Grisedale Pike is one of the Coledale Fells and one of Alfred Wainwright's Northwestern Fells. Because of its impressive pyramid shape, Grisedale Pike has been given the nickname 'The Lakeland Matterhorn', although it is unlikely that the Swiss return the favour and term the Matterhorn the 'Alpine Grisedale Pike'. Direct Grisedale Pike walks can be made from the Whinlatter Pass, and more commonly from the village of Braithwaite.
From Braithwaite, Wainwright describes the walk up Grisedale Pike's eastern ridge as 'a long and relentless fight against gravity for which a girding of the loins is an essential preliminary'. Loins suitably girded, it is common once the top of Grisedale Pike is reached to continue on a round of the Coledale Fells, with Wainwright most often describing the route that continues to complete Hopegill Head, Eel Crag, Sail, Outerside and Barrow before returning to the village of Braithwaite in Coledale.
When reaching the target of a Grisedale Pike walk, the summit bears a cairn resting on an area of slate fragments which Wainwright described as 'tinkling musically' when walked across. The views here are good of Keswick and Derwent Water, north to the Solway Firth, together with the Helvellyn Range and fells that surround the Newlands Valley.
More details on Grisedale Pike walks and the Coledale Round can be read about in detail in Book Six: The Northwestern Fells, by A. Wainwright, part of the Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
Plan and record your progress through the Wainwright Fells of the Lake District