2018 Targets

Lists to tick

My target ticklist is a combination of unclimbed Nuttalls, TRAIL 100s, WASHIS, Simpsons, Dawsons, Deweys, Mosses, Wrights,Bridges and Buxton & Lewis summits.  At the start of 2018 there are 459 individual summits on my ticklist.

In 2017 I added the Dawsons, Deweys, Mosses and Wrights to my list which increase the total by 137 summits.  My previous goal of completing the list in 2023 has been extended to 2026 because of this, which now gives me 9 years to reach the target.

Still to be ticked at the start of this year are 201 of the 445 Nuttalls and 38 of the TRAIL 100 summits.

This coming year

In simple numbers, 11% of my remaining summits based on my remaining 9-year plan should be an achievable target for 2018, as long as I have some significant multi-summit days out.  11% means 51 summits, but I’m going to round this up to 1 per week.

Which means I’m aiming for 52 summits, amongst which should be 23 Nuttalls and 4 TRAIL 100s.

Because of a number of years of not meeting targets with regard to specific summits, this year I won’t be naming any but I do hope to claim a few that lie further afield.

It’s time to start studying the maps!

A 2017 Summary

At the start of 2017 I had 334 summits on my combined ticklist of TRAIL 100 summits, Nuttalls, WASHIS, Simpsons, Bridges and Buxton & Lewis summits.  2017 was the fourth year of my fairly arbitrary 10-year completion target and I had aimed to tick 48 summits on my combined list which would include 30 Nuttalls and 6 TRAIL 100s.

And now, for the fourth year in a row I didn’t reach my targets and, yet again, by some distance!

Overall I :

            went on             9                                   walks

            walked              77.7                              miles

            ascended          29,206                          feet

            walked for         53 hrs 43 mins            (including rest stops !)

            reached            16                                 individual summits that I hadn’t been to before

            reached            6                                   individual summits that I had been to before

            reached            12                                 summits on my combined ticklist

            reached            1                                   previously unclimbed TRAIL 100 summits

            reached            5                                   previously unclimbed Nuttall summits

            drove                2074                             miles on trips to and from walks

2017 only saw one change to the Nuttalls list.  Carnedd y Ddelw in the Carneddau was demoted following a resurvey but it didn’t have any effect on my list as I had ticked it way back in 1988!

Notable walks included Ben Lomond, Bowfell to mop up a couple of Nuttalls, Arenig Fawr and High Cup Nick which saw another Nuttall put in the bag.

My targets of Snaefell, the 6 Cheviot Nuttalls and Pillar Rock were unsurprisingly untouched – maybe it’s time not to name specific targets!

During the year I added a few more lists – Dawson, Dewey, Moss & Wright – to my own list; another 137 summits!  They are all of 2000-foot mountains in England & Wales and are recognised by the LDWA.  My reasoning for including these takes a little bit of explaining so maybe I will write a blog about it in the future.

So after my walks, a demotion and list additions, my ongoing ticklist increased from 334 to 459 summits!

I think that 2018 will see a different approach when setting targets.

A Daear Ddu Day Out

The club’s post-Christmas walk took aim for a familiar mountain this year 16 of us met up at the Siabod café to consume some calories before making strides along the tracks leading to Moel Siabod’s Daear Ddu ridge.

on the approach

I wouldn’t necessarily say that conditions were full-on winter, but there was enough snow on the higher ground to give the walk a seasonal feel.  We had soon passed through the long-deserted quarries and successfully negotiated the boggy area of ground just west of Llyn y Foel before reaching the base of the ridge.

the Daear Ddu ridge

nearing the ridge

If there is an obvious start to the route gaining the Daear Ddu ridge it wasn’t clear as there were a few possibilities presenting themselves.  However once on the ridge, progress was steady with route-finding options available to vary the challenge if you felt the need to with some of the rock steps presenting some thoughtful decisions when selecting footholds in particular as they were partially obscured by snow.  The group had now extended itself along the ridge and I stayed towards the rear to ensure that nobody was left behind.  I think that if I had been on a solo trip I would have put on my crampons just to make life a bit easier.

approaching the summit of Moel Siabod

The ridge leads inexorably to the summit trig point at which the strength of the wind let itself be known.  The highpoint was not a place to linger and enjoy the view so everyone started their descent promptly.  We followed the path – boggy in places – that leads towards Plas y Brenin and once amongst the forest the trail took us back to the Siabod café where cake was the chosen restorative for many!

Snowdon Silly Season

Even on a murky day in December, Snowdon still sees plenty of people heading for the summit.  A small group of us decided to forego the ways of the masses and after alighting the Snowdon Sherpa bus at Pen-y-Pass we headed for an ascent of the Y Gribin ridge.

The easy Miners’ path took us to the outflow of Llyn Glaslyn which we forded and then started on the scramble.  It was raining, but not heavily, and as the route started to steepen, the rock became uncomfortably slippy and the mist obscured the top of the ridge, giving rise to doubts about its ease or more likely, difficulty.  Caution seemed the sensible decision and we made our way back to the Miners’ path before taking on an off-piste scree slope to reach the PyG track.

Which is where we met the masses we were originally hoping to avoid.

