Illgill Head

Illgill Head offers one of the Lake District's most dramatic vantage points, sitting directly atop the famous Wasdale Screes. While the summit is a relatively flat, grassy plateau, the western edge drops away precipitously toward Wastwater, providing unparalleled views of England’s deepest lake and the Scafell range.

• •The fell is renowned for the Wastwater Screes, a massive collection of unstable, broken rock that plunges nearly 2,000 feet from the summit ridge directly into the lake.
• •Its name is derived from the Old Norse words 'illr', meaning bad or difficult, and 'gill', referring to the steep-sided ravines that scar its western face.
• •Because Wastwater is England’s deepest lake, the fell’s sheer western slopes actually continue for another 258 feet below the water's surface to reach the lake floor.
• •Most hikers reach the summit via a straightforward ridge walk from Whin Rigg, which is much kinder to the knees than attempting the notoriously ankle-breaking boulder field along the lake's edge.
• •The summit is so deceptively broad and grassy that you could practically host a football match on top, provided you don't over-egg a clearance and send the ball on a 1,500-foot vertical trip into the water.