Completing the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru - UKHillwalking Article

 

Completing the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru

UKHillwalking Article 

UKHillwalking recently published an article on my completion of the 630 hills that make up the listing of the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru.  The original article and a link to it on the UKHillwalking website appear below.

 

Completing the Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru

Covering 630 hills, from 500m lumps right up to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) itself, the Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru is a hill list on a grand scale. Myrddyn Phillips co-authors the list, and is also the first to complete it, a process that took nearly 20 years. What's the attraction of a bagging task this epic? Allow Myrddyn to explain...

For many years I hill walked with proverbial blinkers on, concentrating in the main on the Welsh 2000-footers. These hills were repeated many times, and even though I sought out new ground via different ridges and valleys, the need for variety eventually won out. The lower hills beckoned.

Winter on Foel Meirch

These lower hills are based in the 500m height band. Whereas the higher 2000-footers are split between the Hewitts (P30 hills) and Nuttalls (P15 hills), the 500m banding concentrated on the Deweys (P30 hills); a list that I now co-author.

When repeating the Welsh Nuttalls I took up the challenge of finding new qualifying hills by using a basic levelling staff to measure drop, resulting in a number of hills entering this list through this rather esoteric aspect of hill walking. My interest in surveying and finding new qualifying hills now transferred to the Deweys, resulting in more Welsh hills entering this list. When I completed the Welsh Deweys my interest in surveying was extended to the 500m tops with 15m minimum drop. 

This enabled me to venture on to new ground and investigate different hills. It also gave me opportunity to compile a new listing of Welsh hills; one that would fulfil that investigative instinct as well as fulfilling the surveying aspect of my hill walking which had become ever more important for me.

Now co-authored with Aled Williams, the resulting list is named Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru.

The hills range from forested summits in the Elenydd such as Gnol Ddu

 

The List

Wales is blessed with many hills and a widely varied landscape, giving plenty of scope for people who enjoy getting away from the masses. The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list fulfils this urge, giving plenty of hills to investigate in some of the most wild and remote areas of Wales.

The criteria for this list are all Welsh hills at and above 500m in height, that have 15m minimum drop. Accompanying the main list is a sub category of hills, these are the Welsh Highland Subs and take in all Welsh hills 500m and above in height that have 10m and more and below 15m of drop. The end result is a comprehensive listing to the Welsh highlands. The list is now co-authored with Aled Williams and as of writing this article there are 630 hills that qualify for the main list from the 500.5m summit of Moel Bowydd to the 1084.8m summit of Yr Wyddfa, with the accompanying sub list taking in 250 hills.

...to the mighty Yr Wyddfa

 

Why do it?

Many of my friends hill walk, but only a few are hill baggers. The latter are people who purposely visit hills to fulfil a greater challenge of completing a hill list. A mantra of sorts is often given by hill baggers to legitimise their obsessional quality; this simply states that ticking off hills in a list can take you to places that you otherwise might never visit.

This is one reason why a hill list can benefit a hillwalker. However, hill lists themselves have greatly benefited over recent times with the advent of independent surveyors wandering the hills with GNSS receivers and level and staffs in hand determining drop and absolute height of hills. Numerical and positional data have also benefited from the advent of the LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique.  Both of these have revolutionised hill listing with a plethora of reclassifications involving a multitude of lists, including the Munros, Majors, Corbetts, Grahams, Marilyns, Humps, Nuttalls, Hewitts, Deweys, Y Pedwarau and many more besides including the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru. Simply put, there is no objective listing to British hills that has not benefited from the use of independent surveyors and LIDAR analysis.

 

The Hills

Using a 15m minimum drop criterion gives the prospect of listing many more hills, which increases diversity in the list. This drop value also works well for Wales, and especially so for the higher tier of the Welsh highlands.

