The High Stile range dominates the small hamlet and lake at Buttermere. Even from the car on the opposite side of the lake it shoots 'clim me!'. You just have to do it!
The best views of High Stile and High Crag are from the shore of Buttermere. You really want to get up there!
You may be able to park on the grass at the bottom of Newlands Hause, otherwise you will have to pay for the car park past the Bridge Hotel. What's a couple of quid, though, for a great day on the fells?
Take the path which crosses the fields between Buttermere and Crummock Water and leads to a foot bridge over the stream at Buttermere Dubs. Here you have a choice. The path to the right crosses some very boggy ground and takes you to Scale Force. The path to the left climbs up by Sourmilk Gill to arrive in the depression which houses Bleaberry Tarn, and thence climbs Red Pike by a horribly eroded path.
My preference is the Scale Force route, not only because it visits one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Lake District, but because it also avoids the erosion on Red Pike. Its only drawback is the wetness of the ground, but this can be minimised by keeping as high up to the left as possible. The waterfall of Scale Force is in two parts, and you can only really see the upper fall by scrambling up an easy rock face.
When you have finished admiring the waterfall, the path leads steeply up a very worn grass slope to the left of Scale Beck. The steepness doesn't last long however, and the gradient soon eases off as you reach Lingcombe Edge. The path follows the edge of the hanging valley containing Bleaberry Tarn before another stiff climb to the summit of Red Pike.
The alternative ascent climbs through Burtness Wood, from where there are splendid views of Crummock Water and Buttermere , swinging left away from Sourmilk Gill, and then right back towards it again on a well repaired path, before arriving at Bleaberry Tarn. The final ascent of Red Pike is the most horribly eroded path I have ever come across, consisting of deep channels filled with loose red soil. I found it difficult to get any purchase at all.
In August 1987, I was coming down from Red Pike to Bleaberry Tarn with my son, who noticed a camera a few yards off the path. We decided to leave it where it was, and continued our descent, only to meet a man asking if anyone had found a camera. He had got all the way back to Buttermere before realising it was missing, and had retraced his steps.
Once at the summit of Red Pike, the worst of the ascent is over for the day, and you can enjoy the views out over Buttermere.
The path leaves Red Pike, following the edge above Chapel Crags before rising again to High Stile. From here you have magnificent views of Burtness Combe, the lakes of Buttermere and Crummock Water, and Pillar across the head of Ennerdale.
The path descends from High Stile and follows the edge of Burtness Combe, with the final ascent of the day leading to the summit of High Crag.
The descent is by Gamlin End, a river of loose stones, to Scarth Gap, and then back to the shores of Buttermere.