The Glaramara–Simpson Conundrum

After completing the Wainwrights my attention turned to new objectives, particularly but not exclusively the Nuttalls.  Online research led me to the Harold Street website where I stumbled upon the Simpsons, an older list of Lake District 2000ft summits.  FHF Simpson had published an article in the 1937 Wayfarers’ Club journal and as I was (and still am) a member of the Wayfarers’ I decided to add the Simpsons to my own To Do list.  I had already climbed many of the Simpson summits and I worked out which ones I hadn’t climbed using the Harold Street list.

Of those I hadn’t logged as climbed was Glaramara North Top which appeared to be the only summit on the Glaramara – Allen Crags ridge that I had not ticked.  It wasn’t until sometime later that I became uncomfortable with the fact that I hadn’t ticked the north top, particularly as I walked the length of the ridge in 2013 to tick all of the numerous Nuttalls that I had previously missed; so I did some research.

The Harold Street website gives a grid reference that places the north top at the north-east side of the summit dome.  The grid reference that it gives for Glaramara places that summit approximately 200 metres south-west of the north top.  This makes it clear where the north top is, but doesn’t describe what it is.

At this point, I started reading various guides to work out the topography of the summit area.

Database of British and Irish Hills (DoBIH), Glaramara (entry 2389), Observations:

“Nuttall summit; Wainwright summit (cairn) 160m NE at NY 24722 10561 and cairn 55m W are lower”

Although rather perfunctory, this description states that the summit of Glaramara is a Nuttall but the cairn that Wainwright regarded as the summit does not coincide with the high point and is lower.  As the Wainwright summit is described as north-east of the summit, the north top is probably the Wainwright summit.  There is no separate DoBIH entry for the Wainwright summit.

A Wainwright – A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book 4, The Southern Fells, Glaramara, The Summit:

“Twin summits of rock rise from a surrounding ocean of grass, each within its own circle of crags.  They are much alike, and of similar elevation, but indisputably the finer is that to the north-east...”

Wainwright makes it clear that there are two summits and he regards the north-east summit as the true summit.

Mark Richards – Lakeland Fellranger, The Mid-Western Fells, Glaramara, The Summit:

“The name Glaramara belongs to the summit.  Which summit you ask?  Well the more northerly.”

Richards agrees with Wainwright which is not surprising as he was friends with the original chronicler of the Lakeland fells.

John and Anne Nuttall – The Mountains of England and Wales, Volume 2: England, Walk 5.4:

“Descend to a grassy col and follow the main path to the west top of the twin summits.  Wainwright prefers the east top for its better position and view, but the west one is the higher of the two.  The highest point is the cairn set a little back from the edge, though another cairn on the edge itself marks a better vantage point.”

The Nuttalls also agree that there are twin summits and acknowledge Wainwright’s opinion although they stick to the convention that the highest point is the true summit, reinforcing the DoBIH position that the (south-)westerly is the actual summit.

Bill Birkett – Complete Lakeland Fells, walk BOR2:

“Next to be ascended and lying dead ahead is the middle top of Glaramara – Looking Steads.  Two rocky points rise above the summit; the north easterly of these is the Glaramara summit.”

Birkett also acknowledged the twin summits of Glaramara and agrees with Wainwright and Richards that the north-eastern summit should be regarded as the true top.

It is obvious that the summit area of Glaramara has two distinct tops and that Wainwright, Richards and Birkett take an opposing view to the Nuttalls and the DoBIH as to which should be considered the true summit.  As the DoBIH is a data-based source and not swayed by opinion, the south-western top should be regarded as the true summit.  It is unfortunate that the DoBIH does not have a separate entry for the north-eastern top as such an entry would have prevented my confusion.

At this point, the summits had been identified, but had I actually climbed the North Top?

As Wainwright regards it as the summit, surely I must have done as I’ve completed the Wainwrights!  But it wouldn’t do any harm to double-check.  Reading my blog entry for the day that I walked the length of the ridge, I found this:

“The top of Glaramara has 3 obvious summits which was a surprise to me as I was only expecting two!  Not far beyond the 20-foot rock step is the Wainwright summit.  A little further away is the Nuttall summit which is higher and slightly beyond that is another top which looks almost as high – I ticked all three!”

And that’s about as conclusive as it gets; I have ticked both tops and now I can remove Glaramara North Top from my list of unclimbed Simpsons.

It’s not often that I find a summit that I can tick as a result of some detective work rather than putting on my boots, which means that, almost inevitably, I have joined the ranks of Armchair Mountaineers!