Esgair Pentanau - not many people come this way, and a list is a perfect pretext to visit

There are many hills of lower prominence in this list that stand out; some like Foel Meirch (SH 658 637) in the Carneddau give excellent views up to their higher adjacent hills. A great example is Gallt y Wenallt (SH 642 532) in the Yr Wyddfa massif, which stands at the end of the famous horseshoe walk giving plunging views down in to Nant Gwynant. Some hills are even man-made such as Chwarel Graig Ddu (SH 725 455) in the Moelwynion; a remnant of quarrying activity that has left a hill that qualifies both on height and drop.

However, out of all the individual hills that qualify there is a hill group that for me stands out amongst its peers; this is the land I know as the Elenydd. This area takes in the central part of Wales, much of it relatively remote. Few fences enclose this land, giving it an unrelenting openness. The hills of the Elenydd are not dramatic in sculptured aspect, but they have a beauty all to themselves and one that benefits from the criteria used in this list as those small prominence hills are seemingly dotted all over this landscape.

The Elenydd also hosts the large expanse of the Tywi forest, an infestation of conifer plantation that takes in swathes of land that must at one time have been beautiful open hillside. Many qualifying hills are situated in conifer plantation; some are horrendous to visit with a literal tree bash to get to their elusive summits, whilst others such as Gnol Ddu (SN 823 599) can be sublime to visit in favourable conditions.

Uchafion Cymru includes all the greats, such as Arenig Fawr

Including the listing of P10 Subs also gives a wealth of small prominence hills to climb. These can be combined with their higher prominence neighbours and give different perspectives to the hills. Few of the sub hills can compare with Esgair Pentanau (SN 846 703), which is positioned in the wilds of the Elenydd overlooking the mountain lake of Llyn Cerrigllwydion Isaf and topped with a large boulder requiring a bit of scrambling to gain its highest point.

 

Progress

It took 19½ years from the day I purposely visited my first Welsh 500m P15 hill to the day that I completed. I suppose you could say I made steady progress. Steady or not, other stuff such as life occasionally gets in the way of the more serious business of hill bagging. By October 2010 I only had ten qualifying hills to visit. Due to those pesky independent surveyors and LIDAR analysis the hills to visit kept increasing over the intervening years with a mass of new ones found. It required a concerted effort to finish the remaining hills in this list. 

Moel y Llyn in the Pumlumon hills

Completion

Toward the start of 2023 I decided to concentrate on the few remaining hills I had left. Many of these were situated in the Tywi forest and these would require good weather and open forest tracks. Others were newly discovered through the use of LIDAR. My third to last hill is one such example. This is situated between Moel Hebog and Moel yr Ogof in Eryri in north-west Wales and its summit consists of a small rocky ridge that was decidedly greasy when I visited, and with a wind blowing across the tops I managed to fall down its rocky southern side and remember the shock of seeing rock whizzing past my eyes. Thankfully I ground to a halt with only impressive bruising and the shock of what had just happened as reminders. I was also thankful I did not fall on the northern side as this had a sheer drop down on to rock which would no doubt have been seriously problematic.

During this year my companion on all of these walks has been Aled Williams, the co-author of this list. As well as discovering many of the new qualifying hills Aled has encouraged me towards completion.

When initially compiling this list I remember looking at the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and specifically the three mile long easterly ridge leading to the summit of Esgair Garthen (SN 825 642), and thinking that this hill would be a good one to finish on. And so it proved.

630 summit sin the bag!  Myrddyn on his final peak, Esgair Garthen

Esgair Garthen was kept till last and it proved a perfect day on the hill. When visiting the remaining hills during the year it became evident that if pursuing a completion during this year the last hill would probably be in November. Late autumn can of course give some stunning days on the hill; however it can also give unrelenting days of drizzled mist where grey predominates. Thankfully the 25th proved perfect.  We were walking by 7.30am and 7.45am respectively; Aled up the stream valley of the Afon Arban wanting to visit two sub hills before meeting me on the summit of Esgair Garthen. This enabled me to set my own pace up that long three mile broad ridge that many years ago I looked at on the map.

