I am aware that surveying is not universally popular amongst baggers. Many people do not like change, particularly when it affects hills they have already climbed or lists they have already completed. In the spirit of the current trend for unapologetic apologies, I apologise for any inconvenience caused, but not for researching and publicising the truth. I have considered withholding survey results until an official update sheet or a new edition of RHB, but most people prefer to know about changes as soon as they are confirmed.
My main priority for 2014 was to survey twin peaks and borderline summits with 148-152m drop. The detwinning was very successful up to June, with four surveys showing that the hill listed in RHB was higher than its upstart rival, so no changes there. After that it got more complicated, as I was unable to separate Troweir Hill and Saugh Hill, but the problem was semi-solved by unexpectedly discovering that neither of them was a Marilyn. Cruim Leacainn near Spean Bridge was the other casualty - another hill not listed in RHB but added later and, as it turned out, erroneously.
Creag Toll a'Choin was never officially a twin but turned out to be 0.35m higher than Maoile Lunndaidh. This was a surprise, as some OS maps show Maoile Lunndaidh to be 2m higher, so a second survey was carried out to confirm the finding. Beinn Dearg (1B) was not a twin either, but turned out to be 1.7m lower than its rival 2km to the west, which extensive research revealed to be called Creag na h-Eararuidh (pronounced Creag na Herra) and not Stuc na Cabaig.
Having eliminated all the official twins, I mucked things up by finding Stob Coire a'Chairn to be the same height as An Gearanach, though this is potentially resolvable with a return visit and a bit of temporary cairn tampering. Confirmation of the 151m drop from whichever is higher was better news.
The tables below show results from marginal Marilyn and Submarilyn surveys that were not reported in last year's Marhofn. Contrary to what some may think, most surveys do not result in significant change.
Section | Name | Height | Drop | Grid reference | Status |
1B | Creag na h-Eararuidh | 708.3 | 353 | NN 6851 1900 | New |
1B | Beinn Dearg | 706.6 | 73.4 | NN 6966 1975 | Superseded |
3B | Na Maoilean | 352.6 | 193 | NM 9752 3721 | Relocated |
10A | The Saddle | 1011.4 | 334 | NG 9361 1312 | Relocated |
12A | Creag Toll a'Choin | 1005.2 | 402 | NH 1308 4532 | New |
12A | Maoile Lunndaidh | 1004.9 | 10.5 | NH 1350 4585 | Superseded |
16D | Creag an Amalaidh | 260.9 | 154 | NH 7587 9752 | New |
27B | Troweir Hill | 295.6 | 149.3 | NX 2112 9602 | Demoted |
1B | Sgiath a'Chaise | 644.2 | 303 | NN 5836 1694 | Confirmed |
1D | Meall nan Gabhar | 744.0 | 265 | NN 2357 2402 | Confirmed |
3C | Creise | 1099.8 | 169.4 | NN 2385 5064 | Confirmed |
4A | Am Bodach | 1031.8 | 152.8 | NN 1763 6509 | Confirmed |
4A | An Gearanach | 981.4 | 151.4 | NN 1877 6698 | Twinned |
4A | Stob Coire a'Chairn | 981.4 | 124.7 | NN 1855 6606 | Twinned |
7A | Creigh Hill | 498.0 | 168.1 | NO 2707 5936 | Confirmed |
15B | Beinn Tharsuinn | 692.0 | 353 | NH 6063 7928 | Confirmed |
16B | Beinn Direach | 688.9 | 152.1 | NC 4061 3806 | Confirmed |
16C | Creag Thoraraidh | 404.5 | 155.1 | ND 0406 1875 | Confirmed |
16C | Cnoc na Maoile | 401.1 | 152.5 | ND 0079 2121 | Confirmed |
17E | Maol Ban | 338.5 | 152.1 | NM 6838 2387 | Confirmed |
The only completely new Marilyn was Creag an Amalaidh near Golspie. Its summit was easy enough to climb and survey but the col deep in trees required two visits. I was unable to get a good enough GPS signal at the col itself and had to resort to surveying a point well to the east. This was surveyed by GPS to be 152.6m lower than the summit and measured by approximate levelling to be about 1.5m higher than the col, so in the end the promotion was clear.
