Saturday 1 July 2000

Rosthwaite Fell (Bessyboot)

A sunlit Rosthwaite Fell
Height: Bessyboot - 550m (1,804ft); Rosthwaite Cam - 612m (2,008ft)
Prominence: 15m (49ft)
Region: Southern Fells
Classifications: Wainwright, Birkett
Summit feature: Bessyboot - cairn; Rosthwaite Cam - rock outcrop
Times climbed: 3
Related trip reports:
A Langstrath Round - 13/08/2017
A Combe Gill Round - 29/05/2016
Rosthwaite Fell & Glaramara - 16/01/2015
Bessyboot's summit cairn
Rosthwaite Cam summit
What Wainwright said:

"Rosthwaite Fell, shadowing the level stretch of the Stonethwaite valley, is really the northern extremity of the Scafells. Rosthwaite Fell's pathless and undulating top is rarely visited, understandably so for the rough and stony sides yield no easy and attractive routes of ascent".

Rosthwaite Fell's name derives from the Old Norse language and means “The peak above the clearing with a heap of stones” with “hreysi” meaning a heap of stones and “thveit” meaning a clearing.

Rosthwaite Fell reaches a height of 612 m at its highest point, which is commonly known as Rosthwaite Cam. It also has a subsidiary top, Bessyboot, which lies 800 metres north of the main summit. Alfred Wainwright took Bessyboot as the summit of the fell for his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Because of its unique geology, Rosthwaite Fell was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985 over an area of 230 hectares.

The fell's two main summits, Rosthwaite Cam and Bessyboot, are divided by a depression with a height of around 500 metres which contains the charmingly named Tarn at Leaves, a small mountain lake with a length of approximately 100 metres. The summit rocks of Rosthwaite Cam require some mild scrambling to reach the highest point.

Return to Lake District – Southern Fells

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