1,000 Welsh
P30s
Mapping
Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Pumlumon
15.04.17 Bryn y Fan (SN 931 884)
What is a P30 and where do they come from?
P30 is an abbreviated
term for hills that have 30m minimum prominence, with the ‘P’ standing for ‘Prominence’
and the ‘30’ standing for 30m.
For the uninitiated the
terminology within hill listings and their chose of criteria is sometimes hard
to fathom, hoping that the following explanation does not add to uninitiated
confusion I will try and explain what prominence is.
Simply put, prominence
is the vertical height gain between col and summit. A fuller explanation for prominence is the
height difference between the summit and the col connecting the hill to the
next higher summit along the watershed.
Prominence is a
relatively new term in use within Britain, with its use having been adopted
from prominence based groups in America.
The term prominence is also referred to in Britain as ‘drop’ and
reascent’, with the former being the drop in height from summit to col, and the
latter being the reascent in height from col to summit.
The use of prominence as
part of criteria in a hill list gives the list compiler the tool to
differentiate between one hill’s inclusion and another, otherwise if solely based
on a minimum height criterion a list compiler would have to resort to
subjectivity to differentiate between one hill’s inclusion and another. By using prominence objectivity is
prioritised over that of subjectivity.
The use of prominence
has dictated the majority of hill lists over many years, and although list
compilers have experimented with many other forms of qualification, including
remoteness and dominance, the popularity of using prominence speaks for itself;
it works and produces listings that are easily understood and popular for the
hill bagger.
The origins of P30s
The use of prominence
was established with some of the early hill list compilers such as John Rooke
Corbett (1) and Edward Moss (2) who used a single ring
contour from maps of the day to differentiate between one hill’s inclusion and
another. The use of a single ring
contour was soon developed by Carr and Lister (3) into using a minimum prominence of 100ft which
was described as the following; ‘if it
rose by more than 100 feet above the lower ground connecting it with any
greater height’. By using P100ft
Carr and Lister had paved the way for this imperial height to subsequently be
used by its nearest whole numbered metric equivalent of 30m, however the
timeframe between each was 59 years with each list being specific to hills in
Wales.
It was 1925 when Carr and
Lister used P100ft as part of their criteria and 59 years later in 1984 the use
of P30m was first employed by Terry Marsh (4); the use of P30m has subsequently been used by
many list authors including Michael Dewey (5), Alan Dawson (6), Myrddyn Phillips (7), Clem Clements (8) and Mark Jackson (9). By doing so each in turn is following an
imperial height value that has been metricised, there is an erroneous
quaintness about this that seems to predominate many British listings, as the
use of imperial measurement is now only used by a few nations worldwide and yet
we British still rely upon it even when listing hills using metric measurement!
However, even though the
use of P30 is now standard amongst many British based hill list compilers there
is also a fundamental quality to such hills, as a minimum of P30 just seems to
be right, as it produces sufficient hills in most lists to give an adequate challenge
for prospective completers and gives an adequate height rise to differentiate
between hills and an adequate ascent for the hill bagger. And although P50 hills have their supporters it
seems that P30 hills are here to stay.
Pushing the boundaries
Listing hills can easily
become an addiction; there is eloquence to the procedure, a fulfilment of
purpose as each height band and contour checked produces another qualifying
hill to be listed. This procedure is
time consuming, yet it can be therapeutic in its complicated simplicity. The use of P30 in this procedure has produced
listings that have stood the test of time; with listing down to P30 pushing the
boundaries of map study which took many years of laborious work and which was
conducted by a few dedicated people.
A brief synopsis of
published lists using minimum of P30 follows:
Terry Marsh – Welsh P30s
at and above 600m in height
Michael Dewey – English,
Manx and Welsh P30s at and above 500m and below 2,000ft (609.6m) in height
Alan Dawson – Scottish,
English and Welsh P30s at and above 600m in height (accumulated from various
personal listings).
