It’s not the longest and it’s not the hardest ridge we have, but few could disagree that it’s far and away the best looking-ridge in Britain. Striding Edge’s clean-cut crest sweeps for just over one-and-a-half kilometres in an unbroken and almost horizontal line from its start at Bleaberry Crags to connect with Helvellyn at an exposed col at the very edge of the final summit slopes. To the north side the slopes fall away in a steep but short drop down to Red Tarn, while to the south the drop is a massive 630m in one long run of crag, scree and heather into Grisedale. The appeal is instant, whichever angle it’s viewed from, and even the most hesitant scrambler will be drawn willingly along its exposed rocky crest once they see it close up for the first time.

On the map the most obvious route up to the start at Bleaberry Crags is from Greenside and up alongside Red Tarn Beck, and this route has much in its favour; but if it’s your first time up Helvellyn then the steady ascent out of Grisedale up to Hole-in-the-Wall is the one to go for. This way, Striding Edge is hidden from view until the very last steps onto the crest, and you get the full sense of its dramatic situation in one big hit.

Following the true crest is a fairly easy scramble in normal conditions, but if it’s windy or you prefer a less exposed situation then there is an easier path just below the crest on the Red Tarn side at first, then on the Grisedale side for the last section. The trickiest bit is the short chimney on the col side of High Spying How, but this is just one move and it’s soon over with. Take care not to dislodge stones on the final diagonal traverse to the summit plateau – it’s a bit of a bottleneck and there are often other people on it.