Marhofn 269.15 - May 2013

Humpdate

Mark Jackson

(Photo: Martin Richardson)

Has it really been six years?

The story began on 8 June 2007, the day I suggested the Humps name when posting my unified and illustrated version of Yeaman's and Clem's work on the RHB mailing list. Although I have always built on the work of forerunners, I was grateful to hear Alan say that 'it has helped bring the list to life a bit more.' Had it? We had to wait.

Over a quarter of my life later, the e-book has shifted hundreds of copies and the number of baggers in the Hall of Fame, with 1200+ Humps, is inching towards the half-century mark. But what has pleased me far more has been the personal reports of people who have got up and gone in search of Humps, who have dared the little crags and forgotten lumps and found wee gems in amongst the bog and bracken, fresh vistas and newly discovered corners of a well-loved land, climbing hills they never knew they never knew... those tales have been a constant reminder of why the work was no waste.

If only the list itself had been as constant. But we are, after all, a fellowship which appreciates the need for accuracy, and the availability of large-scale mapping has led to a veritable raft of ups, downs and sideways. I wish it had been otherwise. The anti-climax of a re-completion, or even a revisit, must be frustrating to some degree. I want to thank those who put up with the tampering, but also those who tampered. To every person who carried through to completion - at cost - a huge task of painstaking data checking, my thanks. To the best of our ability, we now have a complete and accurate portrait of the pillars of our land. Let it stand after we move on, and let us say that it was worth it.

All tables that follow cover since February 2010, in date order.

Promotions:

Deletions:

Relocations and replacements:

Mynydd Gelliwastad - no longer wasted (photo: Martin Richardson)

Probably the pick of the new bunch is Binnein an Fhidhleir, once a Yeaman, but deleted in 2009 only to be reinstated. Cefn yr Ogof near Abergele also looks nice (and popular). On the deletions side, it is a shame to lose Foel Benddin (I have climbed it, so its niceness is no guess), losing two remote bog-moated lumps in Caithness may strike some as a bonus, and Old Radnor Hill is not much of a loss to the list either unless you like bagging the edges of quarries.

May there always be another hill to climb.

Blackstone Edge trig - now out in the cold (photo: Simon Barnard)