Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Mynydd Hiraethog

18.09.19  Moel Yta (SJ 028 598, only bwlch surveyed)

The bwlch of Moel Yta was the sixth of nine planned surveys of the day, all where bylchau, and all either on or beside roads.  The Moel Yta bwlch is positioned to the west of its summit and inspection via a digitised Google car implied that its critical point was on the grass verge besides a meeting of minor roads, and I hoped my car could be squeezed off of the minor road leaving sufficient space for any passing vehicle.

The bwlch of Moel Yta

I approached the bwlch from the north having just surveyed the bwlch of Foel Gasyth and was met with a Road Closed sign, as it also said Except for Access, and as I wanted access, I continued.

Arriving at the diagonal cross road which constitutes the bwlch I knew I had to work fast as it seemed the road was closed for access to the near wind farm.  Thankfully the rough grass verge where inspection with the digitised Google car suggested the critical point to be situated was wide enough to pull my car on to.  I quickly got out, inspected the lay of land and jumped back in to my car to re-position it a few metres to where the Trimble atop its roof would be aligned with where I judged the critical point of the bwlch to be placed.

The Trimble set-up position at the bwlch of Moel Yta

Having set the Trimble up I stood away from the equipment as it gathered its all-important data and hoped that a large lorry would not appear and disrupt satellite reception.  None did.

Gathering data at the bwlch of Moel Yta

Roadside bwlch surveying was proving fun, although it requires a lot of research if wanting to do a number of surveys during the day.  Although bwlch surveying is fun I needed to move on as soon as the Trimble had gathered its allotted data, and once closed down and packed away this is exactly what I did with the eastern bound minor road leading toward my next bwlch survey which connects to the 372m map heighted summit of Foel Uchaf.

Survey Result:

Moel Yta

Summit Height:  404m (spot height)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 02836 59890 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)

Bwlch Height:  353.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 01883 60114 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  51m (spot height summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit)

Dominance:  12.55% (spot height summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit)

  

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet