The University of Large Type
Studying at University can be quite a stressful experience so why not take your mind of things by indulging in a popular student pastime? No, not drinking and casual sex – creating gigantic letters on the side of a hill! Is there a better way to avoid lectures?
Our first example is a giant “Y” in the mountains to the west of Brigham Young University, Utah. You can see how it’s looking right now thanks to the 24/7 webcams.
There’s a giant “KS” (of an unfinished “KSU” – slackers) outside Kansas State University.
And in Montana everyone has a go with a “M” for Montana State University, another “M” for the University of Montana and just a little north a slightly smaller “L” for Loyola High School (even schoolkids are getting in on the act!).
Thanks: Keith, Elton M, Patia & Todd Spatafore
So “brand new”...” 
Down the road from the KS in Manhattan, Placemark: KS is MANHATTAN / Google Earth spelled out on another hillside. It’s like Hollywood in Kansas!
Haha, that is awesome. I like how when you look at the ‘Y’ from the webcam and then Google Maps, it really is impossible to tell if that was even on a mountain with Google maps.
Don’t forget Placemark: Montana Tech / Google Earth! It’s just outside of Butte. Not quite as photogenic as the others, though.
Don’t forget the Placemark: Colorado School of Mines / Google Earth in Golden Colorado. To the East is Coors brewery, pretty hard to miss.
I can see the Y from my front door.
Another one just a few miles away.
Placemark: The G / Google Earth 
If you look at Placemark: the big picture / Google Earth, you can see horizontal lines ringing Mount Sentinel. They’re ancient shorelines from Glacial Lake Missoula, which filled western Montana about 12,000 years ago.
If you want to see it from another angle, check out http://www.umt.edu/grizcam.
The University of Maryland has a large Placemark: M in a traffic circle / Google Earth.
And one in Placemark: Byrd Stadium / Google Earth.
Go Terps!
Placemark: Battle Mountain / Google Earth has to be one of my favorite place for letters on the hill. I couldn’t help but chuckle the first time I saw it in person:
Lots of small towns especially farm towns have the initial of their town name on a nearby hillside, usually visible from the road on the way into town (for example Kelso, WA has a big K, which doesn’t seem visible from Gmaps unfortunatley). There’s been some web-zen dedicated to this, but a good link doesn’t come to mind…
That “Y” for BYU is impressive, but what really impresses me it the road going up to it. Those 8, or so, switchbacks must make for an exciting drive.
Just outside of manhattan, my hometown of Placemark: Junction City / Google Earth has a big J on a hill
The Big “M” in Butte, MT is the only Montana “M” that lights up at night.
The KSU in Manhattan couldn’t be complete due to a rather large cave inline where the U would be place. If you had to blame someone, blame the city survey team!
There is a giant letter for the University of Arizona. I’m not sure of the coords, but the address is:
Sentinel Peak Park, 498 S Sentinel Peak Rd, Tucson, Pima, Arizona, United States
If you scroll to the right in Google Maps you will see a giant red, blue and white “A”.
The M for Montana Tech in butte lights up at night and on game nights if Tech wins the 2 down arms turn off and a v flashes in the middle
Theres a B to the north of the M for Montana State too…