It was decidedly chilly when I set off with the sun rising only when initial height was gained, appearing as a burst of light over mist that hugged near hillsides and meandererd over the waters of the Claerwen Reservoir. Like so many of the Elenydd hills Esgair Garthen consists of grassland. This can be tough to walk through if no path is evident; thankfully a quad bike track eased passage and took me all the way to the summit. At this time of the morning the grassland was frosted and any bog frozen. The conditions were perfect, with no breath of breeze and tranquility only disturbed by an occasional sheep. The frosted scene was emphasised by blue sky above. I reached the summit at 10.15am with a smile on my face. I had done it; a long journey now completed. Aled joined me 45 minutes later having visited the two sub hills. I celebrated with a mince pie and a giant green balloon.

Many friends have joined me on these hills over the intervening years since initial compilation to the summit celebration atop Esgair Garthen, leaving memories aplenty of good times shared and good hills visited. For that I am thankful.

 

For the original article published on the UKHillwalking website

 

 

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Drygarn Fawr

25.11.23  Esgair Garthen (SN 825 642) 

Esgair Garthen (SN 825 642)

Today’s walk was the culmination of over 19½ years of visiting hills as it was April 2004 when I purposely bagged my first Welsh 500m P15.  During the intervening years I’ve written my ascents of these hills in a bagging journal, the first entry proclaims; ‘Oh no, another list!!’

In 2004 I’d completed my basic levelling surveys of the higher Welsh 2,000ft’ers and the obsessional trait that is within me was looking for another self-imposed challenge.  I have been aware of such traits and lived with them for many years.  On occasion I struggle with them as they become all encompassing, and this latest obsession certainly fitted this bill as I knew the commitment involved in trying to survey the many hundreds of marginal candidates that could qualify under the criteria involved, let alone visiting all qualifying hills would take me many years to complete.  However, I’ve also learnt such traits are a part of me and nowadays I accept this and go with the flow, and this is what I did with this latest challenge, and I’m thankful I did so as these hills and the list they are a part of have given me many wonderful days on the hill.

The list that Esgair Garthen is a part of is now co-authored with Aled Williams, and his involvement has increased the numerical robustness of the list as well as the place-name research that has gone in to it.  It is now known as the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru and takes in all Welsh hills at and above 500m in height that have 15m minimum drop.  Accompanying the main list is a P10 sub list, resulting in a comprehensive listing to the Welsh hills at and above 500m.

During initial compilation of this list I had decided to keep Esgair Garthen as my last hill, partly as it’s situated in the Elenydd, which forms the great central belt of Wales and takes in many of the qualifying hills.  It also looked relatively easy to get to with a large parking area at the start of the walk and a three mile long broad ridge to its summit, with a dotted line on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps indicating a path on this ridge.

I contemplated extending the invite to join this celebratory walk to friends and hill baggers, but as the year progressed with a number of summit relocations tidied up and the last few remaining hills visited, it became evident that if completing this year it would probably be in November.  November can be a beautiful time of year to visit the hills with settled conditions giving blue skies and frosted mornings, but it can also give seemingly unending grey days of mist and drizzled conditions, and as Aled had added so much to this list as well as being my main hill walking companion over recent times, I wasn’t going to visit this hill within him and with a full time job and young family a Saturday is the best day of the week for him to be on the hill.  This limited our opportunity, and it was only at 7.00pm the night before the walk that we communicated via email and decided to go for it.  This gave little if any time to invite others, so there were just the two of us.

We met in Caersŵs at 6.30am, an early start as Aled had a prior commitment and wanted to get home by mid to late afternoon.  Having left his car in Caersŵs I then drove south toward the Elan valley and the minor road that culminates at the dam beside the Claerwen Reservoir.  As Aled wanted to visit two P10 subs beyond Esgair Garthen I dropped him off on the lower road, he then headed up the stream valley of the Afon Arban, leaving me to drive up on the higher road and park at the far side of the dam.  This enabled me to take my time on the ridge leading to the summit and for Aled to join me after he’d visited the two sub hills.