Myrddyn Phillips –
English, Manx and Welsh P30s at and above 400m and below 500m in height. Welsh P30s at and above 30m and below 400m in
height.
Clem Clements –
Scottish, English and Welsh P30s at and above 300m in height and below 600m in
height.
It was the above
listings by Michael Dewey, Alan Dawson, Myrddyn Phillips and Clem Clements that
formed the bulk of the Tumps that Mark Jackson duplicated when he collated the
Tumps (thirty metre prominences and upward) in 2009. This is the list that finally pulled together
all of the other P30 lists and grouped them under one title, the end product
was approximately 16,800 hills that is seemingly getting greater in number as
new hills are added on a near weekly basis.
Personal achievement
When Wales was mapped
down to P30 level it opened the door to a complete mainland completion, and as
a country Wales lends itself to this as with just over 2,300 mainland and
island P30s, and with many of the latter having their own access difficulties, the
challenge to complete each and every mainland P30 is feasible and will no doubt,
one day, be completed.
I started bagging Welsh
P30s in 2000 when I concentrated on the Deweys, however this was more a Dewey
bag rather than a P30 bag, in 2002 my attention then turned to the listing of
Pedwar hills, but again this was more a list bag rather than a P30 bag. However, each of these lists and their higher
counterparts of the Welsh Hewitts are mere sub lists within the whole. When the remaining lists to all the Welsh
P30s were finally published in 2004 I knew that a mainland completion was
feasible, and although I did wonder if I could attain such a thing my approach
was one of chipping away in preference to outright concentration on one
specific task. Other things, such as
life, occasionally gets in the way of major hill bagging activity, but my total
crept ever upward and toward the end of 2015 I decided to check all my bagging
journals against all my updated lists and re-visit any hill whose known high
point had subsequently moved since I visited, and also survey a number of hills
whose status was marginal.
This re-checking and
re-visiting continued for a number of months and my bagging activity nudged my
total upwards into the 960s, I then started to plan a September 2016 finish for
my 1,000th Welsh P30. But
life and events got in the way as a high speed shunt by a van when I was
waiting at temporary traffic lights ended with me in A&E with whiplash and
periphery injuries, this kept me off the hills for a number of weeks and when I
got back onto them I ended up with a knee injury which has just been diagnosed
as a tear to my rear shock absorber which key-hole surgery will hopefully
rectify. These minor scuffles with a
mid-life body and the added bonus of a probable cracked rib sustained when
protecting my right knee whilst getting out of the bath and slipping with the
resulting full weight of my body falling onto the side of the bath, ribs first,
meant that any 1,000th Welsh P30 completion was put on indefinite
hold. And when my body partly recovered
I was met by Aled Williams’ enthusiastic analysis of LIDAR data when the status
of many P30s in Wales was being swapped and deleted on what seemed to be a
nightly basis, it took all my concentration just to keep up with any current
total I had achieved and as I crept ever closer to the 1,000 magic mark I had
to ask Aled to stop sending me LIDAR results otherwise he may reclassify a hill
to P30 status that I had already visited and my 1,000th celebratory
completion would become no more than an arm chair tick.
With Aled restraining
himself and with my Welsh P30 total in the 990s I visited local hills and
pushed my total upwards to 999. I’d
decided to keep Bryn y Fan for my 1,000th Welsh P30 as it looked
like a fine hill with expansive views and has a good path to its summit and a
large car park at its base; it is also relatively close to where I live. I set the date of 15th April for
the walk and a time of 12.00 noon to meet, this was over the Easter bank
holiday weekend and I hoped that the weather would be favourable and that any
rain would keep away for the couple of hours spent on the hill.
On the hill – Bryn y Fan – completing 1,000 Welsh P30s
My last personal celebration
on a hill was in 2002 when I completed a monthly calendar round of the Welsh
Nuttalls and immediately followed this with the completion of my 16th
round of the Welsh Nuttalls. Later that
same year I also completed the Welsh Deweys, otherwise the only completion
celebrations I have attended have been those of friends.
