Arête

THE word arête comes from the Old French areste, meaning spine or fish bone, but the modern definition of arête is a sharp, narrow mountain ridge or spur. 

Sharp Edge on Blencathra is a fine example
of a Lakeland arête. Picture courtesy of
StridingEdge

As a landform an arête is a knife-edge ridge. When two corries run back to back the formation left in between is known as an arête. Each side of the ridge would be eroded by glaciers and as the edges become steeper the ridge gets narrower.

In England we have some fantastic examples of arêtes such as Striding Edge on Helvellyn between the Nethermost Cove and Red Tarn corries, or Sharp Edge (formerly Razor Edge) on Blencathra between Tarn Crag and Foule Crag. Arêtes provide some fantastic walks with staggering viewpoints and scrabbles to raise the heart rate. But they are hazardous and should be treated with extra care and respect. 

Cheers 

#TeamFell