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:''For the vehicle see skidoo.'' Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England, where its 931 m (3,054 ft) summit is ranked sixth highest. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the simplest of the Lake District mountains of this height to ascend (as there is a well-trodden tourist track from a car park to the north-east of Keswick, near the summit of Latrigg) and, as such, many walking guides recommend it to the occasional walker wishing to climb a mountain. This is the first summit of the fell running challenge known as the Bob Graham Round when undertaken in a clockwise direction. The mountain lends its name to the surrounding areas of "Skiddaw Forest", and "Back o' Skidda'" and to the isolated "Skiddaw House", situated to the east, formerly a shooting lodge and subsequently a youth hostel. It also provides the name for the slate derived from that region: Skiddaw slate. Tuned percussion musical instruments or lithophones exist which are made from the slate, such as the Musical Stones of Skiddaw held at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. ==Topography== The Northern Fells comprise a roughly circular upland area approaching in width. At the centre is the marshy depression of Skiddaw Forest— a treeless plateau, or valley, at an altitude of about ; and flowing outwards from here are the rivers which divide the area into three sectors. The south-western sector, between the Glenderaterra Beck and Dash Beck, contains Skiddaw and its satellites.〔Wainwright, Alfred: ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book 5 The Northern Fells'': ISBN 0-7112-2458-7〕 Skiddaw itself takes the form of a north-south ridge about half a mile long, with steep slopes to east and west. The ridge continues northwards over Broad End to Bakestall, a fell overlooking the Whitewater Dash waterfall. Further ridges fan out east and west from the southern end of Skiddaw. To the south-east are Skiddaw Little Man, Lonscale Fell and Latrigg, an easily accessible viewpoint for Keswick and Derwentwater. Beyond these fells are the Glenderaterra Beck and the Blencathra group. The south western ridge curves round through 180 degrees to run north above the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake. This gives Skiddaw an "outer wall", comprising Carl Side, Long Side and Ullock Pike, collectively referred to as Longside Edge. The final member of the Skiddaw Group is Dodd, a satellite of Carl Side. Between Skiddaw and Longside Edge are the quiet valleys of Southerndale and Barkbethdale, separated by the spur of Buzzard Knott. These drain the western flanks of the fell to Bassenthwaite Lake. The eastern side of Skiddaw drains into Skiddaw Forest, much of the water reaching Candleseaves Bog. This marsh is the source of both the Dash Beck flowing north west to Bassenthwaite and the River Caldew, beginning its long journey north eastward to the Solway Firth via Carlisle. Two smooth spurs on this eastern flank of Skiddaw, Sale How and Hare Crag, are listed in separate tops in some guidebooks.〔Birkett, Bill: Complete Lakeland Fells: Collins Willow (1994): ISBN 0-00-713629-3〕 Sale How is also a Nuttall. Below Sale How is Skiddaw House, a stone building which has variously served as a shooting lodge, shepherd's bothy and Youth Hostel. Its windbreak comprises the only trees in Skiddaw Forest, and it is reached via a long access track up the Dash Valley. Built around 1829 by the Earl of Egremont it was originally a Keepers lodge; a base for grouse shooting and for the gamekeepers who managed the extensive land owned by Egremont in the area known as Skiddaw Forest. Little is known of the House in the nineteenth century, but we do know that it was used by both gamekeepers and shepherds beyond 1860. There were also rooms for his Lordship and the shooting parties. The well known Canon Rawnsley, a founder of the National Trust, visited in about 1900 and mentions in one of his books the kind hospitality of the shepherds' family at that time. Sir Hugh Walpole who wrote ''Rogue Herries'' amongst other well known books, in the 1920s and 30s was a visitor and uses the House as the scene, set in 1854, of a foul murder by the evil Uhland. And what a desolate place it must have been back then on a black night with the wind howling and blowing, the atmosphere must have been tremendous or frightening depending on what level of nervousness you are. This arrangement for accommodation continued into the 20th century and up until the early 1950s. Several families reared their young there until they were able to go to school, but the longest service must have been a chap by the name of Pearson Dalton, a shepherd and bachelor from the Caldbeck area, who came to stay for a month in 1952 and left in 1969 aged 75. He lived there alone for 5 days a week, only going home for long weekends with his sister in Caldbeck, then returning on the Monday to resume his duties. By this time farming practices had changed and the House was no longer needed and declined. There was intermittent use by various schools and outdoor groups followed, but it was in a poor way. In 1986 the House was leased by John Bothamley who had created the YHA Carrock Fell Hostel a few miles away and after much effort and expense the building was handed over to the YHA, but not without further problems with the lease, but after a new lease of life in 2007 as Skiddaw House Foundation it now thrives as a hostel in the long term whilst retaining the principles of the YHA. Skiddaw's slopes are generally rounded and convex, looking from a distance as though a thick velvet blanket has been draped over a supporting frame. On the ridges the general terrain is of loose stones, but elsewhere all is grass and heather. Wainwright noted that "Its lines are smooth, its curves graceful; but because the slopes are steep everywhere, the quick build-up of the ''massif'' from valley levels to central summit is appreciated at a glance – and it should be an appreciative glance, for such massive strength and such beauty of outline rarely go together."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Skiddaw」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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