The Isle of Man is mostly hilly with only one summit, Snaefell, classified as a mountain (over 2,000 feet).
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The South of the Island features a small coastal plain around Castletown and Ballasalla but is otherwise hilly and on the South west coast these hills rise up to more prominent peaks such as South Barrule and Cronk ny Arrey Laa which drops almost vertically into the sea.[1]
A valley, known as the central valley separates the southern hills from the central range which contains the highest peaks.This central range contains 11 out of 12 of the Island's highest peaks. This area features open moorland and rough rugged terrain. It is very sparsely populated and has just one major road crossing it except along the coast.[1]
This then finally drops quite suddenly into a large flat northern glacial till plain which has only small rolling hills known as the Bride hills.[1]
The Isle of Man contains 5 Marilyns:
Peak | Height (m) | Prom. (m) | Key col (m) | Grid ref. | Parent |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Snaefell | 621 | 621 | Sea | SC397881 | none, highest peak in the Isle of Man |
South Barrule | 483 | 436 | 47 | SC257759 | Snaefell |
Bradda Hill | 230 | 193 | 37 | SC193711 | South Barrule |
Slieau Freoaghane | 488 | 153 | 335 | SC340883 | Snaefell |
Mull Hill | 169 | 151 | 18 | SC189676 | Bradda Hill |
The Isle of Man contains 12 peaks which stand at over 1,500 ft.[2] All of these except for South Barrule (which is found in the south) are found in the central range which spans the region between the central valley and the flat fertile northern plain. Despite the fact that none of these peaks are relatively high they appear quite prominent and impressive due to their proximity to the sea. Whilst many of these peaks are rugged in nature they are not steep enough to provide many opportunities for technical climbing (which can be found in abundance around the coast). There are opportunities for scrambling in some areas including the northern slopes of north Barrule, around the sloc, the southern slopes of Greba mountain. These provide a fantastic training ground for the higher steeper mountains in place such as Snowdonia or the Highlands of Scotland, they are also far less crowded than some of Britains more popular hill desitnations yet just as impressive in character. All of these peaks can be attained by a rough hill walk.