Steel Edge and a Confusing Name

Attending an evening AGM in Windermere presented an opportunity to bag Black Sails, a previously unvisited summit in the Coniston Fells.

From Tilberthwaite I followed the track alongside Yewdale Beck to the base of Steel Edge; a north-western spur leading off Wetherlam’s south ridge.  Not as impressive as Sharp, Swirral or Striding, except in name, the edge is a broad ridge that largely follows a shallow waterworn gully.  It’s a reasonable way to high ground but it lacks the splendour of the more famous Lakeland edges.

to Steel Edge and Wetherlam

Steel Edge from the bottom

Steel Edge from the top

Three Tarns at the top of Steel Edge

The top of the edge terminates at a substantial plateau containing three tarns – not as well-known as those at beneath Bowfell.  From here, Wetherlam’s south ridge leads easily up to the south top of Wetherlam, not categorised as anything other than a “Simpson”; belonging to an antiquated list of Lake District 2000 feet summits published in a Wayfarers’ Club journal.  Any one of half-a-dozen rocks could be the actual highpoint and content with the tick, I aimed off to the north-west to gain the summit of Black Sails, a point not far from the main path but one I’m sure is bypassed by many of those Wainwright-baggers heading for Wetherlam.

The descent of Wetherlam Edge wasn’t pleasant.  The way down isn’t overly obvious and in the wet it was too slippery for comfort.  I suspect that I took a line to the right of the most worn path, but was glad to reach the bottom of it and continue on to some minor summits.

There are a number of tops above Tilberthwaite that have Birkett and/or Synge status and I had decided to tick some of them.  Birk Fell came easily, with the west top being considered the higher, although I reached both.  The next summit turns out to have a nomenclature problem.

Hawk Rigg is listed Bill Birkett’s book (NY300015, 441m) and also in Tim Synge’s book (NY300017, 428m) but both details can’t be right.  Synge’s Hawk Rigg is listed in Birkett’s book as High Fell which I didn’t realise until I got home to update my log – more diligent research will be needed if I decide to tick off any more Birketts or Synges !  The DoBIH data coincides with Birkett’s.

I reached Birkett’s Hawk Rigg and descended a short but steep fellside before the final ascent to Blake Rigg.  Another steep descent to the main Tilberthwaite path was the prelude to the last easy stroll back to the car.

Seven Summits of Quinag

“… one of the best mountains in one of the wildest parts of Scotland” ⁽¹⁾

“… one of the most majestic mountains in Scotland” ⁽²⁾

Quinag from the walk-in

Although all of us had visited Assynt before, none of us had been to the top of Quinag with the summit being just one of three Corbetts that lie within this massif.  In addition to these major summits the Database of British and Irish Hills (DoBIH) lists another 4 lesser summits.  A long day appeared to be ahead of us.

We followed the obvious path for a short while to a cairn which marked the turn past the lochan and up on to the eastern slopes of Spidean Coinich.  Easy-angled quartzite slabs led us up to the first summit of the day which is a minor top before reaching the summit of the first Corbett, Spidean Coinich.  We took in the view with the realisation that there was a lot of mountain still to walk.

Sail Ghorm behind Sail Gharbh

The descent off Spidean Coinich leads below an imposing buttress which has some impressive terrain for the rockclimber.  The guidebook lists quite a few routes but I’m sure that it doesn’t regularly see any climbers.

Spidean Coinich summit crag

Continuing along the ridge leads to the third summit, marked as a spot height of 714 metres on the OS Explorer map, but it is a nondescript heather-clad bump that the footpath passes over without any obvious cairn to mark the spot.  The next summit has a significant climb leading up to it and forms the crossroads that leads to each of the three Corbetts.  It is at this point, Sail Gharbh west top, that decisions can be made about the route to follow.  The easy option is to drop to the bealach between it and Sail Gharbh and head down to Lochan Bealach Cornaidh, picking up the old stalkers’ path back to the car park.  A slightly more strenuous option is to walk over the bealach and up to Sail Gharbh, which is the highpoint of Quinag.  But the big day out is to continue west towards Sail Ghorm.

Spidean Coinich

A couple of our group chose the Sail Gharbh option with the remainder of us choosing the long day out so we left summit number four and headed for Sail Ghorm.  We passed some impressive gullies to our left, making a mental note that they would probably give some good winter sport, if they were ever to come into condition.  The broad ridge led gently to the broad top of the day’s fifth summit which was also the second Corbett of the walk.  We retraced our steps and a couple of us had a little scrambling diversion to summit number six, a tabletop summit marked as a 687 metre spot height.  This left us with only the ultimate summit left to tick.

