Even though it has a modest height of 637 metres (2,090 ft) it is one of the most distinctive fells when viewed from the Derwent Water and Keswick area due to its distinguishing summit "knobble" which catches the eye.

The North Western Fells occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north–south axis.

Causey Pike has a long blunt-ended shoulder running eastward to the Newlands Valley, dropping steeply from its terminus at Rowling End.

The eastern spur and Rowling End reveal the large olistoliths of greywacke sandstone of the Robinson Member, a sub-unit of the Buttermere Formation.

[5] There is an annual Causey Pike fell race which takes place in March; it starts and finishes at Stair in the Newlands Valley and has a distance of 4+1⁄2 miles (7 km) with 542 metres (1,778 ft) of climbing..