As
I approached completing my rounds of Wainwrights and Outlying Fells, my
thoughts were turning to what my next walking objectives should be. I had been logging my ascents of Nuttall and
TRAIL 100 summits so it was obvious that these two lists were to form the
backbone of my future time on the hills.
After
my completions I registered with the Long Distance Walkers Association to mark
the achievements – the certificates they issued appealed to my vanity! I noticed that the LDWA also registered
completions of the England and Wales 2000-foot summits and completing the
Nuttalls is within the criteria that allow an addition to the register. At the time I looked at the completer's
register and although most of those listed had completed the Nuttalls, there
was a significant number of people who had completed other lists at the same
time. The most prominent of those lists
were those compiled by Bridge and Buxton & Lewis.
These
three lists (Nuttall, Bridge, Buxton & Lewis) became the bulk of my
post-Wainwright ticklist. The Simpsons
had already been included because they were first published in a Wayfarers’
Club journal and I was a Wayfarer. But
after a couple of years I started to wonder whether the completion of all of
the LDWA's qualifying lists was a possibility.
Browsing the register of completers, there was only one person who had
completed all of the England & Wales 2000-foot lists and I thought it would
be a good idea to do the same. So after
quite a few hours of research and spreadsheet manipulation, I had an expanded
my ticklist that included lists compiled by Dawson, Dewey, Moss and Wright.
Dawson's
list is a subset of the Nuttalls so it was, by default, already included in my
list. After checking the summits of
Dewey's list I discovered that these were also included in my original
list. The lists compiled by Moss, Wright
and Simpson resulted in the addition of 181 summits to my list. So now, with the administrative exercise
done, was the time to start ticking.
Looking
at the list, it was obvious that the summits classified by Moss, Wright and
Simpson that were not also in any of the more popular lists had small
prominence values. But they were on my
list so they were targets to be ticked.
Although,
on the ground, some of them had some merit it quickly became apparent that many
more of them were either insignificant or non-existent. Probably the first of them was Gragareth
North Top but at the time it didn't set any alarm bells ringing. Manod Mawr Subsidary Top was impossible to
find as there was no (even slightly) prominent ground in the area. Y Lliwedd West Top was similarly
elusive! It is completely possible that
their inclusion was due to a review of inaccurate (old!) maps rather than any
active fieldwork which resulted in various spot heights being added.
It
was my walks on Ingleborough and the Howgills that finally prompted me to
change my approach. I wasn't enjoying
chasing these minor tops and they were distracting me from the relaxation that
I sought when walking. Which meant more
time on the spreadsheets to remove the Moss, Wright and Simpson summits. My ticklist decreased by 146.
I
did some analysis of the LDWA's completion register and now there were only 2
who had ticked all of the qualifying lists – it's not a popular pastime! There were 262 named completers who between
them had registered the completion of 360 qualifying lists (not including
Dawson's as it is a subset of the Nuttall list and not including Dewey's list
as it quite doesn't have many summits that aren't included in other
lists). By far the most popular list to
complete is the Nuttalls. Next, with
about half the number of Nuttall completions was the Bridge list and then came
Buxton & Lewis with about half the amount of Bridge completions. The number of Moss, Wright and Simpson
completions totalled less than the number of Buxton & Lewis completions.
It
was clear that the Nuttall, Bridge and Buxton & Lewis lists were those that
completers targeted, to a greater or lesser degree. And it was glaring that the Moss, Wright and
Simpson lists didn't really capture the imagination of many. I felt satisfied that the numbers backed up
my feeling that these summits aren't really that worthwhile.
So now I have a ticklist that I'm happy with. There are few lesser lists that contribute to
it and they are there to satisfy my urge to visit different parts of the
country but it is the Nuttall and TRAIL 100 summits that are my major goals for
the future.
