Back in 2016, we reviewed Cols and Passes of the British Isles by Graham Robb. He’s now released the data, so you can go and take a look at ’em all on a map.
The first thing to note is that a col does not equate to a climb – it is actually the lowest crossing of a ridge.
The Col du Tourmalet is the saddle between two peaks, not the summit of a mountain, and the same principle applies (albeit on a smaller scale) here in the UK. According to Robb, a col 'provides the most efficient route from one valley to the next'.
Because there is a precise geographical definition, the catalogue is therefore not a personal selection of climbs but a complete list of such features.
It makes for an interesting alternative to categorised Strava segments and the like and gives you a different way of appreciating your local landscape (except maybe in the large parts of the country where there aren’t any cols).
To view the map, you’ll need to do a bit of copy-pasting.
First, head to colsandpasses.com and open the relevant Word doc midway down the page (cols and passes of England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland).
Next, head to GPS Visualizer and remove ‘desc’ from the ‘Or paste your data here’ box. After that, paste in the contents of the Word doc, click ‘Draw the map’ and you’re away.
The paperback version of Cols and Passes of the British Isles is due out in April.