Several Marilyns with two points of similar height were confirmed: Sgiath a'Chaise (1.5m higher than north top), Meall nan Gabhar (0.6m higher than north top), Creise (0.9m higher than Clach Leathad), Creigh Hill (1.0m higher than south top), Beinn Tharsuinn (3.1m higher than Sidhean a'Choin Bhain) and Creag Thoraraidh (0.2m higher than Cnoc Coir a'Phuill). However, the summit of Na Maoilean did move, to an obvious summit about 400 metres north-east of the trig point, while the summit of The Saddle moved back to its previous location, which turned out to be 0.3m higher than the rocks next to the trig point.
Section | Name | Height | Drop | Grid reference | Status |
1D | Dun Corr-bhile | 322.3 | 145.4 | NN 1037 1062 | Unchanged |
6B | Creag nam Brataichean | 536.7 | 138.7 | NO 1139 6133 | Demoted |
8A | Cairn Gorm | 1044.8 | 145.8 | NJ 0051 0406 | Unchanged |
16C | Beinn a'Mhadaidh | 401.1 | 146.8 | NC 7689 4150 | Unchanged |
16D | Meall Eachainn | 343.5 | 145.4 | NC 6186 0050 | Unchanged |
16D | An Stoc-bheinn | 336.3 | 146.9 | NC 6415 0251 | Unchanged |
28B | Fanna Hill | 514.6 | 148.1 | NT 5697 0319 | Unchanged |
30D | Moel y Gydros | 522.3 | 145.9 | SH 9143 4538 | Unchanged |
33 | Hedgehope Hill | 714.4 | 147.3 | NT 9438 1980 | Unchanged |
33 | Cushat Law | 616.2 | 147.9 | NT 9282 1374 | Unchanged |
34B | High Spy | 653.1 | 147.7 | NY 2340 1622 | Unchanged |
34B | Great How | 333.2 | 140.9 | NY 3137 1872 | New |
42 | Littleton Down | 254.9 | 149.2 | SU 941 150 | Unchanged |
Many thanks to GJ Surveys for the Maol Ban survey, John Barnard for the Littleton Down survey; Myrddyn Phillips for Moel y Gydros survey.
On Beinn Direach - a Marilyn that avoided ignominy (photo: Trevor Littlewood)
Lots of surveys and several demotions kept on pushing my 2000th Sim further out of reach, so I probably suffered more than anyone from my diligence. Some might think it serves me right. Losing two in one walk was inconvenient (Stob a'Ghlais Choire and Creag Dhubh), but it was a superb day's hillwalking so I did not kick myself too hard. The two most intriguing results did not involve any change of status. Stac a'Chuirn turned out to be 18 metres lower than shown by the OS, while Drochaid Ghlas is 15m higher. These unexpected findings encouraged me to extend the number of hills that would benefit from a survey.
The seven promotions and nine demotions bring the current number of Sims to 2528. Notable results from 2014 are summarised below.
Section | Name | Height | Drop | Grid reference | Status |
1C | Stob Glas | 710.5 | 30.9 | NN 3656 2002 | New |
2B | Beinn nan Eachan E Top | 951.4 | 30.1 | NN 5740 3838 | New |
2B | Cam-Chreag | 892.5 | 31.5 | NN 5247 3983 | New |
3A | Aonach Eagach East Top | 906.2 | 33.1 | NN 1553 5828 | New |
6A | An Sgarsoch Far East Top | 756.6 | 36.0 | NN 9615 8513 | New |
11A | Suie Dhu | 613.8 | 30.3 | NG 9995 2543 | Reinstated |
17B | Caisteal a'Garbh-choire | 829.7 | 31.7 | NG 4543 2022 | New |
2B | Meall Eoghainn | 808.4 | 29.8 | NN 4685 3232 | Demoted |
3A | Stob Dubh | 866.3 | 28.2 | NN 1518 5887 | Demoted |
3C | Stob a'Ghlais Choire | 995.5 | 25.8 | NN 2399 5162 | Demoted |
3C | Creag Dhubh | 746.8 | 28.8 | NN 2580 5204 | Demoted |
6A | An Sgarsoch East Top | 753.5 | 27.9 | NN 9534 8479 | Superseded |
9B | Meall a'Bhothain | 909.9 | 29.6 | NH 6635 0565 | Demoted |
12B | Meallan Odhar Doire nan Gillean | 598.7 | 177 | NH 1562 3778 | Marilyn but not a Sim |
15B | Sidhean a'Choin Bhain | 688.8 | 29.7 | NH 6001 8031 | Demoted |
