The year has been dictated by Covid-19 and the resulting restrictions instigated to control the spread of the virus. This has resulted in three lock downs in Wales, where exercise could only be taken from one’s doorstep. Due to this the majority of hills were out of bounds for 140 days of the year. During the lock down no hills were surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000, and although for me this was a disappointment, the lock down also re-connected me to my local landscape and brought things in to perspective, as over 70,000 people have now died in Britain through contact with this virus. The lock down restrictions also gave opportunity to concentrate on the Mapping Mountains site and the year in review appears below.
March:
During March the BritFours and BEFours were published on the Haroldstreet website. These lists are co-authored with Aled Williams and combine the British 400m P30s, and British and Irish 400m P30s respectively. The BritFours brought the height band of all British combined P30 lists down to 400m and therefore follow on from the listings of the Simms and Dodds.
March:
Change Resisters for the lists co-authored with Aled Williams already appear on Mapping Mountains and these give instant access to current totals and the additions, reclassifications and deletions to each category of hill. I find that creating Change Registers also help with current totals for other people’s lists and Mapping Mountains published the equivalent for the Nuttalls 2,000ft lists in January 2017, with the equivalent for the Welsh Hewitts and the English Hewitts published in July 2019. The Hewitts lists are authored by Alan Dawson and I now wanted to create Change Registers to his listings of Welsh Marilyns and English Marilyns, and these were published on Mapping Mountains in March of this year. Each Change Register gives details of the additions, reclassifications and deletions to the Marilyn and Submarilyn category and all current totals with due accreditation given where known. Having published these, I now wanted to get to grips with the Welsh Deweys and the English Deweys and create Change Registers for both, but these would have to wait for later in the year.
March:
Toward the end of the
month the lock down due to Covid-19 was implemented and this lasted from 23.03.20
to 06.07.20, all hills outside of those that could be walked up from your home
were now out of bounds.
April:
In July of last year Guinness World Records announced that Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech was recognised as the steepest street in the world, usurping Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand to the accolade. This project was instigated by Gwyn Headley and he and Sarah Badham were co-administrators for the bid. I was invited to survey Ffordd Pen Llech and to share this experience with Gwyn and Sarah and the participation of the residents of Harlech proved a highlight of 2019. In early April of this year we were informed by Guinness World Records that their rules had been reviewed and changed, resulting in Baldwin Street being reinstated as the steepest street in the world. This was a great disappointment, but it does not detract from the work that Gwyn and Sarah had done.
April:
In April, Joe Nuttall made available a spreadsheet containing details for over 29,600 hills throughout Britain. I approached him to write an article about his summit analysis programme and to make his spreadsheet publicly available. In time, the article formed one of seven Guest Contributor articles published on Mapping Mountains during 2020. The summit analysis programme Joe had written uses LIDAR and resulted in a plethora of hill reclassifications and summit relocations the like of which had not been seen in the hill listing world for many years.
June:
One of the many aspects of having a site such as Mapping Mountains is the opportunity to contact like-minded people and approach them for Guest Contributor articles. Publication outside of self-penned articles brings its own delights and setting up the sister site of Mapping Mountains Publications in 2016 gave opportunity to publish co-authored hill lists and also importantly other people’s lists and books, all of which are free of change and either available to download in e-booklet or print-booklet versions. In June of this year Mapping Mountains Publications published its first book authored by Eric Yeaman entitled Ups and Downs – The Story of Handbook of the Scottish Hills. The book received favoured comment amongst the hill bagging fraternity with articles appearing on the UKHillwalking and Grough websites as well as on Mapping Mountains.
July:
The 5-mile keep local restriction due to Covid-19 was lifted on the 6th July after 110 days of lock down. This enabled hills farther afield than those accessible from one’s own doorstep to be visited and surveying with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 re-commenced. Later in the month Corcóg (L 952 491) in the Maumturk mountains in western Ireland was reclassified to Hewitt status. This was instigated by Kieron Gribbon of The Ireland Walking Guide website who raised the potential of this hill being a new Irish Hewitt based on the 611m summit spot height that appears on the Connemara Mountains map published by EastWest Mapping. Barry Dalby of EastWest Mapping then confirmed the source of the data and details relating to its height and co-ordinates. This led to contact with Robert Loughran at Bluesky who had re-surveyed this hill resulting in its new height.
