The hill is connected to its nearest higher neighbour, Whernside, by a low col or mountain pass at Ribblehead at approximately 971 feet (296 m).

The plateau to the north of Norber, an area known as The Allotment, is particularly rich in potholes; one of these, Long Kin East, can be followed without specialist caving equipment for 100 yards (91 m).

[9] The hill may also be climbed from Horton in Ribblesdale 6 miles (10 km) to the east, following a route crossing extensive areas of limestone pavement in the region of Sulber Nick.

This is the route of descent of the Three Peaks Walk and has been heavily improved by the National Trust, having changed in just thirty years from no path at all to a serious example of footpath erosion.

An alternative route from the south-west side of the triangle starts at Newby Cote, roughly a mile northwest of Clapham on the minor road heading towards Ingleton.

The summit is a broad plateau half a mile in circumference, slightly convex, higher to the north-west than to the south-east, and carpeted with dry turf.

Just to the north is a well-built windshelter (cross-shaped to provide shelter whichever way the wind is blowing) with a view indicator or toposcope built into its centre.

At the point where the Ingleton path reaches the summit rim is an even larger cairn; this, remarkably, is the remains of a battlemented round tower (a hospice), built in 1830.

[citation needed] Along the northern and eastern edges of the plateau are the tumbled remains of a wall, once believed to have been a Roman military camp but now known to be an Iron Age hill fort.

The base of the mountain is composed of ancient Silurian and Ordovician rocks which are exposed in the valley bottoms to the north of Ingleton.

Above lies the layered Yoredale Series of sedimentary rocks, predominantly shale and sandstone, and generally concealed by the peat but revealed in the escarpments about 1,700 feet (520 m) up.

[12] Important mountain peaks visible from Ingleborough are listed here, clockwise from north, with their distance in miles and bearing in degrees.