High Hartsop Dodd

About High Hartsop Dodd

Rising like a sharp, green wedge above the valley floor at Hartsop, this steep-sided spur offers a direct and punishing ascent. While technically a subsidiary top of Little Hart Crag, its prominent position provides a dramatic perspective over Brothers Water and the length of the Patterdale valley.

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Did You Know?

• •The name 'Dodd' is a common Cumbrian dialect term for a blunt or rounded hill, usually occurring as a spur of a higher mountain. Hartsop likely derives from the Old English 'heort hop', meaning the valley of the red deer stags.
• •Alfred Wainwright gave this hill its own chapter in his Pictorial Guides despite its modest height and lack of col, noting that its 'sturdy appearance' from the valley floor earned it a place among the fells.
• •The northern face is one of the steepest continuous grass slopes in the Lake District. It rises nearly 1,000 feet from the valley in less than half a mile, offering a relentless climb for those who prefer a direct line over the easier ridge approach.
• •From the summit cairn, you can look directly down the length of Patterdale to see the village of Glenridding and the shimmering reaches of Ullswater, while the Kirkstone Pass road is visible snaking between the walls of Caudale Moor and Middle Dodd.
• •It is the sort of hill that looks far more impressive from the pub at Brothers Water than it does from the higher mountains behind it; from above, it appears as little more than a ripple on the ridge of its parent fell.