A hillwalker, surveyor and map-maker has pinpointed what he believes is a new mountain in north Wales that has been created by quarrying.
Myrddyn Phillips, who has spent the last two decades sizing up obscure peaks to judge if they qualify for mountain status, has concluded a piece of high ground at a quarry near Blaenau Ffestiniog passes the test.
Phillips said that part of a peak called Manod Mawr North Top had been eroded by quarrying, leading to the formation of a second top, slightly lower – but high enough to qualify as a mountain.
It is to be added to Phillips’ list of “Welsh Highlands” – hills in Wales that are more than 2,000ft (609 metres) high with a 49ft drop to the col – the saddle or ridge between two peaks.
He said it was the first time since the list was launched in 2004 that a chunk of high ground in Wales had been upgraded to mountain status because of human intervention.
Phillips, from Welshpool, mid-Wales, said: “The mountain was first spotted on an online map by a colleague of mine – I was intrigued and needed to see this unusual peak myself.
“Nobody really knew it existed because it doesn’t show up on the OS maps. I was looking for the vertical height gain between the col and the summit. It had once been relatively flat as it connected to the Manod Mawr North Top. By quarrying that ridge, they have created a brand new peak.”
Phillips said he hoped the discovery would give people enthusiasm to get out and explore the local mountain ranges – though the new peak is on private ground.
“Since I have taken up surveying, the areas it has taken me to is fantastic. You see places you otherwise would never have discovered – some of them are so beautiful.”
Phillips made headlines in 2019 when he showed that a street in Harlech, north-west Wales, was apparently the steepest in the world – though the coastal town lost the title to Dunedin in New Zealand the following year.
In 2010 Glyder Fawr, in Snowdonia, was redefined as a “super mountain” after surveyors found it was 1,000 metres high rather than the 999 metres it had previously been thought to measure.
