Alfred Wainwright in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells wrote that "From the south it appears as a great horseshoe of grassy slopes below a consistently high skyline...but lacking those dramatic qualities that appeal most to the lover of hills.

But on the north side the Fairfield range is magnificent: here are dark precipices, long fans of scree...desolate combes and deep valleys.

A fifth line of high ground, less a ridge than a salient in the breast of the fell, runs due west to Seat Sandal across Grisedale Hause.

Guidebook writers warn that it is easy to get lost in mist and that the cautious walker should beware of the presence of precipices to the north and west.

Perhaps the finest indirect ascent is from Patterdale via Birks and St Sunday Crag, following the fine narrow ridge down to Deepdale Hause before ascending rough ground to Cofa Pike.

This subsidiary top of Fairfield has a fine peaked profile, quite outdoing its parent until the wide tabletop comes into view behind.

A more challenging route climbs out of Deepdale, veering into the lower part of Link Cove before surmounting Greenhow End and The Step.