THE number of peaks in Wales qualifying as 1,000m “super-mountains” was increased to five yesterday as Glyder Fawr was officially reclassified.
The Snowdonia mountain had been classified as 999m tall, until it was scaled with GPS devices and was found to reach 1,000.8m, or 3,283ft, into the clouds.
While Scotland has 137 peaks qualifying as super-mountains and Wales five, England has none.
The National Trust’s Snowdonia manager, Rhys Evans, said: “The National Trust owns and manages 12 of the 15 highest peaks in Snowdonia – including Glyder Fawr.
“This is therefore a significant announcement for us and will considerably raise the mountain’s status. It will also provide a welcome boost to the number of visitors to the area, which will hopefully have a positive impact on the local economy.
“Elevating the Glyder Fawr to super mountain status will have an enormous impact on the numbers of walkers on the mountain, which will in turn impact the National Trust’s work making the mountain accessible to the public.”
The survey of the rock was carried out by Myrddyn Phillips, John Barnard and Graham Jackson, who said it would change forever the Welsh 1,000m Peaks Race, where competitors visit all the Welsh 1,000m summits within a given time limit.
Wales’ other super mountains are Snowdon at 1,085m followed by the adjacent Crib y Ddysgl at 1,065m, Carnedd Llewelyn at 1,064m and 1,044m-tall Carnedd Dafydd.
It is not the only mountain to have apparently grown this year.
In June Snowdonia’s Tryfan was re-surveyed. It had been recorded as 915m on Ordnance Survey maps but is now is believed to be 917.5m.