Leading up to the 15th
April I sent a number of emails to friends asking if they would like to attend
and again hoped for good weather, and as the preceding days led toward the 15th
it seemed that a 24-hour weather window was going to give dry, albeit blowy and
chilly weather for the Saturday with the preceding day and following day both
plagued with rain. I woke early on the
15th and whilst doing work on my blog noticed a dark cloud outside,
five minutes later it was drizzling and 30 minutes later it was raining, this
wasn’t forecast!
When Lou arrived the
rain had stopped, however after picking Huw and Debs up we had showers most of
the way driving through Newtown and Llanidloes, it seemed the celebration was
going to be a damp affair.
Pulling in to the large
car park beside Bwlch-y-gle dam at the base of Bryn y Fan I recognised the
figure walking down the road; it was Alex who had just completed his 1,000th
Welsh P30 a few minutes earlier, waiting in the car park were Charlie Leventon
and Mark Trengove and within a few minutes David Purchase and Ed had also
arrived. Soon Carole Engel and Alan
Greenwood, and Jeff and Enid Parr were parked and getting their boots on, the
contingent were almost complete and as the last few windswept rain drops fell
Darrin arrived and made our 14 strong party complete.
 |
| Preparing to set off (L-R); Charlie, Lou, Debs, Huw, Ed, Alex, Mark, Enid, Jeff, Carole, Alan and David |
Although grey skies were
ever near the few raindrops that fell as we gathered to set off was the last
rain of the day and what could have been a very soggy affair turned out to be
dry, which is all I had hoped for.
A good green track led
down under the earthen sides of the Bwlch-y-gle dam and swung southward before
heading north-east up the slopes of Bryn y Fan.
The track proved slightly muddy in its lower part but the strong breeze
had dried the ground higher up.
 |
| Dodging the mud |
It was good to be with friends
who I had had the pleasure of doing so many hill walks with, some of them such
as David, Jeff, Enid and Carole I only see once a year or so, others like
Charlie and Ed live locally so are only a phone call away from getting out on
the hill. As we rounded the corner of
the track before heading upward Mark suggested doing an interview on top, and
although I’d brought my digi-camcorder I’d left it in my car with little intention
of filming proceedings, but upon Mark’s suggestion I became enthused and dashed
back to get it, when I re-joined the track a number of people were already
heading upward out of site whilst Charlie waited beside a gate and we
subsequently brought up the rear, slowly making our way up the zig zagging
track as it gained height and the view opened up.
 |
| The start of the uphill |
 |
| Charlie Leventon |
Below us Clywedog
glimmered as patches of whiteness developed in the sky and across the valley the
shapely profile of Bryn y Tail gleamed back toward us, by now the view had
opened up and any shower clouds were distant and the prospect of dry conditions
during the walk was a thankful probability.
 |
| Bryn y Tail (SN 916 874) with Llyn Clywedog below |
The broad green path
continued toward the upper part of the hill which consists of heath and moor, it
diverted from the area of the summit a few minutes’ walk below the highest
point, and we followed a narrow sheep track heading off the main path aiming
toward the summit.
 |
| Nearing the summit |
The high point of Bryn y
Fan is a small rocky knoll a few metres from its trig pillar, as I walked
toward it the majority of people were gathered around the trig with a few
forming an arch with their walking poles for the ceremonial last few metres to
the summit. This was the first time I’d
walked through a ceremonial arch of walking poles toward any summit, I quite
enjoyed it!
 |
| Beside the trig |
 |
| Gathering near the summit |
 |
| The ceremonial arch of walking poles. Photograph © Charlie Leventon |
Reaching the top was
fun, and was more so when shared with good hill walking friends. As photographs and videos were taken I called
Alex over as he had achieved his 1,000th Welsh P30 about an hour
before me, we stood beside the summit, posed for a few photographs and quickly
dashed down on the leeward side of the hill out of the wind to de-camp for
bubbly and lots of cake.
 |
| At the summit of Bryn y Fan with Alex |
On occasions such as
this it is hard to catch up with everyone as usually the ascent is taken at
your own pace and the after-reaching-the-summit cake eating and alcohol
swigging can all be a bit of a blur.
