1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
3.
Snowdon
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Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of 1,085 metres above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has described as probably the busiest mountain in Britain. It is designated as a nature reserve for its rare flora. The cliff faces on Snowdon, including Clogwyn Dur Arddu, are significant for rock climbing, the summit also houses a cafe called Hafod Eryri, open only when the railway is operating and opened in 2009 to replace one built in the 1930s. The railway generally operates to the station from Whitsun to October. The daily running schedule depends on weather and customer demand, as well as other figures from Arthurian legend, the mountain is linked to a legendary afanc and the Tylwyth Teg. A1682 survey estimated that the summit of Snowdon was at a height of 3,720 feet, in 1773, Thomas Pennant quoted a later estimate of 3,568 ft above sea level at Caernarfon. Recent surveys give the height of the summit as 1,085 m, making Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon is one of three mountains climbed as part of the National Three Peaks Challenge. The unique environment of Snowdon, particularly its rare plants, has led to its designation as a nature reserve. In addition to plants that are widespread in Snowdonia, Snowdon is home to some plants rarely found elsewhere in Britain, Snowdon lies in the northern part of Snowdonia National Park, which has also provided some legal protection since the parks establishment in 1951. The rocks which make up Snowdon and its neighbouring mountains were formed in the Ordovician Period. At that time, most of modern-day Wales was near the edge of Avalonia, in the Soudleyan stage of the Caradoc age, a volcanic caldera formed, and produced ash flows of rhyolitic tuff, which formed deposits up to 500 metres thick. The current summit is near the edge of the ancient caldera, the calderas full extent is unclear. Snowdon and its surrounding peaks have been described as examples of Alpine topography. The summits of Snowdon and Garnedd Ugain are surrounded by cwms, erosion by glaciers in adjacent cwms caused the characteristic arêtes of Crib Goch, Crib y Ddysgl and Y Lliwedd, and the pyramidal peak of Snowdon itself. Other glacial landforms that can be seen around Snowdon include roches moutonnées, glacial erratics, the English name Snowdon comes from the Old English snaw dun, meaning snow hill, as Snowdon often has a covering of snow. Although the amount of snow on Snowdon in winter varies significantly, the slopes of Snowdon have one of the wettest climates in Great Britain, receiving an annual average of more than 200 inches of precipitation. A number of lakes are found in the various cwms of the Snowdon range, Llyn Llydaw –1,430 feet high,110 acres – lies in Cwm Dyli, Snowdons eastern cwm, and is one of Snowdonias deepest lakes, at up to 190 ft deep
4.
Marilyn (geography)
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A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland or Isle of Man with a prominence of at least 150 metres, regardless of absolute height or other merit. The name was coined as a punning contrast to the designation Munro, used of a Scottish mountain with a height of more than 3,000 feet, which is homophonous with Monroe. There are 2,010 Marilyns identified,1,218 in Scotland,454 in Ireland,175 in England,158 in Wales,5 on the Isle of Man. Black Mountain, in the Black Mountains, on the border between England and Wales, was counted in both countries but is now treated as being in Wales only. The list was extended into Ireland by Clem Clements in a booklet, The Hewitts, however, some lower hills such as Seatallan and Watch Hill on the edges of Lakeland and the Long Mynd in Shropshire do qualify because of their isolation from higher hills. At the other extreme are Stac Lee and Stac an Armin, nearly 80% of Marilyns in Great Britain are in Scotland. They logically extend earlier Scottish lists such as the Munros, Corbetts, Grahams, all Corbetts and Grahams,203 of the 282 Munros, and around half of the Donalds are also Marilyns. Some hillwalkers attempt to climb as many Marilyns as possible, some amateur radio operators attempt to operate from the summit of every Marilyn. Eddie Dealtry became the person to achieve Woodalls feat, later on the same day. By 28 September 2016, the Marilyns of Great Britain had been completed by 10 hillwalkers, while 320 had entered the Marilyn Hall of Fame by attaining a count of at least 600
5.
Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles
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The mountains and hills of Great Britain, and to a lesser extent Ireland, are the subject of a considerable number of lists that categorise them by height, topographic prominence, or other criteria. They are commonly used as a basis for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt to reach all the summits on a given list. The oldest and best known of these lists is that of the Munros, mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet, other well-known lists include the Corbetts, Wainwrights and Marilyns. There is no consensus on the definition of mountain, but in Great Britain. The UK government defines mountain as land over 600 metres for the purposes of freedom of access, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. In practice, mountains in Scotland are frequently referred to as no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the Cuillin Hills. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use, the Munros are mountains in Scotland over 3,000 ft. The list was compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. There are 282 Munros and 227 further tops, all of them in the Scottish Highlands, list of Munros The Murdos are an attempt to apply objective criteria to the Munros and their associated tops. They comprise all the summits in Scotland over 3,000 feet with a prominence of at least 30 metres, there are currently 442 Murdos, compared to 282 Munros or 509 Munros plus tops. The list was compiled by Alan Dawson, all Murdos are also Munro Tops, but many Munro Tops fail to qualify as Murdos because of insufficient relative height. Before 1997 there were seven Murdos that were not Munro Tops, all seven were included in the 1997 edition of Munros Tables, plus two non-Murdos, Little Pap on Lochnagar and Knights Peak on Sgurr nan Gillean or a UK top-tier administrative area. There are now 347 Hardys with the recent addition of 5 low lying English coastal estuary islands,61 hill ranges,96 islands and 190 administrative areas,183 are in England,31 in Wales,107 in Scotland and 26 in Northern Ireland. The list was first compiled in the 1990s by Ian Hardy, the Marilyns were supplemented in 2007 by the HuMPs which reduces the Prominence requirement to 100m. The list was compiled by Mark Jackson from a number of sources. There are almost 3,000 British HuMPs, including three in the Channel Islands, More recently, Mark Jackson compiled the TuMPs, a list of all hills in Britain having a prominence of 30 metres. By definition, all Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops, Hewitts, there are over 16,000 TuMPs, approximately half of that number that did not appear in previously researched lists were researched by Mark Jackson between 2006 and 2009. Since 2012 the list has been published and maintained by the editors of The Database of British and Irish Hills, a list of mountains, over 2, 000-foot-high, in England and Wales was published by Buxton & Lewis in 1986
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Welsh language
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Welsh is a member of the Brittonic branch of the Celtic languages. It is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, historically it has also been known in English as the British tongue, Cambrian, Cambric and Cymric. The United Kingdom Census 2011 counted 3.1 million residents of Wales, 27% of whom had been born outside Wales, and 73% of whom reported having no Welsh language skills. Of residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% of these were able to speak, read and this can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20. 8% of the population reported being able to speak Welsh. 787,854 of residents in Wales aged three and over had one or more skills in Welsh, in surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language. An estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people speak Welsh in England, Welsh emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish and the extinct language known as Cumbric. The Middle Welsh period is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, the name Welsh originated as an exonym given to its speakers by the Anglo-Saxons, meaning foreign speech. The native term for the language is Cymraeg, and for the name of the country of Wales it is Cymru, Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic, the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons. Classified as Insular Celtic, the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and was spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth. During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, evolving into Welsh and it is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Kenneth H. Jackson suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern was complete by around 550, Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to the Cynfeirdd or Early Poets – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was composed in the Hen Ogledd, raising further questions about the dating of the material. An 8th century inscription in Tywyn shows the language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns, the next main period, somewhat better attested, is Old Welsh, poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of the language. Both the works of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin were in this era, Middle Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts, Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible, albeit with some work, to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The famous cleric Gerald of Wales tells, in his Descriptio Cambriae, during one of the Kings many raids in the 12th century, Henry asked an old man of Pencader, Carmarthenshire whether the Welsh people could resist his army
8.
