MountainViews.ie - Short Summaries Guidance Notes

The short summaries are a relatively new addition to MV. The intention is that the website user can find the essential information for any individual hill in one place without having to go through the many comments that characterise many more popular hills. As the short summaries may well be put to other uses in the future, perhaps in a mobile view or as part of a further edition of MV's book, we are looking to ensure that the information contained in them is consistent and follows a relatively standard pattern. These notes are provided as guidance for those submitting short summaries.

General
A short summary should be exactly that; short, and a summary! Try and ensure entries are no longer than need be to give the necessary information and a flavour of the hill. Remember to read the comments on the hill's page. There is a wealth of information in these and much that should be reflected in a summary. Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to have climbed a particular hill to write a good summary, much of the information is already contained in the individual comments.

Choose your title carefully; it is important that this stands alone and refers to the relevant hill and not to either the photo or to any individual comment. It should be capable of making sense in the context of the text of the summary alone.

Use a photo where possible; ideally of the hill itself, or if unavailable, of the view from the hill. Any photo already on the website, whether on the hill's page or not, or one of your own, can be used. The photo caption should describe the photo.

Use grid references where possible; ideally these should be of the 10-digit variety, however, 6-digit should be used if these are the best available.

Categories of Information
Typically the text of the short summary should contain information on the following items:

A description of the hill, its position and context; this might refer to characteristics of the hill itself, to the mountain range, a nearby landmark, town, village etc., or to a more notable nearby hill.

Possible access routes, starting points and parking information; on the more popular hills, there might be a number of different starting points mentioned in the comments.

Possible combinations with other hills; many hills are part of established circuits, or lend themselves to obvious combinations with other hills. Where this is the case, the summary should indicate this.

Time indications and/or distances; where available. An up and down time is particularly useful with an isolated hill which is difficult to combine with any others.

Access issues, where these occur. The comments will be a good source here.

Hazards where these occur; these could include natural hazards such as steep ground, cliffs, bog etc. or man-made ones such as quarries and ice-shedding masts.

Information on the terrain; if this is noteworthy.

Views and features of interest, the comments are usually a particular good source here; features range from megalithic tombs and standing stones to mobile phone masts and natural quartzite outcrops and curiously shaped rocks to plane crash sites. Where gps tracks on the site visit the hill, this can be mentioned, however, this information should be contained only on the last line of the summary.



SAMPLE - Pierasmore


View of Pierasmore.
Stumpy Outcrop to Brandon's north

Pierasmore is an unusual outcrop at the northern end of the main Brandon ridge.

The summit is most easily reached from the Dingle Way which passes north of it at its col with Masatiompan. Suitable starting points using this route would be either Q43424 12610 (from the west and where there is a large carpark) or Q50825 14586 (from the east) In either case, following the Dingle Way will take one easily to the col, from which the summit is 500m south. The summit is normally combined with a traverse of the Brandon ridge, typically taking in from Masatiompan to Brandon itself, but easily extended south to Brandon Peak and Gearhane; or if a long day is planned, right to the Conor Pass. Using the Dingle Way, the ascent should take under two hours.

Views on a good day are spectacular in all directions, although Masatiompan does dominate to the north. There is a ogham stone on the col between Pierasmore and Masatiompan, whose inscription translates as 'Ronan, the priest son of Comgall'.

Currently gps tracks 1848 and 2089 take in Pierasmore.



-- David Owens, MountainViews.ie