The path skirts Sail Gharbh’s west summit to a bealach before following some broken terrain up the ridge.  It was here that we saw a ptarmigan in semi-winter plumage, standing proud before flying down into the coire with its white feathers standing out against the snow-free slopes.

Ptarmigan

The true TRAIL 100 summit of Sail Gharbh, and therefore Quinag, is not the trig point but a block that lies a few yards to the north.  A few silly selfies were taken as some drops of rain fell and then we were off down to Bealach na Chornaidh and the descent to the main path before striding out towards the car park with jelly babies and sherbet lemons providing the end-of-day sugar boost.

While walking out on the stalkers’ path the ascents and descents of the surrounding summits become more obvious.  Some guidebooks suggest ascending Sail Gharbh as the first summit of the walk, but if you intend to tick all three Corbetts, I would strongly recommend following the route that we did – the ascent to Spidean Coinich looks like a brutal way to finish the day.

All of the group met up at the Altnacealgach Inn for refreshment where Guinness isn’t on draught but the device for getting the traditional head on the pint is surely witchcraft !  And the landlord is a Scouser, what more could you want ?

⁽¹⁾        quoted from     “Scotland’s Best Small Mountains”

            author              Kirsty Shirra

            publisher         Cicerone Press

⁽²⁾        quoted from     “Walking the Corbetts Volume 2: North of the Great Glen”

            author              Brian Johnson

            publisher         Cicerone Press

A Mountain? Really?

As a Nuttall and a TRAIL 100 mountain, Bleaklow Head had at least a couple of reasons for me to tick it.  As it is just over an hour’s drive from home and with roadside parking available at the top of the Snake Pass, leaving only about 400 feet of ascent to the summit, this was going to be an easy day.  Although I was mostly enclosed by mist, the well-paved path of the Pennine Way wound its way through the groughs of the peat moorland.

The bleak landscape offered little promise of seeing any wildlife but I disturbed a few grouse, battering their way into the air, and watched as a curlew, bigger than I imagined it would be, cruised silently past and onwards into the mist.

The mist thickened as I reached a large cairn with an embedded pole marking the summit; or does it ?  The hills database says that the summit is a “tiny cairn on peat hag” which is “0.75m higher than top of large cairn”.  In the gloom it is not easy to find the true summit amongst the many hags on the summit plateau.

Bleaklow's large cairn

The true summit

If you were to ask a child to draw a mountain, I’m sure that the result would be pointy and nothing like the flat top of Bleaklow.  From the summit you have to walk at least a kilometre in order to descend 250 feet – if you walk just north of west towards Barrow Stones, you have to walk over 4 kilometres to achieve the same descent !  Although the summit of Bleaklow Head lies at an altitude of 2077 feet, a reasonable height above the accepted threshold of 2000 feet, it’s hard for me to accept that it deserves its “mountain” status and even less that it is one of the 100 “Finest UK Mountains” according to TRAIL magazine’s list.

The next landmark of this walk was the Wain Stones which were considerably more interesting than Bleaklow’s summit.

"Give us a kiss !"

I took a bearing towards Higher Shelf Stones and soon reached the trig point and summit rocks, at least two of which lay claim to being the highpoint of the day’s second Nuttall.

Higher Shelf Stones trig point

the stones of Higher Shelf

A couple of hundred metres to the east are the remains of a USAF B-29 Superfortress that crashed in 1948.  Some of the engines and undercarriage are clear to see, within a significant debris field.  It is thought that the plane was descending through low cloud and that the crew never saw the ground before the impact.  A memorial has been erected in memory of the crew and a large cross made of stones has been shaped into a nearby peat hag; poignant reminders of those who died far from home.

Superfortress memorial

B-29 engine

B-29 undercarriage

Leaving the tangled wreckage behind, I headed east across untracked terrain to reach the Pennine Way path by the shortest route.  The cloud had cleared now and I strolled back to the summit of the Snake at a leisurely pace under the early afternoon sun.

2014 Targets

Lists to tick

Entering 2014, I am doing a lot of work behind the scenes to work out walking routes to tick the remaining summits of the lists I have chosen to pursue in my now post-Wainwright days.

I have decided to aim for completion of the English and Welsh 2000-foot mountains, these being the Nuttalls.  However, there are a couple of historic lists of 2000-footers, particularly the Bridge list and Buxton & Lewis list.  As you would expect, there are a lot of common summits across all three lists, but there are a few summits on the two older lists that are not Nuttalls.  I have chosen Bridge and Buxton & Lewis as opposed to other similar lists for two reasons; these classifications are included in the DoBIH spreadsheet and many of the 2000-foot completions on the LDWA website are for these lists.

