Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Y Pedwarau

Moel Fodiar (SH 978 680) - 390m Sub-Pedwar deletion

There has been a deletion of a 390m Sub-Pedwar by surveying with the Trimble.  The hill was listed in this Sub list as it has a 390m spot height at the summit on Ordnance Survey maps, giving the minimum qualifying height for 390m Sub-Pedwar status.  The hill has a 273m spot height at its bwlch on the Ordnance Survey enlarged map hosted on the Geograph website, giving it 117m of drop.

The 390m Sub-Pedwarau are the hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height with a minimum 30m of drop, with the 390m Double Sub-Pedwarau being the hills within the same height band and with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.

The hill is situated in the northern part of Mynydd Hiraethog, and is positioned to the west of Dinbych (Denbigh) and to the east of the Afon Aled.

The name of the hill is Moel Fodiar and it can be easily accessed from a minor road west of the summit that reaches over 340m in height, the summit can also be approached from the east from a minor road that reaches 310m in height.  The upper section of the hill is prescribed as open access and the summit has extensive views.

The summit of the hill has two tumuli aligned west – east from one another, both were surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000, with the higher easterly tumulus having a small cairn on it.  The survey results are:

Western tumulus:  389.595m, converted to OSGM15

Eastern tumulus:  389.762m, converted to OSGM15

Therefore, Moel Fodiar is the first hill to be deleted from the listing of 390m Sub-Pedwar hills since publication of the list in May 2013 by Europeaklist, and the list of the Y Pedwarau will be updated accordingly.  The list of Pedwar hills is available from the Haroldstreet website.

The full details for the hill are:

Cardinal Hill:  Mwdwl Eithin

Summit Height:  389.8m (converted to OSGM15)

Name:  Moel Fodiar

OS 1:50,000 map:  116

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 97828 68002

Drop:  117m

Moel Fodiar (SH 978 680) now deleted from the 390m Sub-Pedwarau

For details on the survey that deleted Moel Fodiar from 390m Sub-Pedwar status please click {here}

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (April 2016)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Mynydd Hiraethog

05.04.16  Moel Fodiar (SH 978 680)  

Moel Fodiar (SH 978 680)

Moel Fodiar is positioned to the east of the Afon Aled and is elevated above its surrounds and neighbouring peaks, its prominent position affords extensive views, and these did not disappoint when I reached its summit as the northern blue sky and sunshine cast down on the 160 wind turbines standing white in the Gwynt y Môr wind farm out to sea, whilst away to the west the high Eryri peaks rose grey and silhouetted against the greens of fairer foreground pasture.  I stood and looked and soaked in the view, it was only a fleeting visit on my part but that view was to be savoured and stored in memories eye.

Gwynt y Môr wind farm

The high grey silhouetted peaks of Eryri

I’d approached from the west north-west from the convenience of a high and narrow lane that skirts this hill’s western slopes before darting down toward the safer valley realms.  A public footpath leaves this narrow road and contours around the northern slopes of the hill, this is where I parked and then set off up a wide gap in the gorse on a good path which is not marked on the map, but which ascends all the way to the summit.

As I popped out on top two young mountain bikers were resting beside the summit cairn which is positioned on one of the two tumuli at the summit of this hill, we chatted for a few minutes and then they were off down the hill’s eastern slopes, leaving me to examine the cairn trying to find the highest ground at its base.  As the chilled breeze from earlier in the day had not relented I decided not to position the Trimble on top of my rucksack and opted to put it on one of the rocks of the cairn and take a measurement offset to the highest ground immediately below it.

As the last of the 300 data points were collected voices appeared brought up on the breeze and within a minute of closing the equipment down a group of four people appeared with their dog following the same path as I had.  I’d passed the same group on the minor lane as I drove up the hill, I chatted with one of the group who originated from Bangor, but now lived locally, pointing out his house to the south of the hill.  We both praised the view and talked about the higher hills to our west, reminiscing about Tryfan and Crib Goch.  As they left descending the eastern slopes I decided to take a second data set from the adjacent tumulus.  As the Trimble beeped away gathering its allotted 300 data points I tried judging what tumulus was higher, the one with the cairn seemed to be the winner, but eyesight alone is not ideal to judge such things.

Gathering data at the summit of Moel Fodiar

Having collected the two data sets from the summit of Moel Fodiar, I only had one hill left to visit and survey; this was situated on the outskirts of Pandy, which is on the northern extremity of Wrexham.  To my knowledge no other hill bagger knows that this hill exists, let alone has visited its summit, and it needed Trimbling to confirm its claim to being Wales’ newest P30.  So it was away to Wrexham next, after retracing my steps back down to my car.

Survey Result:

Moel Fodiar

Summit Height:  389.8m (converted to OSGM15, Timble GeoXH 6000) (390m Sub-Pedwar deletion)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 97828 68002 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  273m (spot height)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 98189 67421 (spot height)

Drop:  117m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and spot height bwlch)

Dominance:  30.02% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and spot height bwlch)

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