16B | Carn an Tionail | 715.1 | 29.6 | NC 5759 4768 | Demoted |
1C | Beinn a'Chroin | 941.4 | 137.1 | NN 3875 1857 | Confirmed |
1D | Stac a'Chuirn | 852.4 | 34.9 | NN 1905 1809 | Confirmed |
2B | Meall a'Churain | 917.2 | 29.9 | NN 4627 3248 | Unchanged |
2B | Creag na Caillich | 914.3 | 69.3 | NN 5628 3769 | Confirmed |
3A | Aonach Eagach West Top | 904.6 | 32.0 | NN 1534 5828 | Confirmed |
5B | Carn na Caim South Top | 914.6 | 30.3 | NN 6638 8069 | Confirmed |
6B | Gurlet North Top | 601.8 | 29.6 | NN 9941 6527 | Unchanged |
7A | Bawhelps | 828.1 | 30.3 | NO 2266 7215 | Confirmed |
10A | Sgurr na Forcan | 964.6 | 28.6 | NG 9402 1305 | Unchanged |
10A | Sgurr Coire na Feinne | 901.8 | 31.4 | NH 0279 0930 | Confirmed |
11A | Stob Coire Lochan | 916.9 | 29.6 | NH 1192 2717 | Unchanged |
17C | Ben Aslak | 609.0 | 329.0 | NG 7507 1912 | Confirmed |
21A | Ladylea Hill | 609.1 | 200.9 | NJ 3430 1680 | Confirmed |
The results of the surveys of Beinn nan Eachan East Top, Meall a'Churain, Meall Eoghainn and Creag na Caillich were so close that I surveyed each of them twice to verify the result. Beinn nan Eachan East Top and Carn na Caim South Top became Murdos, while Creag na Caillich lost its Murdo status. Ben Aslak and Ladylea Hill were confirmed as Sims but removed from the Grahams list.
Numerous other marginal Sims and Subsims were surveyed with no change in status. After making the effort to survey Meall Tionail (west of Carn an Fhidhleir) from Linn of Dee, I was a little disappointed to find it stubbornly sticking at 899.7m.
Caisteal a'Garbh-choire - a new Sim (photo: Alan Dawson)
Survey results are submitted to DoBIH and soon afterwards appear in hill-bagging.co.uk. Details of changes are available in the Sim change register at: hills-database.co.uk/sim_changes.html
The Sim Hall of Fame has two new entrants. Colin Donnelly passed the 2000 threshold in 2013 but did not report in last year, while the seventh member quietly strolled in on Manywee in October.
Full members at 31 Dec 2014 | Corridor members at 31 Dec 2014 | ||
Ken Whyte | 2528 | Neil Sandilands | 1843 |
Andy Hyams | 2521 | Bert Barnett | 1802 |
Iain Thow | 2506 | Gavin Theobald | 1786 |
Colin Crawford | 2349 | Alan Castle | 1764 |
Rob Woodall | 2109 | Michael Earnshaw | 1736 |
Colin Donnelly | 2071 | Jim Bloomer | 1682 |
Alan Dawson | 2006 | Graham Illing | 1623 |
Richard Webb | 1619 | ||
Richard Speirs | 1567 | ||
Eddie Dealtry | 1533 | ||
Alan Brook | 1530 | ||
John Ward | 1524 |
All Sim baggers (and indeed Marilyn baggers) are encouraged to enter their hill logs into the hill-bagging.co.uk website, so that totals can be automatically kept up to date and easily retrieved at the end of the year.
Section | Name | Height | Drop | Grid reference | Status |
1B | Ben Halton | 620.2 | 99.8 | NN 7205 2036 | Unchanged |
1C | Stob Creag an Fhithich | 714.8 | 99.4 | NN 3491 1905 | Demoted |
1C | Beinn Bhreac | 629.9 | 92.8 | NN 2025 2164 | New Subhump |
3C | Stob Dearg | 1103.1 | 97.8 | NN 0623 3074 | Unchanged |
3C | Drochaid Ghlas | 1024.3 | 90.5 | NN 0833 3077 | New Subhump |
4A | Na Gruagaichean | 1054.2 | 96.8 | NN 2030 6520 | Unchanged |
7A | Craigie Thieves | 688.0 | 101.7 | NO 2432 7000 | Confirmed |
12B | Sgorr na Ruadhraich | 654.0 | 98.6 | NH 3157 3600 | Unchanged |
26A | Murrayshall Hill | 280.2 | 100.2 | NO 1647 2535 | Confirmed |
27B | Saugh Hill | 295.6 | 149.3 | NX 2123 9713 | Still twinned |
Guard on the borderline summit of The Schil