Peak-lovers piqued as Welsh mountain downgraded to hill

LONDON – The Welsh mountain Fan y Big has had a comedown. It has been downgraded to a hill.

At 2,351 feet (717 metres), the peak in the Brecon Beacons range is tall enough to be classed as a mountain. But new satellite measurements reveal that the drop between it and the next peak falls 5 feet (1.5 metres) short of what’s needed for mountain status.

The Brecon Beacons National Park announced Friday on Facebook that “it is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we must announce, that through the emergence of new technological data, we have lost one of our Beacons.”

The park says despite its reclassification, “Fan y Big will continue to be a mountain to be climbed, a peak to be reached and a summit worth seeing.”