Red Pike (Buttermere)
755m (2478ft)
Red Pike (Buttermere) is in The Western Fells, The Lake District, Cumbria, England
You can walk to the top of Red Pike (Buttermere) by using any of these 6 route maps:
Walk c207 The High Stile Ridge from Buttermere
Unsurpassed views of Buttermere
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 7.5ml (12km) |
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| Ascent: | 3,338ft (1,017m) |
| Time: | 6.25hrs |
| Grade: |  (Moderate) |
Route Summary:
Buttermere - Sourmilk Gill - Bleaberry Tarn - Dodd (Buttermere) - The Saddle - Red Pike (Buttermere) - High Stile - High Crag (Buttermere) - Gamlin End - Seat (Buttermere) - Scarth Gap - Peggy's Bridge - Burtness Wood - Buttermere
Walk c263 The High Stile Ridge from Buttermere
Unsurpassed views of Buttermere
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 8.75ml (14km) |
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| Ascent: | 3,390ft (1,033m) |
| Time: | 6.25hrs |
| Grade: |  (Hard) |
Route Summary:
Buttermere - Scale Force - Scale Beck - Blea Crag - Lingcomb Edge - Red Pike (Buttermere) - High Stile - High Crag (Buttermere) - Gamlin End - Seat (Buttermere) - Scarth Gap - Burtness Wood - Sourmilk Gill - Buttermere
Walk c324 Starling Dodd and Great Borne from Buttermere
Fantastic views on less visited fells
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 9.75ml (15.5km) |
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| Ascent: | 3,157ft (962m) |
| Time: | 6½ hrs |
| Grade: | (Hard) |
Route Summary:
Buttermere - Sourmilk Gill - Bleaberry Tarn - Dodd (Buttermere) - The Saddle - Red Pike (Buttermere) - Ling Comb - Little Dodd (Ennerdale) - Starling Dodd - Great Borne - Floutern Tarn - Black Beck (Mosedale) - Blea Crag - Scale Force - Scale Beck (Crummock Water) - Crummock Water - Buttermere Dubs - Buttermere
Walk c287 The High Stile Ridge and Hay Stacks from Buttermere
Unsurpassed views of Buttermere and Wainwright's favourite
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 11.25ml (18km) |
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| Ascent: | 4,132ft (1,259m) |
| Time: | 8.25hrs |
| Grade: |  (Hard) |
Route Summary:
Buttermere - Scale Force - Scale Beck - Blea Crag - Lingcomb Edge - Red Pike (Buttermere) - High Stile - High Crag (Buttermere) - Gamlin End - Seat (Buttermere) - Scarth Gap - Hay Stacks (Haystacks) - Innominate Tarn - Blackbeck Tarn - Black Beck - Green Crag (Buttermere) - Warnscale Beck - Warnscale Bottom - Gatesgarth - Buttermere
Walk c397 The Buttermere Fells from Buttermere
Very long high level route with superb views
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 16ml (25.5km) |
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| Ascent: | 6,285ft (1,915m) |
| Time: | 12.25hrs |
| Grade: |  (Very Hard) |
Route Summary:
Buttermere - Scale Force - Scale Beck - Blea Crag - Great Borne - Starling Dodd - Little Dodd (Ennerdale) - Ling Comb - Lingcomb Edge - Red Pike (Buttermere) - Dodd (Buttermere) - Red Pike (Buttermere) - High Stile - High Crag (Buttermere) - Gamlin End - Seat (Buttermere) - Scarth Gap - Hay Stacks (Haystacks) - Innominate Tarn - Blackbeck Tarn - Black Beck - Green Crag (Buttermere) - Warnscale Beck - Dubs Hut - Dubs Quarry - Fleetwith Pike - Honister Crag (Black Star) - Fleetwith Pike - Fleetwith Edge - Gatesgarth - Buttermere
Walk c120 The Ennerdale Horseshoe
Strenuous, high level route worth every step - if you have the energy!
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Vital Statistics:
| Length: | 18.75ml (30km) |
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| Ascent: | 7,309ft (2,408m) |
| Time: | 14.75hrs |
| Grade: | (Very Hard) |
Route Summary:
Bowness Knott Car Park Ennerdale - Low Gillerthwaite Field Centre - High Gillerthwaite Yourth Hostel - Red Pike (Buttermere) - High Stile - High Crag (Buttermere) - Seat (Buttermere) - Scarth Gap - Hay Stacks (Haystacks) - Innominate Tarn - Blackbeck Tarn - Black Beck - Green Crag (Buttermere) - Great Round How - Brandreth - Gillercomb Head - Green Gable - Windy Gap - Great Gable - Westmorland Cairn - Beck Head - Beckhead Tarn - Kirk Fell (East Top) - Kirk Fell - Black Sail Pass - Looking Stead (Pillar) - High Level Route - Robinson's Cairn - Pillar - Wind Gap - Black Crag (Pillar) - High Beck - Low Beck - Ennerdale.
