UKH

The recent - incorrect - story on the Beeb (see other thread) mentions the following criteria that is used to define a mountain in England and Wales ..

The guidelines said a peak needs to be 2,000ft (610m) high and have a 49ft (15m) height difference between the summit and the land that connects it to the next highest hill.

Assuming they've got this bit correct - and I can't help but think that 15m isn't much of a drop between summits - how many 'mountains' would there be in Scotland? I've done a couple of lists myself so won't comment on the addictive nature of the pastime (one list is just as daft as another if I think about it) but has anyone done all the mountains of Scotland? I'm not that bothered about what's a mountain and what's a hill, I've been up hills that are higher than some mountains so it must be the cragginess/steepness that makes a hill a mountain in my head and each to their own.

In reply to drmarten:

I wonder what the tallest rounded hill is in the world? Probably more than tall enough to be a mountain

In reply to drmarten:

Not quite the same criteria as the Nuttalls, but there are 2,183 Scottish Sims (out of a 2,526 British total) at 600m height and 30m drop (twice the Nuttall drop), with Iain Thow recently joining Ken Whyte as the only completers to date. So I'd guess quite a lot more if you changed the criteria to match the Nuttalls!

http://www.rhb.org.uk/sims/simhof.html

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I wonder what the tallest rounded hill is in the world? Probably more than tall enough to be a mountain

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world with an altitude of 4,205 meters (13,796 feet)...

In reply to FactorXXX:

A hoary old chestnut. Like all these things "it depends what you mean ...". Notoriously, because the earth's an oblate spheroid the summit of Chimborazo (6268m) is - reportedly - the point furthest from the centre of the earth. And in case it seems relevant to this eccentric thread, it's even moderately 'rounded', though it does have the odd glacier.

In reply to drmarten:

Neither I nor anyone else has a universal definitive answer.

Living in Snowdonia, on the slopes of the Carneddau, the neighbouring mountains are the Glyderau and Snowdon range. Taken together, they make a challenging walk, and done in this manner, you don't really hit intervening sub 3000' peaks en route. Gets a bit silly, but you can claim Castell y Gwynt and the recently named Carnedd Gwenllian if you like.

From my Cymrucentric view of what constitutes a 3000' mountain, I thought It'd be fun to walk the other 3000' mountains of Britain. I understood there were 4 in the Lakes, and about 282 in Scotland. Made a nice round 300, and good enough for a framework to base my trip of a lifetime on.

Once I got the maps out for Scotland, however, it became apparent that, using my Welsh way of thinking about 3000' mountains there were a lot more than 282 of them. I found out about Munro Tops. But even they didn't seem to stand as equivalent to a Welsh 3000' if you claim there are fifteen of them - there would have to be yet more of them than just munros and tops.

Ultimately, it didn't really matter. I had a big walk and enjoyed myself.

When I had my first digital camera, it was 3.2 megapixels. Now my mobile phone has an 8 megapixel one.
In both cases, I've enjoyed the photo's they produced. Composition was key to that, not the number of pixels.

In reply to drmarten:

Lists n numbers, lists n numbers. Its a healthy obsessive past time for someone in need of a new OCD hobby : )

In reply to thread :

If I've understood correctly, the definition comes from that for the Nuttalls and there isn't such a list for Scotland but it's probably north of of 5,000 summits or so. I don't think I'll be bothering any compiler of that list

Thanks Bob for that snippet about Chimborazo, I never knew that.

In reply to fmck:


The most commonly used letter in your reply was S, then E. You didn't use a G, J, K, Q, X, or Z.

In reply to llechwedd:

My mistake. Individual letters often accompanied by numbers can be fascinating at times to the overly keen collector.

The list is the most important bit though. It has to have boundaries and a set rule book. Although this encourages the meddlers to take up arms (GPS) and start to p##s off the OCDs.

In reply to fmck:

OcD?
Sorry I didn't reply sooner- Took me ages to clean the keyboard properly on my laptop

In reply to llechwedd:

Careful now! Lots of letters n numbers in front of some can get some overly excited!

In reply to drmarten:

Assuming they've got this bit correct - and I can't help but think that 15m isn't much of a drop between summits - how many 'mountains' would there be in Scotland?

2714 - which includes Windy Gyle that lies on the England/Scotland border.

In reply to Allan Young:

There are no mountains in Scotland.

To a Scot they are all hills; even Everest is just a big hill.

In reply to Ann65:

Not even Mount Eagle in the Black Isle?!?

In reply to Ann65:

This is why W. H. Murray's "Mountaineering in Scotland" is such a short book and the Mountain Bothies Association don't really do much.

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Ah, but no TRUE Scotsman would call them mountains!

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Just a light-hearted comment folks.

Though we do generally tend to say something like, "I'm away to the hills this weekend."

In reply to Ann65:


Likewise!

In reply to Ann65:

When I return home after a few days playing in the Highlands my wife always comments on me bringing her back "a mountain of washing!"