Sand Hill

About Sand Hill

Tucked between the hulking plateau of Grasmoor and the busy crossroads of Coledale Hause, this high-level shoulder provides a gentler interlude on the North Western ridges. While often bypassed, its grassy summit offers an intimate perspective of the dramatic crags on Hopegill Head and the deep industrial scar of Force Crag Mine.

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Did You Know?

• •The name likely refers to the loose, friable nature of the soil on its eastern slopes, where the path ascending from Coledale Hause often becomes eroded and gritty underfoot.
• •Despite its significant height of 756 metres, Alfred Wainwright did not give Sand Hill its own chapter in his Pictorial Guides, preferring to treat it as a subsidiary feature of Grasmoor.
• •The summit marks a distinct geological and tactile transition for walkers, where the narrow, rocky ridges of the Coledale Round give way to the vast, sprawling grassy plateau of the Grasmoor massif.
• •From the summit cairn, there is an excellent 'profile' view across the hause to the Hobcarton Pipes—a series of steep, parallel gullies carved into the dark Skiddaw slate of Hopegill Head.
• •For many walkers arriving from the direction of Crag Hill, the summit cairn here offers a brief, cruel moment of hope before they realise the true top of Grasmoor is still a further half-mile trudge across the plateau.