Fairfield

Rising as the high point of the Eastern Fells, this massive, stony-topped Marilyn is best known as the crux of the Fairfield Horseshoe. Its broad summit plateau offers a rugged contrast to the lush valleys of Grasmere and Rydal below, serving as a pivotal hub for several classic ridge lines.

• •The name derives from the Old Norse 'vår-fjall', meaning 'sheep pasture.' Unlike many Lake District peaks named for their ruggedness, Fairfield was historically valued for the high-level grazing it provided to the farms in the valleys below.
• •Alfred Wainwright described the fell as the 'hub of a wheel,' noting how its many ridges radiate outwards like spokes. He considered it a primary objective for any walker, though he warned that its wide, featureless summit plateau is one of the most confusing places in the Lake District during a mist.
• •The summit provides an exceptional vantage point for looking across the deep trough of Grisedale to the Helvellyn range. To the north-east, the sharp, rocky crest of Cofa Pike leads the eye toward St Sunday Crag, while the southern view extends over the length of Windermere to the Morecambe Bay coast.
• •Geologically, Fairfield is a mass of volcanic rock belonging to the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. Its northern face is characterized by spectacular, steep-sided hanging valleys and crags, such as Scrubby Crag and Link Cove, which often hold snow much longer than the surrounding fells.
• •For those completing the full Fairfield Horseshoe from Ambleside, the summit marks the halfway point of a ten-mile circuit that bags eight separate peaks, including Nab Scar and Low Pike.
• •The summit plateau is a vast, stony desert where one cairn looks remarkably like the next; it is a place where many walkers have confidently set off for home only to find themselves halfway down the wrong valley ten minutes later.