{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Short description|Mountain in the English Lake District, Cumbria, England}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Pavey Ark | image =Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn, Lake District, UK.jpg | image_caption = Pavey Ark, centre left, and [[Stickle Tarn, Langdale|Stickle Tarn]] | elevation_m = 700 | elevation_ref = | prominence = ''c.''15 m | parent_peak = [[Thunacar Knott]] | listing = [[List of Wainwrights|Wainwright]], [[Nuttall (hill)|Nuttall]] | location = [[Cumbria]], [[England]] | range = [[Lake District]], [[Central Fells]] | coordinates = {{coord|54.46142|N|3.10451|W|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | grid_ref_UK = NY285079 | topo = [[Ordnance Survey|OS]] ''Explorer'' OL6 | map = United Kingdom Lake District | map_caption = Location in Lake District, UK }}
'''Pavey Ark''' is a [[fell]] in the [[England|English]] county of [[Cumbria]]. It is one of the [[Langdale Pikes]], lying to the north of [[Great Langdale]], in the heart of the [[Lake District]], immediately to the north-east of [[Harrison Stickle]].
==Topography== From the shores of [[Stickle Tarn, Langdale|Stickle Tarn]], Pavey Ark gives the impression of being a rocky ridge. In fact this is misleading, and the north-western side is simply an undulating area of [[moorland]], rising towards [[Thunacar Knott]]. The summit plateau is characterised by tarns, rocky outcrops and [[bilberry]] terraces.
Pavey Ark is the largest cliff in the Langdales, but faces east over Stickle Tarn and is less prominent from the floor of Great Langdale away to the south. The main face is a little over {{convert|1/4|mi|m|abbr=off}} across and drops about {{convert|400|ft|m|-1|abbr=off}}. To the southwest it merges into the crags of [[Harrison Stickle]], while the northern end peters out into the valley of Bright Beck. Stickle Tarn is wholly within the territory of the Ark, a [[Cirque|corrie]] [[tarn (lake)|tarn]] which has been dammed to create additional capacity. The stone-faced barrage is low enough not to spoil the character of the pool, and the water is used for public consumption in the hotels and homes below. The tarn has a depth of around {{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=off}}.<ref name="blair">Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): {{ISBN|0-9543904-1-5}}</ref>
==Geology== The face is an outcrop of the formation named for the fell, the Pavey Ark Member. This consists of pebbly [[sandstone]] and [[breccia]] and is set within the Seathwaite Fell Formation of [[volcaniclastic]] sandstone with interbeds of [[tuff]], [[lapilli tuff]], breccia and conglomerate.<ref name="bgs">[[British Geological Survey]] 1:50,000 series maps: Sheet 38: BGS (1998)</ref>
==Ascents== [[File:Jack's Rake.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Looking at Jack's Rake from [[Stickle Tarn, Langdale|Stickle Tarn]]. Walkers can be seen ascending the rake.]] Pavey Ark is most often climbed from the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, located some {{convert|1+1/4|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} south. The route follows Mill [[Gill (stream)|Gill]] up to Stickle [[Tarn (lake)|Tarn]], which can also be reached via a much less popular and more strenuous path following the [[Dungeon Ghyll]] ravines. From Stickle Tarn there is a choice of routes; one of the most popular is to follow a diagonal slit on Pavey Ark's [[cliff|crag]]gy south-eastern face. This route is known as ''Jack's Rake'', and requires [[scrambling]]. Alternative, easier, ascents are available on either side of the main crag.
''Jack's Rake'' is the most famous ascent of the Pavey Ark precipice. It is classified as a Grade 1 scramble, but it is within the capability of many walkers, though it does require a [[head for heights]] and is considerably harder in bad weather. The rake starts beneath the East Buttress at the precipice's eastern end, near a large [[cairn]] (with a tablet marked 'JWS 1900') immediately north of Stickle Tarn, and then climbs west across the face of the crag. The rake follows a natural groove in the precipice face and is clearly indicated by several [[European Ash|Ash]] trees. [[Alfred Wainwright|Wainwright]] wrote that for fellwalkers Jack's Rake is "difficult and awkward", although there is "curiously little sense of exposure, for a comforting parapet of rock accompanies all the steeper parts of the ascent".<ref name="wainwright">{{cite book |author=Wainwright, A |author-link=Alfred Wainwright |title= [[Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells|A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells]], Book 3 The Central Fells |publisher= Westmorland Gazette |year= 1958}}</ref> The summit is a short walk from the top exit of the rake, which is also used as a descent route by rock climbers accessing the climbs on the cliff face.
In two separate incidents, two walkers fell to their deaths from Jack's Rake in June 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-18530539|title=Second walker dies falling on Pavey Ark in Lake District|date= 21 June 2012|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>
As with ''Lord's Rake'' on [[Scafell|Scafell Crag]], the word 'rake' refers to a path across major precipices, originally used by climbers for access to rock climbs, but which can also be used by walkers.
Pavey Ark can also be ascended from Stickle Tarn via ''Easy Gully'', ''North Rake'' or by the path to [[Harrison Stickle]]. ''Easy Gully'' is a steep walk on [[scree]] between the crags at the eastern end of the precipice, starting from the same place as ''Jack's Rake'', and is blocked by large [[boulders]] near the top, where tough scrambling is required. ''North Rake'' (so named by Wainwright) starts from the path to [[High Raise, Langdale|High Raise]] at the very eastern end of the cliff and rises west over the top of the East Buttress. This is a much less exposed and strenuous walking route to the summit.<ref name="wainwright"/>
==Summit== There is no [[cairn]] on the bare rock of the summit, set back a few yards from the edge and a little to the north of the exit from Jack's Rake. The view north-west is perhaps spoilt by the long slopes of [[High Raise (Langdale)|High Raise]], but the [[Eastern Fells|Eastern]] and [[Southern Fells]] are well seen<ref name="richards">Mark Richards: ''The Central Fells'': Collins (2003): {{ISBN|0-00-711365-X}}</ref>
==Rock climbing== The Pavey Ark crag is split by several large gullies and chimneys: Little Gully, Great Gully, Crescent Gully, Gwynne's Chimney, and Rake End Chimney. Other rock climbs include ''Crescent Slabs'', ''Arcturus'', ''Cruel Sister'', ''Mother Courage'', ''Sixpence'', and ''Impact Day'' [[Grade (climbing)#British|(E8 6c)]], and ''Lexicon'' [[Grade (climbing)#British|(E11 7a)]].
{{wide image|Pavey Ark by nagualdesign.jpg|1000px|A [[panoramic image]] of Pavey Ark. Jack's Rake can be traced from the lower right to the upper left. Two pairs of rock climbers can be seen ascending a more challenging route, and a pair of walkers stand at the summit. To the left is Harrison Stickle, and the winding path back down to the tarn.|center|dir=rtl}}
==References== {{commons category}} {{Reflist}} {{Central Fells}}
[[Category:Fells of the Lake District]] [[Category:Nuttalls]] [[Category:Climbing areas of England]]