The (legal) difference between a hill and a mountain
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- There "is" a legal and definitive difference between a hill and a mountain. I made this video as it's a very common question asked by participants on my courses, to which I always give the same answer.
It’s the difference between “Falling down a hill” and “Falling off a mountain”.
me: third sol-fa note.
mountain: a hill of great size [obvs, one you "mount"]
courtesy of Collins Gem dictionary.
Now look what you've done. You've made me look it up, sigh, learning something every day!
I think "you'll know when you see one" is a very elegant solution and speaks to a deeper linguistic truth about us all. But still very annoying when you just want to know the difference 😅 Still, at least I live in England so I've got my 600m to keep me sane!
In Russian a hill corresponds to the word «холм», and a mountain to the word «гора». But! In Siberia (at least the Eastern part) there's a word «сопка» (sopkha) which means something in between. A sort of a large hill covered in trees (we call the forest «Taiga» as everybody knows 😁). But not tall and pointy enough to be considered a mountain by local standards, I guess... 😏
This side of (ex) Russia, ... and Russia, Lapland-Kola region, largest hills is called tunturi/tundra. True to their name, they reach the forestline (400...500m asl.), and usually the treeline (500...700m asl.) as well, making them bare. Highest ones called like that (or fjell/fjäll in swedish) are about 1500m asl. Some are even higher, but Id say they are more of mountains truely.
"sopkha" seems to be related to tundra one, perhaps hitting the forestline, but not quite the treeline. Treeline is where the even the single lonely trees cease to live. Sometimes the term here is "half-tundra" for the inbetween ones.
A hill that doesnt reach forestline is called 'vaara', they are usually about 50m to 400m asl. tall. Russian speaking call both tundra and vaara as 'gora' / 'гора' like you said .
Then the "real" hill is called "kukkula" or "mäki", which is still smaller, with a few tens of meters of height from their base.
True mountain is above the "tundra", and we often say that theres no such thing here elsewhere than at the actual Scandes mountain range. Id say they start from ~1300m, while the highest one of the Scandes is almost 2500m.
So theres a bit of confusion going on around everywhere it seems. Also I think something that has a good amount of vertical relief from its base can be a mountain, even when they arent that high from sea level. 700 or 800m of it should change the category to mountain easily. The local "scientific" definition is only 300m of vertical for a mountain, but I think that amount is just too little. If the english number mentioned in the video of 600m, or 2000ft, was/is referring to the vertical relief from the ~base, then I will agree to that.
600m vertical from base certainly strikes as mountain like, specially if its steep slopes.
@i7Qp4rQ that's fascinating, thanks for sharing! :)
I thought that the english definition was 2000 feet of vertical from its ~base. Hereabouts (one of the Nordics) the definition would be that, but only 300m.
Hi does the definition apply to Wales as well as most acts say England and Wales.
Yes it does
No, whales are measured by their length and weight. For example, the greatest whale mountain ever caught was about 33m long and 180tons of weight! *joking* .
Thank you so much
Starting at about 03:46 in this video...
*_"How long is a piece of string?"_* 😊
measure to the middle and double it ;-)
Question, is a hill under 600 m above see level but over 450 m above see level?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand the question. Could you rephrase it.
If a mountain is over 600m what is a hill? I want a number to work with
As far as I know there is no legal definition of a hill, sorry - so I’ll have to give you my own personal definition (which may be wrong).
I would say that: as a mountain (in the UK) is defined as any land being over 600m, a “hill” would be any land below 600m which raises above the area surrounding it.
@@jordanreid5857>>> *_"see level"_* depends on whether you have 20/20 vision or not...😉
The geologic/ earth sciences definition is for a number of countries 300m (1000ft) vertical from the mountain's base. For english folks Ive seen this 600m (2000ft) been used, before this video I thought it meant the same base to top vertical, now Im not so sure anymore.
Thanks 👍
You're welcome
Can't I just look at a map to determine if it's a hill or a mountain?
👍
i never realised it was only 600m (I thought it was set @ 1km/1000m) thx
There was a period when some schools needed every teacher to have an MLC (mountain leadership) certificate to take kids into the school playground (or at least it was proposed) because the schools were above 600m!
A mountain is a big pointy hill, simples.
Not all mountains are pointy
@@pavlekovacevic1676>>> _Erosion_ is a thing...😉
Mountain Cho Oyo of 8200m has surprisingly gentle top; about 200m by 200m of ~flat. There are others, like volcan Coropuna (6425m) in Peru. And Thaybala with 500m by 1700m of flat top at over 7200 altitude. Also the well known Kilimajaro of almost 5900m asl. is quite flat at the top for 2800m of ~diameter.
I was born and raised in *_Florida, USA._*
*THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE...😉🤭*
Au, contrare!! I climbed Mt. Dora with my Aunt & had to collect her in the car!
All 125' above sea level! 😂❤🎉
@@honeybadgerisme 1000ft is a hill 1001 ft is a mountain, watch the film" man who went up a hill and came don a mountain" , Hugh Grant.
If you're in Scotland, then all the Scottish mountains are called hills.
Maybe we should just rename them as “lumps” 😊
Bens, Marilyns, Tumps, Dodds, Corbett, Grahams, Donalds, Furths, Hewitts, Nuttalls, Murdos, Deweys, Humps, Donald Deweys, Yeamans, Simms, Clems, Birketts, Synges, Fellrangers, Ethels, Hills, Tops, SIBs, Dillons, Arderins, Carns, Munros, Binnions, etc, etc, etc.
This isn't a full list !
I wonder what different names there are in other countries for these ?
As a Scot, they're all just fancy names for hills 😀
@@TheMapReadingCompany I made a reply to alexchichigin , who seems to be east Russia, while Im at Fennoscandia: mostly at the Lapland region (which sometimes includes Russian Lapland / Kola as well). Yeah, there are quite a bunch of names for different sizes and shapes of hills.
Mountain more than 1000ft above sea level.
Thats a bad definition, just as the video explained. A much more reliable definition is used by earth sciences / geology, it is the vertical relief from the top to mountain's base. The usual number is 300m (1000ft) and I thought the english number was the same as mentioned in the video; 600m (2000ft).
It’s kind of like pornography. You can’t define it, but you know it when you see it !
Ha Ha Ha! How do you define that outside of England? Well, you did invent the English language, so, you can call them as you see them.
The geologic / earth sciences definition is, for a number of countries, 300m (1000ft) vertical from the mountain's base. For english folks Ive seen this 600m (2000ft) been used. Before this video I thought it meant the same base to top vertical as elsewhere, now Im not so sure anymore. I think 600m is about perfect number for a mountain.