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A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis (Beinn Nibheis), the highest mountain in the British Isles at 4,411 ft (1,345 m).
Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet (1856–1919), who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munro's Tables, in 1891. Also included were what Munro considered lesser peaks, now known as Munro Tops, which are also over 3,000 feet but are lower than the nearby primary mountain. The publication of the original list is usually considered to be the epoch event of modern peak bagging.Lew, Alan A. and Han, Guosheng (2015). A World Geography of Mountain Trekking. In G. Musa, A. Thompson-Carr and J. Higham, eds., Mountaineering Tourism, pp. (forthcoming). Oxford: Routledge. (pre-publication copy) The list has been the subject of subsequent variation and , the Scottish Mountaineering Club has listed 282 Munros and 226 Munro Tops.
"Munro bagging" is the activity of climbing all the listed Munros. , 7,654 people had reported completing a round. The first continuous round was completed by Hamish Brown in 1974, whilst the record for the fastest continuous round is held by ultra runner Jamie Aarons, who completed a round in 31 days 10 hours 27 min in June 2023. Furths are mountains in England, Wales or Ireland recognized by the SMC as meeting the Munro classification.
Munro researched and produced a set of tables that were published in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in September 1891. The tables listed 538 summits over 3,000 feet, 282 of which were regarded as "separate mountains". The term Munro applies to separate mountains, while the lesser summits are known as Munro Tops. Munro did not set any measure of topographic prominence by which a peak qualified as a separate mountain, so there has been much debate about how distinct two hills must be if they are to be counted as two separate Munros.
The Scottish Mountaineering Club has revised the tables, both in response to new height data on Ordnance Survey maps and to address the perceived inconsistency as to which peaks qualify for Munro status. In 1992, the publication of Alan Dawson's book Relative Hills of Britain, showed that three Munro Tops not already considered summits, had a prominence of more than . Given this they would have qualified as Corbett summits had they been under 3,000 feet. In the 1997 tables these three Munro Tops, on Beinn Alligin, Beinn Eighe and Buachaille Etive Beag, gained full Munro summit status. Dawson's book also highlighted a number of significant Munro Tops with as much as of prominence which were not listed as Munro Tops. The 1997 tables promoted five of these to full Munro status.
A total of 197 Munros have a topographic prominence of over and are regarded by Peakbagging as Real Munros. 130 Scottish mountains over 1000 m, with a topographic prominence of over have been termed Metric Munros.
Other classification schemes in Scotland, such as the Corbetts and Grahams , require a peak to have a prominence of at least for inclusion. The Munros, however, lack a rigid set of criteria for inclusion, with many summits of lesser prominence listed, principally because their summits are hard to reach.
Between April 2007 and July 2015 the Munro Society re-surveyed twenty mountains and tops that were known to be close to the 3,000 ft figure to determine their height more accurately. (2026). 9781999629304, The Munro Society. ISBN 9781999629304 On 10 September 2009 the society announced that the mountain Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean, south of Glen Carron, had a height of . Therefore, the Scottish Mountaineering Club removed the Munro status of Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean and this mountain is now a Corbett. In a Summer 2011 height survey by The Munro Society, Beinn a' Chlaidheimh was found to be and thus short of the Munro mark. On 6 September 2012, the Scottish Mountaineering Club demoted it from Munro to Corbett status. On 26 August 2020, the SMC confirmed that Beinn a' Chroin West Top at 938 m was deleted as a Munro Top and Beinn a' Chroin East Top became the new Munro Top at 940.1 m. The summit height of Beinn a' Chroin was also changed to 941.4 m. As of 10 December 2020, there were 226 Scottish Munro Tops after Stob Coire na Cloiche, a Munro Top to Parent Peak Sgùrr nan Ceathramhnan, was surveyed at 912.5 m and was deleted as a Munro Top and downgraded to a Corbett Top.
As of 10 December 2020, the Scottish Mountaineering Club lists 282 Munros and 226 Munro Tops. The current SMC list totals 508 summits.
Other well-known Munros include:
Winter ascents of some Munros are serious undertakings due to the unpredictable weather, the likelihood of ice and snow, and poor visibility. Each ascent becomes a test of skill, endurance, and determination, as trekkers navigate through snowdrifts, icy slopes, and unpredictable weather conditions. Some hikers try even unprepared for extreme weather on the exposed tops and fatalities are recorded every year, often resulting from slips on wet rock or ice.
The activity of attempting to climb every Munro is known as "Munro bagging". Munro-bagging is a form of peak bagging. A walker who has climbed all Munros is entitled to be called a Munroist. Descending a Munro by funicular is known as de-bagging.
Hugh Munro never completed his own list, missing out on Càrn an Fhidhleir and Càrn Cloich-mhuillin (downgraded to a Munro Top in 1981). Sir Hugh is said to have missed the Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgùrr Dearg, on the Isle of Skye, which he never climbed."The Munros" Page 5 Quote:"Sir Hugh himself never did manage the Inaccessible Pinnacle". However the "In Pinn", as it is known colloquially within Scottish mountaineering, was only listed as a Munro Top on his list (despite being several metres higher than Sgùrr Dearg, which was listed as the main Munro Top).
The first "completionist" was to be the Reverend A. E. Robertson, in 1901, later minister at Braes of Rannoch from 1907. However, research has cast doubt on this claim, and it is not certain that he reached the summit of Ben Wyvis. Also it is known that Robertson did not climb the Inaccessible Peak of Sgùrr Dearg. If Robertson is discounted, the first Munroist is Ronald Burn, who completed in 1923. Burn is also (indisputably) the first person to climb all the Munro Tops.
The person with the most rounds of Munros is Steven Fallon from Edinburgh, who has completed 16 rounds as of 1 October 2019.