When I got out of my car it was decidedly chilly, although there wasn’t even a wisp of breeze.  I soon had my winter gloves, ear warmer and balaclava on as well as my winter walking wellies just in case any bog was encountered.

Leaving the car I had a sense of anticipation, as 19½ years is a long time for anyone to wait until completing a list.  From the far side of the dam a gate gave access to a track which according to the map contoured up and formed a path on the grassland heading all the way to the summit.  Nowadays many of the higher ridges amongst the Elenydd have quad bike tracks on them, which eases passage through what would no doubt be rough and energy sapping terrain, and the track beyond the gate was one of these as it swung up on to the hill and continued following the broad ridge. 

A misted scene across the Claerwen Reservoir dam

As I walked up the initial part of the ridge early morning mist hugged adjacent hillsides and meandered across the water in the reservoir.  It gave a welcoming ethereal atmosphere to proceedings, a quietness that pervaded the hill.  As I slowly made my way up the quad bike track frost predominated with each delicate blade of grass encrusted in whiteness.  It was incredibly still, with just the occasional movement of sheep as they scurried across the hillside.  Otherwise it was just me and the hill, a lovely place to find oneself on such a morning. 

The Claerwen dam can just be seen through the mist in the background

The eastern ridge of Esgair Garthen is long by Welsh standards and stretches for three miles from the dam to its summit.  It comprises two or three small rises before its highest point is reached, with the dips between forming any bog on the upper hill.  Thankfully this morning any bog was still frozen as I made steady progress toward my goal. 

Sunrise

As I reached the upper plateau I looked south across the intervening stream valley to see if I could spot Aled making progress up toward his first sub hill.  I never spotted him, although I looked on numerous occasions. 

Such a still morning with only the occasional movement of sheep breaking an otherwise tranquil scene

By now I could see the summit of Esgair Garthen, still a relatively long distance away.  There was a patch of green grass leading up toward its highest point and thankfully there were signs of the quad bike track forever continuing through the partly frozen grassland.  This track proved a godsend and gave comfort as the underfoot going on many of the Elenydd hills can be torturous without the convenience of such things. 

Looking across toward the summit of Esgair Garthen on the right

Nearing the summit of Esgair Garthen which is on the left of this photo

Aled had a much longer route to the summit than me, and prior to him setting off I’d estimated my arrival between 10.00am – 10.30am.  I took my time over the last mile or so as I suspected I would arrive before him and I wanted to savour the last few minutes toward the top and keep my energy levels intact for the descent. 

Part of the Claerwen Reservoir

Nearing the top I was aware that I had begun to smile and savoured the last few steps to the highest point of the hill.  I stood on top and looked around, in all directions blue sky dominated with wild broad ridged hills stretching off in all directions.  It had taken a long time to get here, not just this morning’s steady 2½ hour plod to the summit, but all those intervening years and different hills since first setting out to complete this list.

I soon got the Trimble out to check the summit grid co-ordinates Aled had produced from LIDAR analysis against those on the screen of the equipment.  Where I had originally stopped was within a couple of metres of the LIDAR high point, I rummaged around in the moor grass for what I deemed the highest solid piece of ground and set the Trimble up on my rucksack, noted the offset between its internal antenna and the ground at its base, waited for the 0.1m accuracy level to be attained before data should be logged, and once this figure appeared on the screen I pressed ‘Log’ and left it quietly beeping away gathering individual datum points as I continued on the track toward a point where I looked down on a grassy bank and the connecting bwlch of the hill beyond.  It would be from this direction that Aled would appear, but even though I scanned the opposing ridge line I still couldn’t see him. 

Gathering data at the summit of Esgair Garthen

Leaving the Trimble to gather over ten minutes of data I basked in the luxury of completion; standing, smiling and reminiscing; thinking of all those times on the hill in the company of good friends whilst investigating these P15s.  It proved an excellent decision to compile the list and start bagging the remainder of hills in it.

