Sourmilk Gill is the outflow stream from Easedale Tarn, bursting over the lip of the glacial corrie in a white rush of cascades. The gill has carved a narrow cleft through the moraine wall, creating one of the Lake District’s more dramatic low-altitude waterfalls. Its milky-white froth gives the stream its name, especially vivid after rainfall. The footpath from Grasmere closely follows the gill’s descent, offering fine views of Ecton Crag and the narrowing Easedale Valley below.

Easedale Tarn is a classic corrie lake, framed by steep glacial walls and nestled high in a hanging valley. From above, you can clearly see the armchair shape of the corrie, sculpted by ice, and the low terminal moraine on its eastern side where Sourmilk Gill escapes. This natural dam retains the tarn’s waters and marks the limit of past glacial advance.

Beneath Greathead Crag on the far shore of Easedale Tarn lies a classic example of hummocky moraine — an uneven landscape of mounds and hollows formed by the chaotic deposition of glacial till. This till, made up of unsorted rock fragments and earth left behind by a retreating glacier, has settled into a lumpy terrain that has since grassed over. Though the pattern may appear random, it is a telltale signature of glacial action — a frozen moment of retreat captured in the land itself. Carol sits quietly by the tarn.

A niche hollow lies around the 300m contour between Easedale Tarn and Eagle Crag. These small glacial features form in north-facing gullies and are too minor to develop into full corrie glaciers. This one likely gathered seasonal snow and ice, but not enough mass or movement to excavate a deeper basin. Blea Rigg serves as its headwall and also forms part of the southern boundary of the Easedale Tarn corrie. The hollow is now turfed and partially water-filled, with a small stream draining through it.

Slapstone Edge forms the steep headwall of the corrie that cradles Easedale Tarn. Its shattered cliffs were carved and plucked by rotational glacial movement during the last Ice Age, creating a dramatic rocky face above the west shore of the lake. Slapstone also forms an arête, a sharp ridge that separates this corrie from neighbouring glacial hollows. Its height ranges between 400–430 m and is clearly visible when approaching the tarn from Sourmilk Gill or the Greenup path.

Tarn Crag is the towering northern wall of the Easedale corrie, rising steeply above the tarn and reaching a summit height of 549 metres. This Wainwright fell is separated from neighbouring Greathead Crag by an unmarked gulley that channels rainwater from the upland area known as Deer Bields. The upper cliffs of Tarn Crag dominate the northern skyline and contribute to the classic armchair shape of the corrie.

Blea Rigg forms the steep southern rim of the Easedale corrie, rising to 541 metres and offering a forbidding face when viewed from the tarn path. Its craggy defences include Blea Crag, which plunges sheer from 510 to 410 metres, and Eagle Crag, a slightly gentler outcrop to the north of Blea Rigg. Together, they complete the armchair profile of the glacial bowl and define the upper skyline from Easedale Tarn.

Belles Knott rises to 494 m and presents a striking pyramidal profile when seen from the east. While it resembles a classic glacial horn, it lacks the three corrie headwalls and intersecting arêtes required to qualify as a true pyramidal peak. Its distinctive shape is instead the result of differential erosion and the steep-sided topography of Grasmere Common. A faint path curves around its southern flank, linking Codale Tarn to the Greenup Edge path between Stickle Tarn and Sergeant Man.

From the slopes of Blea Rigg near Eagle Crag, there is a striking view back toward Slapestone Edge, with both Easedale Tarn and Codale Tarn nestled below. The arête of Slapestone Edge forms a classic knife-edge ridge, falling steeply on both flanks — into the hanging valley of Easedale to the east and the smaller corrie basin of Codale Tarn to the west.

The large mounds of terminal moraine at the eastern outflow of Easedale Tarn form a distinctive arc across the tarn’s edge. These ridges have been breached at their centre by the outflowing Sourmilk Gill, which now cascades down into the Easedale Valley. Terminal moraine — also known as end moraine — marks the furthest advance of a glacier. It consists of glacial till pushed forward by the moving ice and deposited when the glacier begins to retreat.

Cockly Crag stands as a northern sentinel over the outflow of Sourmilk Gill, rising to 250 m above the gill’s north bank. Opposite it, on the southern bank, is Brinhowe Crag at 230 m. Both crags are set just downstream from the arc of terminal moraine that marks the eastern shore of Easedale Tarn, guarding the narrow passage through which the gill descends into Easedale.