Fleetwith Pike. The aerial slide would run from the crags on the left of the fell

Fleetwith Pike. The aerial slide would run from the crags on the left of the fell

A Lake District businessman plans to build a zip wire ride from the top of a fell to encourage off-season tourism.

Mark Weir, owner of the Honister Slate Mine, has lodged a planning application to install the aerial slide on Fleetwith Pike. The mile-long (1½km) wire ride would enable visitors to the existing via ferrata climb to finish with a slide down to the mine, 350m (1,150ft) below.

The proposed zip slide would follow the line of the old Lancaster Aerial cable system that transported quarry materials from the area near the top of the 648m (2,126ft) mountain until it was dismantled in the 1950s.

The new ride would be called the Lancaster Aerial Flight and Mr Weir says it would help preserved jobs at the site during the winter season, when he usually has to lay of half of the staff at Honister.

Mr Weir installed Britain’s first via ferrata – a system first used in Italy’s mountains – a system of fixed cables, ladder rungs and other protection, to enable less experienced climbers to tackle the route on Fleetwith Pike.

He also courted controversy during the washed-out Original Mountain Marathon of 2008 when he said: “We have come within inches of turning the Lake District mountains into a morgue.” He later proposed, tongue in cheek, that a planned statue of Alfred Wainwright should be placed on Fleetwith Pike, overlooking the Honister mine.

The Lake District National Park Authority is expected to hear the full application at its meeting at Kendal on 2 June.

Some articles the site thinks might be related:

  1. Walkers invited to help light up Fleetwith Pike for charity event
  2. Teen airlifted after suffering injury on Fleetwith Pike via ferrata