By now high cloud had appeared and this chilled proceedings for 40 minutes or so until it was quickly replaced by more unadulterated blue sky, what a day to finish on!  It was perfect.

45 minutes after I arrived on the summit Aled appeared, he’d done well considering the route chosen and the terrain he had gone through.  He congratulated me and we both headed toward the summit.  Soon afterward he produced a celebratory mince pie and started blowing in to what turned out to be a giant green balloon, which I thought hilarious and then I spent many minutes standing on the summit, arms outstretched in celebratory mode holding it up to the sky. 

Aled appearing after his tough route to the top of Esgair Garthen

We remained on top together for about 30 minutes with Aled conducting an interview via video asking me about the list and hills; a thoughtful exercise and one that I will no doubt gain more appreciation from in future years. 

Celebrating on the summit of Esgair Garthen, my 630th and final Welsh Highland P15

Our route down was easy; follow the quad bike track all the way back to the dam.  On the way down, I occasionally stopped and looked back, remembering the same view on my ascent.  By now the ground had defrosted and that welcome hardness of early morning meant that the dips between those slight rises and the bog therein were now to be avoided, but none of it was too bad.

On our way down the hill a number of quad bikes appeared on the skyline and with the near barking of dogs it signalled farmers were probably trying to flush out a fox.  One of the quad bikes stopped as I jokingly hung out a thumb for a lift down the hill, we chatted for a few minutes before they sped off again. 

Nearing the end of an extremely fulfilling day

Nearing the car we realised that we could make the chippie in Rhaeadr Gwy before it closed at 2.00pm.  This gave extra incentive to get down.  Rounding the last bend just before the car I stopped and looked back over the water to the rising bulk of Esgair Garthen and took a couple of photographs.  It proved a perfect hill to finish on and we made it in time for those chips, which also proved a good way to end an excellent day. 

 

Survey Result:

 

Esgair Garthen                          

Summit Height:  508.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 82531 64276 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  485.35m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 82330 63914 (LIDAR)

Drop:  22.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  4.47% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

 

 

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet

 

  

Completing the Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru on the summit of Esgair Garthen (SN 825 642)

This is a video Aled Williams filmed of my completion of the Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru, on the summit of Esgair Garthen, in the wilds of the Elenydd in Mid-Wales.

Completing the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru

 

Completing the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru 

Yesterday morning proved a wondrous encounter with early morning frost and misted hills that quickly turned into blue skies overlooking wild surrounds.  It was also my completion of the Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list.  I had chosen an excellent and extremely beautiful day to do so. 

This list is co-authored with Aled Williams who joined me on the walk for a summit celebration consisting of a mince pie and a giant green balloon.  The list takes in 630 hills with their qualification being all Welsh hills 500m and above with 15m minimum drop. 

Completing the Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru on the summit of Esgair Garthen

It has been a long journey to completion taking 19½ years since I purposely bagged my first Welsh 500m P15 hill.  When originally compiling this list I wondered if I would ever complete it, as lists taking in so many hills require a certain amount of determination and life and other stuff seems to occasionally get in the way. 

Many years ago I had chosen Esgair Garthen (SN 825 642) as my final hill and it did not disappoint.  This hill is positioned in the central heartland of the Elenydd, which takes in some of the wildest and most remote hills in Wales.  The day proved wonderful with perfect conditions with hardly a breath of breeze, frost encrusted grassland and stunning blue skies above. 

It was appropriate for Aled to join me on this last hill as he has added so much to this list since becoming co-author, with place-name research adding many more names for these hills, and discovering new qualifying hills via LIDAR analysis and over recent times encouraging me towards completion.  There have also been many friends over the intervening years since original compilation to join me on these hills, leaving memories aplenty of good times shared and good hills visited. 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (26^th November 2023)