Good news from Tryfan

[Boy Wonder]

Tryfan still a mountain at 3,010 feet!

A team of three skilled amateur surveyors supported by the Snowdonia society scaled Tryfan with high-tech GPS equipment on Thursday 24th June and confirmed that it is well above the magic 3,000 foot threshold. This iconic Snowdonia peak has in fact grown in stature according to the surveyor's measurements, which have been verified by the Ordnance Survey.

It was feared that Tryfan could have fallen short of the 3,000ft (914m) elite mountain status needed to keep as one of Wales' 14 highest peaks. However, the three amateur enthusiasts John Barnard, Myrddyn Phillips and Graham Jackson scaled it with GPS equipment and found the peak came in at 3,010 ft (917.44m) - 8 ft (2.43m) taller than its previous measurement. This new height is accurate to just a few centimetres and surveyor Graham Jackson told the Snowdonia Society that, barring natural disaster, it is very unlikely to be challenged or questioned in future.

Tryfan, one of the best known mountains in the Ogwen Valley, appears on the map at 3,002ft or 915m. The new measurement will return it to the official OS height before the 1980s. Before climbing Tryfan, John Barnard, from Mold, Flintshire, one of the amateur experts involved in the re-measuring, said: "We're using exactly the same process as the GPS systems on your car, your sat navs, talking to the satellites, getting signals and measuring distances and then via some complex mathematics we can work out the height above sea level."

Alun Pugh, member and former Director of the Snowdonia Society, accompanied the surveyors in scaling the peak on 24 June and said prior to the remeasurement that Tryfan would still be a "wonderful summit", no matter how high it actually was.

As their next project, the surveyors will be focusing on Glyder Fawr, the summit of which is currently recorded at 999m, making it the fifth highest mountain in Wales. You can see the attraction of this peak for the trio!

[Welsh Harrier]

Do they measure to the tops of cairns? If so let's get up Glyder Fawr with some rocks just to make sure!!

[bcegkmqsw]

If Glyder Fawr increases in height it's going to mean some rethinking on the part of the organizers of the 1000 metre peaks race!

[ydt]

If Glyder Fawr increases in height it's going to mean some rethinking on the part of the organizers of the 1000 metre peaks race!

It might improve the race by taking out that interminable tarmac lane! Alternatively they could keep the present route and rename it "the old Welsh 1000s".
ydt

[Corniceman]

From memory Glyder fawr doesnt really have a cairn on top, but rather 3 natural spiky rocky lumps. I am not sure what exactly constitutes the summit but it must be a thin protruding spike in one of the lumps. I'd have thought it would have been damn difficult for any amateur enthusiatsts to stand exactly on the highest point to take their measurement!!
What I cant quite understand here is why it is taking these amateur enthusiasts so long to measure the heights of these tops. surely it would take a matter of minutes with a GPS, so why are they doing one mountain a year, my old mother could move more quickly than that!. Surely they could have climbed Tryfan and then gone up and measured G Fach before heading for G Fawr? iIfact they could have taken in Y Garn, Foel Goch and The Elidirs and still been back down at Ogwen Cottage in time for lunch. that would have left a good afternoon to measure the Carnedds. perhaps they are not as enthusiastic as Boy Wonders post makes them out to be!!

[bcegkmqsw]

It might improve the race by taking out that interminable tarmac lane!

Isn't there some problem with access? I think that the landowners west of that lane don't want runners on their land. The route would probably have to go in the direction of Pen yr Ole Wen. I may be wrong though.

[rocksteady]

it could still keep to the old route up to llyn caseg fraith and then head for GFach then onto Gfawr and down to PYP the way that the Peris HS does.
alternative for the tarmac road section could be,down from Pen yr Ole wen (cwn lloer route) up cwn tryfan to llyn caseg fraith.
my guess is that it will be over the 1000 m mark and will make for an interesting new race route(it has been changed many times in the past ,you know)

[IainR]

it could still keep to the old route up to llyn caseg fraith and then head for GFach then onto Gfawr and down to PYP the way that the Peris HS does.
alternative for the tarmac road section could be,down from Pen yr Ole wen (cwn lloer route) up cwn tryfan to llyn caseg fraith.
my guess is that it will be over the 1000 m mark and will make for an interesting new race route(it has been changed many times in the past ,you know)

Isn't cwm Lloer NT land?

I thought that was why the race does the strange dog leg via the tarmac track?

But then again the half goes through there.

Would make it a good race though..

[rocksteady]

Isn't cwm Lloer NT land?

I thought that was why the race does the strange dog leg via the tarmac track?

But then again the half goes through there.

Would make it a good race though..

yes ,but so are the most of the Carneddau.
there has been access issues in the past with this race ,thats why it has changed a little over the years(not in my time though).
i think Harvey Lloyd and the crew will need to think about a possible route change ASAP.
i guess that the navigation will be a bit harder on a new course as well as a longer distance