The 44-year-old man also suffered neck and chest injuries after falling in a gully on Blencathra's Sharp Edge.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, which rescued the man on Sunday, said the area was a "blackspot" in wet or snowy conditions.
The Great North Air Ambulance Service airlifted the man to the Cumberland Infirmary after the six-hour rescue.
A man suffered serious head injuries when he fell 160ft (50m) down a Lake District mountain.