Another long-term goal is completion of the TRAIL100 summits.  Most of my remaining TRAIL100s are in Scotland but those left in England and Wales are also Nuttalls and so should be simple to tick.

The WASHIS is a Welsh-specific list of 600-metre mountains.  Most of these are also Nuttalls and the extra 5 that aren’t can be ticked with a little extra effort.

In the long term

If my sums are correct, I have 324 summits to tick to complete all of the above lists.  The summits range from the very far north of Scotland to Dartmoor and I have set myself a goal of 10 years to finish them.  It’s not very ambitious but it does allow a large contingency for whatever life events arrive in the coming years.

Of 444 Nuttalls I have 245 left to tick; of the 100 TRAIL summits, I have 54 unticked.

This year

In simple numbers, 10% of my remaining summits based on my 10-year plan seems reasonable.

Which means I’m aiming for 33 summits, amongst which should be 25 Nuttalls and 6 TRAIL100s.

Looking at a map of my unticked summits, I’d like to mop up the more isolated groups of English mountains this year.  These are :

• the Cheviots                  (6 summits)
• the Peak District           (3 summits)
• the Malverns                 (1 summit)
• Dartmoor                      (3 summits) 

In addition, one English summit that I’d like to climb is Pillar Rock.  Strictly speaking, it is beyond the reach of ordinary hillwalkers but my previous rock-climbing experience gives me the confidence that this otherwise tricky summit shouldn’t pose me too many problems.

Keep an eye on my forthcoming blog entries and I’ll let you know how I’m doing.

A Lake District Road Trip

The eighth and final volume of Mark Richards’ Fellranger guidebooks has just been published by Cicerone with the majority of his 227 “Fellrangers” being either a Wainwright or an Outlying Fell.  But one of the few exceptions is the lowly Wallowbarrow Crag in the Duddon Valley.  I’ve climbed here on a few occasions but never stood on the summit despite a couple of top-outs being very close.  A simple hour’s walk gave me the “tick” and served as an easy warm-up for the day.

Harter Fell, BowFell & Crinkle Crags from Wallowbarrow Crag

On the hottest day of the year so far, I drove north over the Dunnerdale fells, through Coniston and Ambleside and via the western Thirlmere road to arrive at the Old Sawmill Tearoom at the bottom of Dodd.  I took advantage of the steadily rising forest road to quickly gain height, soon reaching the tree-line.  I had last been on Dodd in 1994 but that was in the days of complete conifer coverage.  More recent times have seen the top of the fell being cleared of trees leaving a clear view from the top – something previously not available for a person of average height !

Although I had ticked Dodd before, I just wanted to walk up it again in its new guise before completing my round of Wainwrights and it made a welcome distraction from my recent campaign of ticking previously unvisited summits.  I took the green track as recommended in the Fellranger guidebook which leads to a super viewpoint overlooking the Lake District’s only lake.  I heard a branch cracking in amongst the trees and edged my way to the track’s edge to spot a Roe deer, which decided to avoid my gaze by bounding off into the woods.

From the viewpoint, a clearly worn but narrow path winds its way amongst the stumps and felled tree trunks up the northwest ridge.  Although it was hazy, the summit afforded a magnificent southern view of many of Lakeland’s major peaks.  I took the more orthodox way down on a good path and then the forest roads to make a very quick descent.

Driving to Patterdale from the A66 is one of the great routes of the district, leading eventually to the Kirkstone Pass.  A busy car park (and pub !) greeted me at the start of the route up to Caudale Moor.  Almost 25 years had passed since I walked up here in less than ideal December conditions with my polytechnic room-mate Andy and although I have claimed the tick, a thought in the back of my mind had long been nagging me that we may not have visited the actual summit, despite there being no nearby ground above us.

Atkinson Memorial, John Bell's Banner

I soon passed the scramble up to St Raven’s Edge, chatting to a Geordie about the stifling heat and then a Scouser who was waiting for his friends to catch him up.  The wall led unerringly uphill and I cut across to the monument on John Bell’s Banner before reaching the minor summit of the moor.  A simple stroll past the tarn led to Stony Cove Pike and the summit cairn, stated as the summit by both wainwright and the Database of British and Irish Hills.

Froswick, Ill Bell & Yoke

Stony Cove Pike summit

At last, on this glorious summer’s day when Andy Murray became the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men’s singles championship for 77 years, I could lay my Caudale Moor doubts to rest !