Chris Smith became the first Member of Parliament to complete the Munros when he reached the summit of Sgùrr nan Coireachan on 27 May 1989.
Ben Fleetwood is probably the youngest person to have completed a round. He climbed the final Munro of his round – Ben More – on 30 August 2011 at the age of 10 years and 3 months.Dan Bailey, "The Youngest Munro Completer", ukclimbing.com, 2 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011. The youngest completionist to have done the round without the presence of a parent or a guardian is probably Andy Nisbet, who finished his round in 1972 aged 18 years and 1 month.
In 2024 Anna Wells of Inverness became the first woman to reach the top of 282 Munros in one winter season.
In 1984 George Keeping accomplished the first continuous round of the Munros entirely on foot (and ferry) in 135 days. He went on to complete the English and Welsh 3,000-foot peaks in a further 29 days.
The first reported completion of all the Munros plus the Munro Tops in one continuous expedition was by Chris Townsend in 1996. His trip lasted between 18 May and 12 September (118 days), he covered a distance of ( by bicycle) with of ascent. The round was broken twice for spells at the office, which could be regarded as stretching the meaning of "continuous".
The first person to complete a winter round (all the Munros in one winter season) was Martin Moran in 1984–85. His journey lasted between 21 December 1984 and 13 March 1985 (83 days), he walked with of ascent. He used motor transport (campervan) to link his walk.
In the winter of 2005–06, Steve Perry completed a continuous unsupported round entirely on foot (and ferry). He is also the first person to have completed two continuous Munro rounds, having also walked Land's End to John O'Groats via every mainland 3,000 ft mountain between 18 February 2003 and 30 September 2003. Steve Perry Completes Winter Munro Challenge, outdoorsmagic.com
In July 1992, Andrew Johnstone of Aberdeen and Rory Gibson of Edinburgh completed their mountain triathlon across the Munros, the 277 Scottish peaks over 3,000 ft, beating the existing record by five days. They began on 29 May and finished at 8.30pm on 15 July on the summit of Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro, completing a journey which began 51 days and 10 hours earlier on the Isle of Mull. After swimming lochs, cycling highland roads and running across some of the most desolate and dangerous terrain in Britain, they covered 1,400 miles.
Charlie Campbell, a former postman from Glasgow, held the record for the fastest round of the Munros between 2000 and 2010. He completed his round in 48 days, 12 hours and 0 minutes, finishing on 16 July 2000, on Ben Hope. He cycled and swam between Munros; no motorised transport was used.
Campbell's record was broken by Stephen Pyke of Stone, Staffordshire, in 2010 who completed the round in 39 days, 9 hours and 6 minutes. Pyke's round started on the Isle of Mull on 25 April 2010 and finished on Ben Hope in Sutherland on 3 June 2010. He cycled and kayaked between Munros; no motorised transport was used. He was backed by a support team in a motor home, but had to camp out in the more remote areas.
On 18 September 2011, Alex Robinson and Tom O'Connell finished a self-propelled continuous round on Ben Hope in a time of 48 days, 6 hours and 56 minutes. At the age of just 21, Alex became the youngest person to have completed a continuous round without the use of any motorised transport.
On 17 September 2017, the women's self-propelled, continuous record was broken by Libby Kerr and Lisa Trollope in 76 days and 10 hours. This record would later be vastly broken by Jamie Aarons on 26 June 2023 who would also break the record for both the male and female fastest ever round.
On 2 September 2020, Pyke's record was broken by Donnie Campbell of Inverness. He completed his round in 31 days, 23 hours and 2 minutes, starting on the Isle of Mull on 1 August 2020 and finished on Ben Hope on 2 September 2020. Campbell ran the 282 Munros and cycled and kayaked between them. On day 29, he was joined by previous record holder Stephen Pyke. Whilst ticking off Mòruisg in the cloud, he mistook the big cairn for the summit and had to head back up and so climbed the Munro twice. On day 31, he completed 18 Munros. He was supported by a crew travelling in his motorhome, who also shuttled his bike for him to follow a more linear route.
On 26 June 2023, Jamie Aarons of California broke the previous record of fastest ever round held by former marine Donnie Campbell by more than 12 hours by completing a self-propelled continuous round in 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes. She also ran, cycled and kayaked between each of the Munros, covering a total of around 932 miles (1,500 km) on foot and about the same distance by bike. She began at Ben More on Mull and ended at Ben Klibreck in Sutherland, raising £14,000 for World Bicycle Relief.
Continuous rounds
Hamish Brown did the first continuous self-propelled round of the Munros (except for the Skye and Mull ferries) between 4 April and 24 July 1974 with of ascent and mostly walking – just were on a bicycle. The journey is fully documented in his book Hamish's Mountain Walk. The average time taken to bag all the Munros is eight years.
Fastest rounds
In 1990, international fell runner and maths teacher Hugh Symonds of Sedbergh, Yorkshire, ran all 277 Munros starting from Ben Hope. It took him 66 days and 22 hours. This also included running the other 3,000 foot peaks in Great Britain. Having achieved this in the short time of 83 days, when his target had been a hundred, he decided to add the Republic of Ireland tops to the list and still finished all 303 peaks in 97 days.
Furths
The SMC recognises six peaks in England, fifteen in Wales and thirteen in Ireland that would be Munros or Munro Tops if they were in Scotland. These are referred to as , i.e. the Munros furth of Scotland. The first recorded Furthist is James Parker, who completed on Tryfan (Snowdonia) on 19 April 1929.
See also
Citations
General references
External links
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Scottish Mountaineering Club – The SMC maintain the lists of Munros, Munro Tops, Furths, Corbetts and Donalds. They also keep a record of Completionists.
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