On the approach to the zig-zags the path started to fill out with snow.  Although the path was not overly crowded, there were still plenty of inappropriately dressed walkers.  Trainers, wellies and even deck shoes were the footwear of choice for many who were slithering the way down the path, as often as not on backsides rather than on feet.  No doubt they would probably get off the mountain without incident and have a great story to tell in the pub but it wouldn’t have taken much of a slip for a serious accident to spoil their day.

Even in my winter boots there came a point where I decided it prudent to put on my crampons.  As I was strapping them on, I heard a voice behind me that said “good move”, from a similarly shod and obviously experienced walker.

I almost felt overdressed in my winter boots and crampons, but the ease with which I made progress soon overruled that thought.

At the top of the zig-zags we decided that there wasn’t much point following the railway up into the clag to the summit so we turned right and made our way down the Llanberis path.  I’ve been to the top seven times so far so I didn’t feel as if I was missing out on anything.  And a couple of beers at the club’s hut made an acceptable end to the day.

High Cup Nick

Is there a more impressive glaciated valley in England then High Cup Nick?  Although it is a magnificent geological wonder, not many people have heard of it and it probably doesn’t get the number of visitors it deserves due to its proximity to the Lake District.

Starting the walk in Dufton soon leads to a green lane that is the Pennine Way and the National Trail is followed to the “Nick” itself.  As height is gained the views open out to reveal the cliffs that line the head of the valley with occasional detours to the very edge being rewarded with some spectacular viewpoints under the day’s blue skies.  One of the group said that the views were the best they “had ever seen”; a statement not to be taken likely as they spent a lot of time walking some of the most attractive peaks in Scotland.

High Cup Nick

The Cup from the Nick

Because of the breeze at the top, we lunched just below the Nick in the sheltered gully and then headed north-west to the plateau of Backstone Edge.  We should have taken a more westerly track as we soon found ourselves amongst the hags and groughs of the peat landscape but, because of a recent dry spell we were able to avoid the worst of the soggier patches by linking some drier areas.  We did eventually follow a bearing to the west and picked up a faint track heading north along the edge that led us to the crumbling triangulation pillar.

Although most trig points mark, or are very close to, the summit of a hill or mountain, occasionally they don’t always mark the highpoint.  The true summit of Backstone Edge is a couple of hundred yards from the trig, slightly east of north.  A few of us retained the purist bagger ethic and strolled across the moorland to reach the small cairn marking the highest point before rejoining the rest of the group.

Dufton Pike from Great Rundale

A descent into the small valley of Great Rundale led to a good track back to Dufton and the welcoming Stag Inn, where the refreshments served were heartily enjoyed.

The Dragon's Back

Because of my seemingly never-ending ticklist, any chance that presents itself is seized with the goal of reducing the list.  But a club day out on a September Sunday had some relatively unknown but shapely peaks as the summits of the day.

My breakfast of a cream tea at the Longnor coffee shop was an indulgence but I felt I could justify it ahead of the day’s exertions.  A leisurely start had us following quiet country lanes to a path traversing slowly up to the ridge of High Wheeldon.  The ascent gives the impression that the skyline will be met by a defined ridge but at the top there is a gently sloping plateau of farmland which gives no impression that you are on high ground.

A descent to the BMC managed Aldery Cliff was followed by a stroll along the lane to Earl Sterndale where a welcoming road sign states that “Peas drive carefully”!  We had heard a rumour about “The Quiet Woman” without elaboration but the mystery was soon solved!

And so should you!

Mystery solved!

Parkhouse Hill and Chrome Hill

After crossing some fields we found ourselves at the bottom of the most challenging of the day’s ascents – Parkhouse Hill.  It didn’t take long to reach the summit but the choice of descent required some thought before our lunch stop at the bottom of Chrome Hill.

Instead of a direct ascent we followed the road through Dowal Dale before turning south to walk up the north-west ridge of Chrome Hill.  Some of us took the opportunities for scrambling when the terrain allowed before walking down the south-east ridge back to our lunch spot.  The last couple of miles to Longnor took us across farmland and when we reached the coffee shop our persuasion kept it open long enough for my second cream tea of the day – and I wasn’t the only one!

Despite its name, the Peak District is not famous for its peaks; many, including me up to today, are unaware of their existence with the moorland plateaus, gritstone edges and limestone crags attracting the attention of visitors.  I’ll admit that the hills took me by surprise and although their height doesn’t rival many well-known summits of the land, they are well worth seeking out.

Y Trechol – a dominance-based list

In my previous two blogs I said that I thought there weren’t any UK dominance-based mountain lists but it turns out that I was wrong!

Prominent (pardon the pun!) list compiler Myrddyn Phillips has been compiling a list of Welsh hills with a dominance of 50% or more and a prominence of at least 30 metres which he has called “Y Trechol” which is Welsh for “The Dominants”.

He has been publishing the list in parts on his “Mapping Mountains” blog since late 2015 and as I had added a comment to one of the instalments in early 2016, my initial statement about the absence of such lists now looks a little foolish.  After reading Myrddyn’s rationale behind the creation of his list it appears that it is likely that there will be hillwalkers who have probably toyed with the idea of dominance in relation to hill lists but perhaps haven’t published their thoughts.

Maybe dominance as a measure of mountains will become the vogue!