TRAIL 1000 metre peaks

The June 2013 issue of TRAIL magazine sees the publication of a new tick list;

“THE 1000m PEAKS OF THE BRITISH ISLES”

It’s a challenging list, containing the very highest summits of the British Isles.  What TRAIL hasn’t done is publish a specific definition of the criteria for inclusion.  So I did a bit of digging.

Using the Database of British and Irish Hills for reference, I compared the TRAIL list to the 1000 metre summits on DoBIH.  The list contains, broadly speaking, the Munros and Furths that are at least 1000 metres high.

But there are a few possible omissions.

The most obvious are two Furth summits in Ireland, Beenkeragh and Caher, which makes me wonder whether the inclusion of Carrauntoohill was an afterthought, perhaps to allow the inclusion of summits from Wales and Ireland.

Also published in the June 2013 issue is an article about a winter traverse of the Scottish 1000 metre peaks by Mike Cawthorne.  Mike quotes 135 peaks which points to the reason TRAIL has included only 135 out of the 137 Munros that are at least 1000 metres high.  The two peaks “missing” from the TRAIL list are the lower Munros of An Teallach (Sgurr Fiona) and Liathach (Mullach an Rathain).

As TRAIL published just a list and not specific criteria, in practice, there are no omissions.  The publication of the list will have baggers checking their ascents against it and no doubt some will aim to complete it.  I just think that it’s a shame that TRAIL doesn’t appear to have been paying attention to detail, presumably choosing to align itself with an individual’s interpretation of 1000 metre peaks rather than a specifically defined selection from the SMC’s Munro’s Tables.

I haven’t read Mike Cawthorne’s book (“Hell of a Journey”) about his traverse but I intend to get a copy soon to see if he gives any reason for excluding two summits and whether they are the two that I think they are.

Who “owns” hill lists ?

For baggers of British and Irish hills who take their hobby seriously, there is a very useful database of summit data on the website www.hills-database.co.uk – the Database of British and Irish Hills (DoBIH).  It lists data for over 9000 summits, including which hill lists that summit belongs to.

But who “owns” the lists ?

Increasingly accurate GPS technology has enabled recent surveys to determine summit heights to within a few centimetres, leading to the reclassification of a number of hills.  One of which, Beinn a’Chlaidheimh, caused a bit of a stir following a 2011 survey.

It is generally accepted that the Scottish Mountaineering Club is the “owner”/”guardian” of the list known as Munro’s Tables, as it was originally compiled from within the SMC and the club has published a number of updated lists over the years.  Also, the SMC has never made clear what the definition of a Munro is; they are Scottish hills with a height of at least 3000 feet but no prominence (or drop) measurement has been specified, leading to debate about apparent inconsistencies.

But, it is clear that that if a hill is under 3000 feet high, it can’t be a Munro.

Most, if not all, of the recent surveys have been carried out by a team of keen amateurs who submit their findings to the Ordnance Survey for verification. If the OS has any doubt about the method or accuracy, it will recommend that the survey be carried out again with suggestions about the method to be employed.  Ultimately, the OS is the arbiter of height data within Great Britain.

The survey of Beinn a’Chlaidheimh, confirmed by the OS, measured its height at 2999 feet; close to but below the Munro threshold.  But it took the SMC over a year to remove it from Munro’s Tables.

Despite the length of time taken, what happened wasn’t out of the ordinary:

                      i.        a hill is surveyed,

                     ii.        the measurement is confirmed by the Ordnance Survey,

                    iii.        the measurement indicates that a particular hill list needs to be updated,

                    iv.        the owner of the hill list is notified,

                     v.        the required change to the hill list is made.

This is the generally accepted way of maintaining hill lists, but some disagree.  I’m with the dissenters.

When a person compiles a list, they define the criteria for inclusion.  They “own” the criteria, not the list.

The DoBIH appears to have become, or is becoming, the single accepted repository of hill data.  So when it comes to light that an attribute of a hill (e.g. height or prominence) changes, the database will be updated and the appropriate hill lists can also be updated.

But updating hill lists should only occur if the amended data within the definition criteria is absolute.

For instance, it is easy to say whether a hill is a Nuttall or not as both the height and prominence criteria are specifically defined.  It is also easy to say which hills are not Munros but not quite as easy to say which are, as the definition is not clear.

Although a number of hill lists are “owned” by organisations such as the SMC, many are the product of individuals.  In the case of a list compiler dying, who then “owns” the list ?  Can a list be bequeathed ?  Whose permission does a surveyor have to get for a hill to be added to or removed from a list ?

Once the criteria of a hill list have been defined, the hills contained within the list will be subject to change, based on ever increasingly accurate surveys, but nobody “owns” the list.  Only cold hard data will determine whether a hill belongs on a list or not.