Blencathra

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Blencathra <tr><td style="border-top:1px solid #999966; text-align: center;" colspan=2> Blencathra from Scales Fell ridge</td></tr>
Elevation	868 m (2,848 ft)
Location	Lake District, Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England <tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Prominence</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">461 m</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Topo map</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">OS Landranger 90</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">OS grid reference</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">NY323277</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Listing</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall, Wainwright</td></tr>

Blencathra

<tr><td style="border-top:1px solid #999966; text-align: center;" colspan=2>
Blencathra from Scales Fell ridge</td></tr>

Elevation

868 m (2,848 ft)

Location

Lake District, Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg England

<tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Prominence</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">461 m</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Topo map</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">OS Landranger 90</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">OS grid reference</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">NY323277</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; border-right: 1px solid #999966; background: #e7dcc3; width: 85px">Listing</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #999966; width: 220px">Hewitt, Marilyn, Nuttall, Wainwright</td></tr>

Blencathra is one of the most northerly mountains in the Lake District, United Kingdom. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the 868 metre (2,848 foot) Hallsfell Top.

For many years the Ordnance Survey listed Blencathra under the alternative name of Saddleback, which was coined in reference to the shape of the mountain when seen from the south. The guidebook author Alfred Wainwright popularised the use of the older, Cumbric name, which is now used almost exclusively. The Ordnance Survey currently marks the summit as "Saddleback or Blencathra". It is likely that the name Blencathra is derived from the Cumbric elements blaen (a bare hill top) and cathrach (a chair). This would give a meaning of "the bare hill top shaped like a chair", which perfectly describes the topography of the hill.

Blencathra is a popular mountain, and there are many different routes to the summit. One of the most famous is via Sharp Edge, a knife-edged arête on the eastern side of the mountain. Sharp Edge provides some good scrambling for those with a head for heights. Hall's Fell ridge, on Blencathra’s southern flank also provides an opportunity for some scrambling, though of a less serious nature.

Also on the eastern side of the mountain is a spectacular glacial lake, Scales Tarn, lying between Scales Fell to the south and Sharp Edge to the north.