September:
On the 04.09.20 Mapping Mountains Publications published an e-booklet entitled Striving for Accuracy – from spirit levels to summit analysis programmes – how independent surveyors, online mapping and LIDAR revolutionised the drop and absolute height of hills. The booklet evolved from initial thoughts after my tenure in G&J Surveys came to an end and progressed to include detail relating to online mapping and how the summit analysis programme written by Joe Nuttall (detailed above in the month of April), was and still is an absolute game changer. The booklet was the first of its kind written and published by myself and followed on from Eric Yeaman’s book that was published in June this year.
September:
On the 04.09.20 Haroldstreet published the Irish Dodds; a list co-authored with Michael Dewey and which was extracted from The 500-Metre Tops of Ireland list that was first published on Michael’s website in 2000 and which we also co-author.
October:
A list that Aled and I had worked on for over a year and updated with all major revisions was eventually published in October; this is the 2nd Edition (Issue 2) of Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales which was published on the 14.10.20 by Mapping Mountains Publications. This was made available to download free of charge as an e-booklet and print-booklet version. These booklets take an inordinate amount of time to update for publication, but we have now completed updates of this list along with that of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England, which was published in April 2018. The remaining list to complete the set is Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, which has been long overdue as a complete update in booklet format. We are now making tentative plans to do this.
October:
Ever since activating Mapping Mountains and making the site public in November 2013, it has been a long-held ambition to create Change Registers to the Welsh Deweys, along with the English Deweys. Michael’s listing to The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales was first published in 1995 and has since undergone a number of additions and deletions with 97 revisions in all. To create comprehensive Change Registers to the Deweys I needed to undertake substantial research as each alteration was listed chronologically in receding order with due accreditation given where known. This sounds a relatively simple task, but in reality it took many months to achieve and list what hills were added and deleted and in what order and who was responsible for each alteration. I’m pleased with the outcome which gives the definitive list of changes to this category of hill. Toward the end of the month the second Welsh lock down due to Covid-19 was implemented, this was called a firebreak and it lasted for 17 days from 23.10.20 – 09.11.20. Although much shorter than its 110 day predecessor, it again closed off access to the hills.
November:
Over the last few years Aled and I have held an informal AGM toward the end of, or at the beginning of each year. These can review what we have completed during the previous twelve months and can also prioritise for the year ahead. Last year we didn’t meet for an AGM as we knew our priority for the following year. This consisted of our listing to the 500m P15 hills entitled the Welsh Highlands. My task was to fully update the numerical data, I thought this would take upwards of twelve months to complete. I started on the 29.11.19 and finally completed this stage of the list on the 15.11.20 for the Welsh section and on the 16.11.20 inclusive of the Greater Cambria section. There is much to add to this list before publication; a small matter being the exhaustive, but rewarding place-name research, but progress is being made.
November:
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| Y Drum (SJ 082 378) |
December:
At around 5.30pm on Saturday the 19.12.20 it was announced that Wales would go in to another full lock down from midnight the same day. With winter now here this was not a surprise as the Covid-19 virus is dramatically taking its toll upon people’s health, business and lifestyle. This latest lock down is open-ended, but will no doubt progress well in to 2021. This is a sad note to end on, for this part of this year’s retrospective, but it is also a necessary one. Let’s hope that next year brings greater freedom and a life where Covid-19 does not dictate.
Year’s End:
During 2020 another grand sweep for the year was achieved, as a separate post has been uploaded to Mapping Mountains on each and every day throughout the year. This is something that is becoming the norm.
The Year Ahead:
And what is in store for Mapping Mountains during 2020; in all honesty it is hard to consider what lies in store over the next year, as Covid-19 is still here and I suspect much of what this site concentrates on will be dictated by whether any further lock down restrictions are necessary to combat the spread of this virus.
Lastly, I thank those who visit Mapping Mountains for their continued support and I hope the year ahead brings lots of happiness and fun-filled days on the hill. But above all; stay safe and keep care.
Myrddyn Phillips (1st
January 2021)
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