Pen y Fan Brecon Beacons
Pen y Fan at 886 metres is the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons and the highest in southern Britain, a distinctive flat-topped sandstone summit whose characteristic profile of near-vertical red sandstone scarps below a level summit plateau has made it one of the most recognisable mountain silhouettes in Wales. The mountain receives more walkers than any other summit in Wales outside Snowdon, the combination of its height, its accessibility from the main road at Storey Arms and the dramatic scenery of the Beacons making it the flagship walking destination of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The mountain is formed from the Devonian Old Red Sandstone that underlies the entire Brecon Beacons range, the resistant sandstone capping layers of the plateau preserving the level summit surfaces while the softer rocks below are eroded into the steep scarps. The northern face of the mountain, where the full height of the scarp is most impressively seen from the ridge approach from Cribyn, provides one of the most dramatic mountain profiles in Wales, the abrupt edges and geometric plateau form quite different from the rounded profiles of most British hills. The SAS and other special forces use Pen y Fan and the surrounding Beacons extensively for selection and training exercises, the notorious Fan Dance endurance exercise traversing Pen y Fan as a standard element of SAS selection. The mountain's demanding conditions and the distance from Storey Arms that can be extended through various approaches make it an excellent training ground, and the tradition of military use adds an unusual cultural dimension to a mountain better known for recreational walking. The views from the summit encompass the Black Mountains to the east, the Black Mountain to the west, the Cambrian Mountains and on clear days as far as the Bristol Channel and the Somerset hills beyond.