Terms applied to Hill Status alteration

 

Terms applied to Hill Status alteration

Introduction: 

For many years I considered there were only three terms applicable to status change within an objective hill list.  With a fourth term a subsidiary of one of the three.  These are detailed below: 

Addition:  When a hill not in the list is added to it. 

Reclassification:  When a hill that is already in the list changes status.  As in, from the main list to the accompanying sub list or vice versa. 

Deletion:  When a hill in the list is deleted from it. 

Reinstatement:  When a hill previously in a list that was deleted from it, is reinstated to it.  Although this term is a subsidiary of an Addition, it can also be considered a separate term. 

However, not all status alteration is covered by the four terms outlined above. 

 

Explanation: 

When compiling The Welsh P15s I considered taking the accompanying sub list down to P10.  However, such a task would add a number of years to what was already a huge undertaking that eventually took eight years to complete.  Because of this I decided to opt for a P14 sub list.  This would at least capture many hills that stood a chance of P15 qualification after more detailed scrutiny such as using a GNSS receiver or LIDAR analysis. 

When updating the numerical details in the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England list for December 2013 Europeaklist publication, I decided to use the same listing method as The Welsh P15s and list the English 400m hills down to P14.  This was a fail safe to hopefully capture all the P20 subs that then accompanied the main list.  This has served us well as we recently revised the Sub-Fours to also include P15s. 

When updating the English 400m list for July 2024 publication on Mapping Mountains, all of these hills including those listed as P14s were analysed via LIDAR.  By doing so a number of hills that were listed with 15m or more and below 20m of drop and therefore would meet the newly revised P15 Sub-Four status were found to have less than the minimum 15m of drop required.  In affect, once the Sub-Four category was revised and prior to LIDAR analysis these hills were Sub-Fours in all but publication and then found not to meet the criteria for this sub category.  I did consider they could be deemed as deletions, but as they were never officially listed as Sub-Fours, they did not meet this description.  Therefore, these hills were not additions, reclassifications nor deletions. 

But if not deletions, what were they? 

A little thought came up with the term of exclusions. 

This term fitted perfectly with what had happened to these hills, as when originally listed they met the criteria which would be later used for Sub-Four status.  However, when updating using a more accurate listing method; in this case LIDAR analysis, they were found not to meet the minimum drop criterion.  Therefore, they were once considered part of the revised list but never officially published as such and having been LIDARed now excluded. 

The important factor at play in this scenario is that these hills were never officially listed as Sub-Fours, so they cannot be considered deletions, as this phrase implies that they were once officially part of the published list. 

The above scenario details the fifth tenet of terms applicable to hill status alteration; Exclusion. 

However, there is a sixth term; Rejection. 

The term Rejection applies to hills listed by previous hill list compilers which have been rejected by the respective current author, with each using the same criteria for qualification.  The important factor in this scenario is that these hills were never listed by the current author, who upon analysis of a previous list rejected them based on using the same qualififying criteria. 

Therefore, the six terms applicable to status alteration are: 

 

The Six Terms: 

Addition:  When a hill not in the list is added to it. 

Reclassification:  When a hill that is already in the list changes status.  As in, from the main list to the accompanying sub list or vice versa. 

Deletion:  When a hill in the list is deleted from it. 

Reinstatement:  When a hill previously in a list that was deleted from it, is reinstated to it.  Although this term is a subsidiary of an Addition, it can also be considered a separate term. 

Exclusion:  Specific to hills originated by the list author that met criteria for a revised list but never officially published that are now excluded. 

Rejection:  Specific to hills not originated by the list author and included in previous listings and rejected by current authors and which are based on the same criteria.  Also included are previously unlisted hills proposed as possible inclusions, which are later rejected and their details then documented.

 

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2024) 

 

My thanks for comments and input on the Tump forum from:

Jez Turner and Henry Marston; the former’s comments made me consider that the term Exclusion did not take in all similar examples; and this resulted in the term; Rejection.

Alan Dawson and Rob Woodall; the former’s comments resulted in the inclusion of the term; Reinstatement as one of the four originating terms, and the latter’s comments resulted in the term Rejection also taking in previously unlisted hills.