During our sheltered cake and Cava fest I set the Trimble up aligned
with the highest part of the small embedded summit rock and gathered what
proved to be 11 minutes of data. It felt
good to be here surveying with the Trimble as friends chatted below.
As the multitude of cake
on offer was quickly devoured Mark and I sneaked off to find a sheltered spot
for an interview on Welsh P30s, as ever Mark proved a whizz behind the
digi-camcorder and my thanks to him for this suggestion as it will form a lasting
document of my day on the hill.
 |
| Heading down |
 |
| Down toward the awaiting cars |
After leaving Darrin and
Lisa our day continued toward the midnight hour with a road trip hunting out
never visited pubs and forgotten pubs that are now boutique hotels, followed by
an excellent meal in the Sun Inn at Clun and last orders in the Oak in
Welshpool. It had been an excellent day
and my thanks to everyone who attended as it was good to share my 1,000th
Welsh P30 with such good friends, old and new.
Myrddyn Phillips (April 2017)
Survey Result:
Bryn y Fan
Summit Height: 482.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 93123 88494
Bwlch Height: 307.2m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 92775 89173 (LIDAR)
Drop: 174.8m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 36.26% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
1911 John Rooke Corbett
‘Twenty-Fives’ published by the Rucksack Club Journal (1)
1933 Edward (Ted) Moss ‘Some
New Twenty-Fives’ published by the Rucksack Club Journal (2)
1940 Edward (Ted) Moss ‘The
Two-Thousands of Wales’ published by the Rucksack Club Journal
1925 Herbert R C Carr and George A Lister ‘The Mountains of
Snowdonia’ published by John Lane The Bodley Head Limited of London (3)
1984 Terry Marsh ‘The Summits of Snowdonia’ published by Robert
Hale (4)
1985 Terry Marsh ‘The Mountains of Wales’ Hodder and
Stoughton
1995 Michael Dewey ‘Mountain tables’ published by Constable
(5)
1995 Alan Dawson ‘The Murdos’ published by TACit Tables (6)
1997 Alan Dawson ‘The Hewitts and Marilyns of Wales’
published by TACit Tables
1997 Alan Dawson ‘The Hewitts and Marilyns of England’
published by TACit Tables
1999 Alan Dawson ‘Corbett Tops and Corbetteers’ published by
TACit Tables
2004 Alan Dawson ‘Graham Tops and Grahamists’ published by
TACit Tables
2002 Myrddyn Phillips ‘400m hills of England, Isle of Man
and Wales’ published on the RHB Yahoo Group file database, with subsequent
publications in 2004 ‘The Welsh 400 Metre Peaks’ on v-g.me website and
5everdene website, following co-authored with Aled Williams 2013 ‘Y Pedwarau’
by Europeaklist, 2014 ‘Y Pedwarau’ by Haroldstreet and 2017 ‘Y Pedwarau’ by
Mapping Mountains (7)
2004 Myrddyn Phillips ‘The Welsh 300 Metre Peaks’, ‘The
Welsh 200 Metre Peaks’, ‘The Welsh 100 Metre Peaks’ and ‘The Welsh 30m – 99m
Peaks’ published by v-g.me website and 5everdene website
Dates of publication unknown (to me) Clem Clements produced
P30 listings to the 300m – 500m hills of Scotland, England and Wales with a
variety of other prominence based listings also compiled (8)
2009 Mark Jackson ‘Tumps’ published on the RHB Yahoo Group
file database (9)