Interactive Walking Maps
See Red Pike (Buttermere) and the surrounding tops on our unique, downloadable, PDF Peak Bagging Maps:
NB: Whether you print off a copy or download it to your phone, these PDF Peak Baggers' Maps might prove incredibly useful when your are up there on the tops and you cannot get a phone signal.
*This version is marked with the walk routes you need to follow to Walk all 214 Wainwrights in just 59 walks.
See Red Pike (Buttermere) and the surrounding tops on our free-to-access 'Google Style' Peak Bagging Maps:
The Western Fells of The Lake District National Park
Less data - quicker to download
The Whole of The Lake District National Park
More data - might take a little longer to download
You can find Red Pike (Buttermere) & all the walks that climb it on these unique free-to-access Interactive Walk Planning Maps:
1:25,000 scale OS Explorer Map (orange/yellow covers):
1:50,000 scale OS Landranger Map (pink/magenta covers):
Fellow go4awalkers who have already walked, climbed, scaled, summited, hiked & bagged Red Pike (Buttermere)
Geoff Hand walked up Red Pike (Buttermere) on March 11th, 2026 [from/via/route] Walk from Bowness Carpark at Ennerdale Water upto Hurdus, Great Borne, Starling Dodd & onto Red Pike. From there down to the banks of the river Lisa & return to the Carpark [with] Richard Macilwaine [weather] Bright dry day. Very windy on the tops - Fanastic views, very cold in the winds, but only for a short time.
Christine Shepherd climbed it during May, 2004 [from/via/route] Walked from Buttermere [with] On my own [weather] Hot & sunny - I remember being covered by little black flies as I climbed to the summit. These had gone thank goodness when I led a group up here two months later. Visited the summit again on 14.8.10 on my way to Starling Dodd. Climbed the Buttermere fells again on 29.8.2017. Climbed Red Pike again in mist on 25.09.2021 This hadn't been the plan but I headed here from the path up Scale Force because I knew the way down even in the mist. Made my sixth ascent of Red Pike on 28.08.2022 with a group from Mountain Madness following route c324.Walked the High Stile Ridge again on 13.8.25. As I reached the summit of Red Pike for the seventh, I thought about the amount of erosion that had taken place on this path since I first climbed the fell 20 years previously.
Paul Roddam bagged it on July 19th, 2025 [with] Barb, Bri [weather] Muggy
Richard Fulcher hiked Red Pike (Buttermere) on March 25th, 2025 [from/via/route] Buttermere [with] Jen [weather] Started off with cloud over the tops but cleared around lunchtime. Not much wind but cold gusts every now & then .. generally cold with sunshine. - Originally logged as 14 September 2008: set off with Jen but she had to go back with Chip who wasn't coping well. Nearly came a cropper when I lost my way! Need to redo this peak as part of a ridge walk.
James Hughes summited on June 3rd, 2024 [from/via/route] c207 The High Stile from Buttermere [with] Sara [weather] Misty & wet at times. Poor visibility on tops. - Amazing walk - met three men on Red Pike struggling to navigate. Bounded across tops & added Haystacks at end. Slip on way down from Haystacks. Pint at Bridge Hotel.
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Photographs & Pictures of views from, on, or of, Red Pike (Buttermere)
The view north from Looking Stead (Pillar) featuring Ennerdale with Red Pike (Buttermere), High Stile, High Crag, Seat, Scarth Gap, Hay Stacks (Haystacks) and Brandreth (far right)
Red Pike (Buttermere) summit from Lingcomb Edge with Pillar prominent across Ennerdale
Whiteside (left), High Stile and Red Pike (Buttermere) (right) across the Vale of Lorton
Buttermere village from Red Pike (Buttermere) with the Grasmoor massif looming large in the background
Red Pike (Buttermere) (left) and Dodd (Buttermere) right from Old Burtness below Bleaberry Tarn
Mosedale with Red Pike (Buttermere) (centre left) and Starling Dodd (centre right) beyond from the lower slopes of Hen Comb
Mellbreak, Crummock Water and Grasmoor from the summit of Red Pike (Buttermere)
*Ennerdale Water (left), Starling Dodd and Great Borne, Loweswater (right of centre), Mellbreak and Crummock Water (right) from Red Pike (Buttermere)
. . . see all 39 walk photographs & pictures of views from, on, or of, Red Pike (Buttermere)
Send us your photographs and pictures on, of, or from Red Pike (Buttermere)
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