Loft Crag

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Loft Crag
Loft Crag as seen from Pike o‘ Stickle, Gimmer Crag is seen below the summit
Elevation	682 m (2,238 ft)
Location	Cumbria, England
Range	Lake District
Prominence	c. 25 m
Topo map	OS Explorer OL6
OS grid reference	NY277071
Listing	Wainwright, Nuttall

Loft Crag is a fell in the English Lake District, it is situated 9 kilometres west of Ambleside in the valley of Great Langdale and along with the neighbouring fells of Harrison Stickle and Pike of Stickle it forms the picturesque Langdale Pikes which when viewed from the area around Elterwater village gives one of the best known and picturesque views in the National Park.

Loft Crag has an altitude of 2,238 ft (682 metres) it lies between Harrison Stickle and Pike o’ Stickle and is usually climbed in conjunction with these two peaks. The starting place for the direct ascent of the fell is The New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Great Langdale, a path leads north westerly across the hillside passing Dungeon Ghyll Force waterfall and going between Thorn Crag and Gimmer Crag to a col between Loft Crag and Harrison Stickle. From there it is a straightforward climb to the summit. A more circuitous ascent can be undertaken from the same starting point but taking the well trodden (and repaired) path up Stickle Ghyll to Stickle Tarn, from here the fells of Pavey Ark and Thunacar Knott can be climbed before tackling the three Langdale Pikes.

Loft Crag is a fine viewpoint which gives an attractive vista of the fells around Great Langdale, because the fell juts further out into the valley than the other two Langdale Pikes it gives a more impressive and full view of the valley. The fell has a small sharp summit below which rises Gimmer Crag, which is one of the top rock climbing venues in the Lake District, the crag is made of Rhyolite rock and was pioneered in the early 1880s by the father of British rock climbing Walter Parry Haskett Smith.