Brecon Beacons
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The Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of Old Red Sandstone peaks which lie to the south of Brecon, sometimes referred to as the central Beacons they include South Wales highest mountain, Pen y Fan. The range forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park and this much wider area is also commonly referred to as the Brecon Beacons, and it includes the Black Mountains to the east as well as the similarly named but quite distinct Black Mountain to the west. The highest peaks include Fan Brycheiniog to the west and Pen y Fan in the central part and they share the same basic geology as the central range, and so exhibit many similar features, such the north-facing escarpment and glacial features such as lakes and cwms below the escarpment. They all fall within the border of the national park. The Brecon Beacons range, in its narrower sense comprises six main peaks, from west to east these are, Corn Du, Pen y Fan, the highest peak, Cribyn, Fan y Big, Bwlch y Ddwyallt and Waun Rydd. These summits form a ridge, and the sections joining the first four form a horseshoe shape around the head of the Taf Fechan river. To the northeast of the ridge, interspersed with long spurs, are four round-headed valleys or cwms, from west to east these are Cwm Sere, Cwm Cynwyn. There are especially good examples of round barrows on Fan Foel, Pen y Fan, the former was excavated in 2002–4 and the ashes in the central cist dated to about 2000 BC using carbon dating. A wreath of Meadowsweet was likely placed in the burial, over twenty hill-forts were established in the area during the Iron Age. The largest, and indeed the largest in south Wales, were the pair of forts atop Y Garn Goch near Bethlehem – Y Gaer Fawr and Y Gaer Fach – literally the big fort, the forts are thought to have once been trading and political centres. When the Romans came to Wales in 43 AD, they stationed more than 600 soldiers in the area, Y Gaer, near the town of Brecon was their main base. During the Norman Conquest many castles were erected throughout the park, one of the most famous is Carreg Cennen Castle but there are many more. Brecon Castle is of Norman origin, there are many old tracks which were used over the centuries by drovers to take their cattle and geese to market in England. The drovers brought back gorse seed which they sowed to provide food for their sheep, the Brecon Beacons are one of four ranges of mountains and hills in South Wales which make up the Brecon Beacons National Park. The National Park was established in 1957, the third of the three Welsh parks after Snowdonia in 1951 and the Pembrokeshire Coast in 1952, Mountain rescue in south Wales is provided by five volunteer groups, with the police having overall command. In serious situations they are aided by RAF helicopters from RAF Chivenor or RAF Valley and their work is not restricted to mountain rescue – they frequently assist the police in their search for missing or vulnerable people in the community. The Brecon Beacons, are used for training members of the UK armed forces, the Army’s Infantry Battle School is located at Brecon, and the Special Air Service use the area to test the fitness of applicants
9.
Powys
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Powys is a principal area, local-government county and preserved county in Mid Wales. It is named after the successor Kingdom of Powys, which formed after the Romans withdrew from Britain, see the list of places in Powys for all towns and villages in Powys. Most of Powys is mountainous, with north-south transport being difficult, the majority of the Powys population lives in villages and small towns. The largest towns are Newtown, Ystradgynlais, Brecon, and Welshpool with populations of 12,783,9,004,7,901 and 6,269 respectively, Powys has the lowest population density of all the principal areas of Wales. Radnorshire was almost completely Anglicised by the end of the 18th century, the 2001 census records show 21% of the population of Powys were able to speak Welsh at that time, the same as for Wales as a whole. The uplands retain evidence of occupation from long before the Kingdom of Powys, and before the Romans, there are 1130 identified burial mounds within the county, of varying styles and ages, dating from 4000BC to 1000BC, most of them belonging to the Bronze Age. Of these,339 are Scheduled Monuments, standing stones, most again dating to the Bronze Age, also occur in large numbers,276 being found across the county, of which 92 are scheduled. From the Iron Age, the county has 90 scheduled Hill forts, the gold in the county coat of arms symbolises the wealth of the area. Black is for both mining and the Black Mountains, the fountain is a medieval heraldic charge displayed as a roundel barry wavy Argent and Azure. It represents water, and refers to both the water catchment area and the rivers and lakes, thus, the arms contain references to the hills and mountains, rivers and lakes, water supply and industry. The crest continues the colouring of the arms, a tower has been used in preference to a mural crown, which alludes to the countys military history and remains. From the tower rises a red kite, a bird almost extinct elsewhere in Britain, the bird is semy of black lozenges for the former coal mining industry while the golden fleece it carries is a reference to the importance of sheep rearing in Powys. The county motto is, Powys – the paradise of Wales, on 1 April 1996, the districts were abolished, and Powys was reconstituted as a unitary authority, with a minor border adjustment in the north-east. The first Lord Lieutenant of Powys was previously the Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire, the Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire were appointed as Lieutenants. The present Lord Lieutenant is The Hon. Mrs Elizabeth Shân Legge-Bourke LVO of Crickhowell, in December 2007 Powys was awarded Fairtrade County status by the Fairtrade Foundation. Recent research suggests that Powys is the happiest place in the UK, although the researchers noted that the numbers were not statistically significant
10.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
