Friday 8 May 2015

G&J Surveys - Meall Gaineimh - UKHillwalking article


Possible New Munro Top to be Surveyed
by Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com 07/May/2015

Later this month a height survey is planned for Meall Gaineimh, an outlying summit of the Cairngorms giant Ben Avon. G and J Surveys, the team of keen amateur hill surveyors behind several Munro and Corbett revisions in recent years, believe the little peak might be slightly higher than mapmakers had previously thought, perhaps by enough to qualify as a new Munro 'Top'.
Ben Avon summit plateau - tors and tops all over the shop.  Photo: Dan Bailey
As the Munro list currently stands there are 282 separate Munros and a further 227 3000-foot Tops, subsidiary peaks of bigger hills.
Ben Avon's sprawling plateau already boasts one Munro and a further four Tops. A relatively insignificant pimple at the far northeast end of the massive massif, Meall Gaineimh (NJ166051) has a map height of 912m.
However the team believe that the summit rock tor may not have been included in previous aerial mapping, and estimate its height at around 914m - near enough to 3000 feet (914.4m) to take a closer look.
'The purpose of this survey is to measure accurately the height of Meall Gaineimh to find out if it does exceed 3000 feet, which would allow it to qualify for at least a new Munro Top' says team member John Barnard.
'Currently we plan to approach the hill from the East via Dalnadamph Lodge but I will contact the Estate this week to see if any cars would be allowed down to Inchory, thereby making access to the hill much easier. The survey is planned for Wednesday 27 May but if the weather is too bad that day then we will go for Thursday 28th.'
'The survey plan is to locate the highest point with optical equipment and then place a Leica GS 15 GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver over the summit and collect a minimum of two hours satellite data. When subsequently processed and if the result shows the hill to exceed 3000 feet, then the data file will be sent to Ordnance Survey for verification and the definitive height.'

Please click {here} to see the original article published on the UKHillwalking website.





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