Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys - Whernside

04.01.14  Little Whernside (SE 028 776) and Dead Man’s Hill (SE 058 783)

Little Whernside (SE 028 776)

Either side of Nidderdale in south Yorkshire rise steep angled hillsides with tops scythed off to give flat plateau like summits.  Underfoot conditions hereabouts are somewhat uncompromising; with mile upon mile of heather moor stretching either side of the Scar House Reservoir and Angram Reservoir.

Looking across Scar House Reservoir to Angram Reservoir's dam

Our objectives for the day lay in this uncompromising land and with a weather forecast of heavy snow in the morning we set out wondering if we’d reach the summits of Little Whernside and Dead Man’s Hill.  Both hills are classified as Deweys with the former also a Sim.  It was the latter status that interested Mark Trengove, as having completed the English and Welsh Hewitts he is now after the remaining Sims.  Accompanying us for the day was John Kirk who had acted as an excellent host the previous night and local guide for our wet wander around Yorkshire’s finest moorland bogs.

Mark on the track that leads toward seemingly endless bog

We waited until the morning’s rain had stopped and set out across the Scar House Reservoir dam and up a good track toward the col between Little Whernside and Dead Man’s Hill.  The snow had not materialised and with the rain abated the cloud base inched itself higher up the hillsides.  Access to this point is easy, but after leaving the track and heading westward toward the summit of Little Whernside the going got a bit squelchy.  On our way we examined the critical col for Dead Man’s Hill and then headed up to the area of Little Whernside’s summit.  This consists of a number of large peat hags, some seemingly floating in a sea of wet, black peat.  The 604m spot height on Ordnance Survey maps is on the north side of the summit ridge fence.  However, previous visits indicated that the high point was on the southerly side of the fence.  We traversed around a number of peat hags, doing our best to avoid the worst of the bog.  Soon we were atop what looked to be the highest.  I scraped the upper vegetation away to expose the peat and set the Trimble to gather five minutes of data.

Rather lovely winter colour with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on what we deemed the high point of Little Whernside

Mark on an island of peat on the summit area of Little Whernside

Our route back to the col was another wet plod.  Wanting to ascertain the drop of Dead Man’s Hill we chose a spot between streams next to puddles of standing water, gathered another five minutes of data and headed over the track and up to the next summit.  Remarkably some stretches were now on relatively dry grass, but this was just a tease for what was to come.  We followed a fence over four gully quagmires and eventually headed south-east next to another fence that isn’t marked on the map.  Underfoot conditions were never torturous but they were very wet with the hill in places resembling an overflowing sponge.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 set-up position for the col survey of Dead Man's Hill

The summit of Dead Man’s Hill is a worthy contender for the world’s most featureless top, as the heather and its bleakness extends in all directions with just the vegetation to focus one’s mind on.  John led the way and took us to the high point which matched the ten figure grid reference Mark had documented for the summit.  I scraped at the vegetation, reached the peat and gathered data for six minutes and then we were away.

Miles of naute - the set-up position on the summit area of Dead Man's Hill

Heading south-eastward more squelchy stuff brought us out on another track that gave access to an old quarry.  From here the going was easy and soon the track led us down to the dam we had crossed more than four hours earlier.  Reaching the awaiting car was a relief.

The day proved very enjoyable on hills that were new to me, with atmospheric cloud conditions and a surprising stillness to the land where heather moor and wetness predominates.

LIDAR image of Little Whernside (SE 028 776)

Postscript: 

Since the survey of these hills LIDAR has become available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for these hills have been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for each hill being prioritised.

Survey Result:

Little Whernside

Summit Height:  605.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SE 02805 77611 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  526.5m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SE 01324 76809 (LIDAR)

Drop:  78.5m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  12.98% (LIDAR)

Dead Man’s Hill

Summit Height:  545.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SE 05674 78329 (LIDAR) (summit relocation)

Col Height:  483.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SE 04417 78278 (LIDAR)

Drop:  62.1m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  11.39% (LIDAR)

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}