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.

From the broad plateau of Wandope, the fine and airy ridge of Whiteless Edge descends south west to the depression at Saddle Gate (2,065 ft / 629 m).

The ridge now turns south and falls to the wide shoulder of Whiteless Breast (1,440 ft / 440 m), from where the slope continues down to Buttermere village.

The eastern face of the fell drains via several feeders into Sail Beck, bound for Crummock Water via Buttermere Village.

The north western flanks supply Rannerdale Beck, another feeder of Crummock Water which flows between Whiteless Pike and Grasmoor.

The Causey Pike Fault runs across to the south and Whiteless Breast and the lower slopes are examples of the Buttermere Formation, an olistostrome of disrupted sheared and folded mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.