A mountaineer, surveyor and map maker, he said he thought it was a new mountain in North Wales created by mining.
Mirdin Phillips, who has spent the past two decades sizing obscure peaks to assess whether they meet the requirements for mountain status, concluded that a piece of high-pit quarries near Blanau Festiniog passed the test.
Phillips said part of a peak called the Northern Peak Manod Maur was eroded by yields, leading to the formation of a second peak, slightly lower – but high enough to qualify as a mountain.
It should be added to Phillips’ list of the “Welsh Mountains” – hills in Wales that are over 2,000 feet (609 meters) high with a 49-foot drop to the saddle – the saddle or ridge between two peaks.
He said it was the first time since the list was launched in 2004 that some of Wales’ highlands had been upgraded to mountain status due to human intervention.
Phillips of Welshpool, Middle Wales, said: “The mountain was first spotted on an online map by a colleague of mine – I was intrigued and needed to see this unusual peak on my own.
“Nobody really knew it existed because it didn’t show up on the maps of the General Assembly. I was looking for a vertical increase in height between the column and the top. It was once relatively flat, as it connected to the northern peak of Manod Maur. By digging this ridge, they created a whole new peak. “
Phillips said he hoped the discovery would give people enthusiasm to go out and explore the local mountain ranges – even though the new peak is on private land.
“Ever since I started exploring, the areas it took me to have been fantastic. You see places you would never find otherwise – some of them are so beautiful. “
Phillips made headlines in 2019 when he showed that a street in Harlech, north-west Wales, was clearly the steepest in the world – although the coastal city lost the title from Dunedin to New Zealand the following year.
In 2010, the Glyder Fawr in Snowdonia was redefined as a “super mountain” after surveyors determined it was 1,000 meters high instead of the 999 meters it was previously thought to measure.
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