flourish to the Swirral Edge spur ridge |
| Fell-friendly route | 2 |
| Summit grid ref | NY 348 158 |
| Link it with | Helvellyn |
Catstycam’s chiselled proportions lend it special distinction when viewed from afar. The hobnail-scratched dragon’s spine of Swirral Edge plummets from the high plateau of Helvellyn, briefly levels, then with one exuberant leap soars to the tiny crest of Catstycam. Despite its modest size, it feels like a real mountain peak, as keen as a Keswick pencil, the other distinguishing feature being its frowning craggy north face, split by a massive scree-filled gully.
This little Matterhorn performs a notable service to the discerning walker. On a day when the top of Helvellyn is teeming, its pin-prick summit is invariably deserted and offers panoramic views of the rocky massif and its neighbours.
The remains of three dams, dating from the latter years of the local lead mining industry, lie at its feet. The water crossed Red Tarn Beck by an elaborate wooden chute and traversed the slopes of Birkhouse Moor to end at a stone pipe-head, from where it sped to a turbine house below. As an intriguing quest consider tracking beside the marshy course of the water-channel which contours around 250m from the breached concrete Keppel Cove dam, in the shadow of the north face, to find the remaining clues to this history. Catstycam belongs exclusively to Glenridding and all direct ascents naturally begin from the village car park.
Catstycam from Green Side
Ascent from Glenridding 25
The gentlest approach, on clear paths, is Route 2 and the most challenging is Route 3, leaving Route 1 as the compromise option – but there’s not too much to choose between them.
Via the east shoulder →6km/3¾ miles ↑740m/2430ft
1 From the car park, follow Greenside Road west along the north side of the Glenridding Beck valley as far as Greenside Mine and cross the footbridge. (You could also reach this point by taking the green path traversing the slopes of Birkhouse Moor from the ladder-stile below Gillside Farm and Rattlebeck Bridge on the south side of the valley.) Follow the green path up the valley (right) towards to a footbridge over Red Tarn Beck where it starts to climb in measured stages. As you approach Red Tarn an initially faint path bears right, becoming clearer as height is gained, to mount directly onto the eastern shoulder of Catstycam and on to the summit.
The deep dark waters of Red Tarn
Via Swirral Edge col →6.5km/4 miles ↑740m/2430ft
2 Follow Route 1 but, when the path branches up right, continue on the main path towards the corrie tarn. Just below the outflow, turn right on the popular path from the Hole-in-the-Wall slanting up to the Swirral Edge col and, at the col, turn right (northeast) with the ridge path to the summit.
Looking down the jagged arete of Swirral Edge
Via the northwest ridge →6km/3¾ miles ↑730m/2395ft
This route – the most challenging of the three – was developed as the main line of ascent for Helvellyn when tourists travelled on ponies with trusted local guides.
3 Start with Route 1 but when you reach the ruins of Greenside Mine, stay with the bridle-track, rather than crossing the bridge, and, a little further on, branch left onto a track signed ‘Brown Cove and Whiteside Bank’, following the line of Glenridding Beck until you reach a concrete dam. Just above this ford the beck to clamber up a bank to a terrace (a former dam-building track). Now slant up the slope to the right, with a scouring of scree intimating the first traces of the path onto the northwest ridge. For all its initial unassailable appearance, the ridge (and path) become(s) more sure as height is gained and the steady climb is duly rewarded with a head-in-the-clouds climax.
The summit
A transitory cairn, as tiny as the summit, confirms the highest point. The fell was so fashioned by nature as to render a man-made pile superfluous. Rock and grass fight for every inch yet afford plenty of scope for sitting, as sit you must to feast your eyes on this the most stirring amphitheatre of the fell domain.
Safe descents
In poor conditions, any move to the N is perilous. For Glenridding choose the shoulder path E (1), tending to the right. For Patterdale, and added security, opt for the ridge path SW (2) down to the col short of Swirral Edge, and there track left to ford Red Tarn Beck and contour to the Hole-in-the-Wall.
Ridge route
Helvellyn →1.6km/1 mile ↓100m/330ft ↑155m/510ft