Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Moel y Gamelin

18.03.14  Moel Ffagnallt (SJ 190 699)

Moel Ffagnallt (SJ 190 699)

Mark wanted to discover one or two ‘new’ P30’s and the first hill on his radar was a few miles outside of Mold near the small hamlets of Moel-y-crio (SJ 195 697) and Rhes-y-cae (SJ 189 707).

The hill is easily accessible from the road that goes between the small communities via a green track that makes its way up the south-eastern flank of the hill.  The forecast for the day was not brilliant as the fine weather of the last couple of weeks had now been replaced by westerly’s blowing in from the Atlantic.  Although the heavier rain of the day proved to be whilst driving from Welshpool to Mold.

Before venturing up to the summit we explored the area of the bwlch, the critical point seemed to be in someone’s back garden, thankfully we were both of the opinion that land at this point had been terra-formed and therefore could not be considered as ‘natural’.  This at least meant that the Trimble could be set up in a field.  But before doing this we visited the summit.

The high point of the hill proved to be a small slab of concrete that was embedded in the ground.  Again we considered this as unnatural and decided to place the Trimble next to it on flattened grass.  Ten minutes of data was collected as the sky to the west turned grey and the wind whipped across the top.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the summit of Moel Ffagnallt with Moel Fama in the background

Away to the south the Clwyd hills were on grand display with the Jubilee Tower atop Moel Fama (SJ 161 626) standing out on the horizon.  As the Trimble edged nearer its allocated ten minutes of data collection showers were breaking out around the hills.  Thankfully only a few spots fell our way so no wet deluge descended upon us.

Next stop was the bwlch and having decided that a manicured lawn was not appropriate as being considered as ‘natural’ ground I crept in to an adjacent field and placed the Trimble on the low point of the hill to hill traverse which proved to be near to a hedge.  Another ten minutes of data was collected before we went driving off to explore the critical bwlch of another prospective ‘new’ P30 that would have to await another surveying day.

Trimbles like the outdoors and fields.  Much safer than urban environments and pavements!

Survey Result:

Moel Ffagnallt

Summit Height:  288.5m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 18999 70001

Bwlch Height:  261.3m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 19347 69850

Drop:  27.2m

Dominance:  9.44%

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