The Yorkshire Two Thousands                                   More Ultra Routes

The object of this epic challenge was to ascend all the two thousand foot summits that lie on or within the county boundary of North Yorkshire in one outing.  It involved some 115 miles of arduous terrain, climbing 26 peaks and ascending some 20,000 feet.  The route was devised by Peter Barker of Harrogate who based it on George Bridge's tables of two thousand foot summits published in 1973. For some reason it did not prove very popular! The first completions were by Tony Wimbush and Colin Brooke during 1982 in poor weather, followed, in 1984, by Pete Simpson in the record time of 29 hours 11 minutes (see article below).  The route is included here primarily for historical interest.

It did, however, go on to inspire the development of the Yorkshire Round, a reduced circuit of 20 summits to enable completion inside 24 hours on similar lines to the Bob Graham Round. This was derived from the more recent summit lists published by John and Ann Nuttall in 1990. It has proved marginally more popular with an initial four completions!

Route

Schedule

Click on the icon below to view/print a schedule of summits, grid references and heights corresponding with George Bridge's tables. Use in conjunction with OS Explorer maps OL 2 - Yorkshire Dales Southern and Western areas, OL 30 - Yorkshire Dales Northern and Central areas and OL 19 - Howgill Fells and Upper Eden Valley.

Completions

No formal register is kept but Tony Wimbush would be interested to hear of any further completions.  Email: info@gofar.org.uk.

Links and Further Information

o   Well Done Pete  - a short article by Bill Smith on Pete Simpson’s 1984 round which appeared in Compass Sport in 1987

o   The Mountains of England and Wales, George Bridge (West Col Productions, 1973).  - Tables of mountains of two thousand feet or more in altitude. The Yorkshire Two Thousands are included in the Central Pennines section.  Now out-of-print but probably available through second-hand bookshops.

o   On High Yorkshire Hills, Phil Clayton (Dalesman, 1993). An informative survey of Yorkshire’s thirty-six two thousand footers which recognises neither metrication nor the “new” county boundaries which allowed Cumbria and Durham to hijack some of it’s finest hills!  Now out-of-print but probably available through second-hand bookshops.