Lake District National Park Travel Forum

Yeah, im goin to lake district in a week, and i was just wondering whether it is fairly easy to climb Helvellyn. and also from which direction shud i climb from, if one is easier than the other?
Thanks,
Hiker7000

Yes, if you're relatively fit & active Helvellyn is an easy climb. There's nothing technically difficult about it really if you take the recognised routes. The most popular is from Glenridding on Ullswater up via Greenside mine and the old broken dam. My favourite route is from Thirlspot on Thirlmere, up and over the hills to Helvellyn taking in views of 6 or 7 lakes on the way. You continue past dollywagon tarn and on to Grasmere from where you can get a bus back to Thirlspot, if you left your car there.
The most "challenging" part of doing Helvellyn is taking a walk along Striding Edge, which is one of the most famous ridge walks in the lakes, but its not dificult or dangerous so long as you don't have a fear of falling.

how wide is that path on Striding edge Steve?

Here's a good overview of the walk with photos
http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks1/w156.shtml

It looks absolutely terrifying to me, but as they point out you don't need to walk right along the ridge, you can follow path slightly lower down on either side