Munro


A Munro is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over, and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 4,411 ft.
Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet, 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. The list has been the subject of subsequent variation and as of 2020, 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.

History

Before the publication of Munro's Tables in 1891, there was much uncertainty about the number of Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet. Estimates ranged from 31 to 236. When the Scottish Mountaineering Club was formed in 1889, one of its aims was to remedy this by accurately documenting all of Scotland's mountains over 3,000 feet. Sir Hugh Munro, a founding member of the club, took on the task using his own experience as a mountaineer, as well as detailed study of the Ordnance Survey six-inch-to-the-mile and one-inch-to-the-mile maps.
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 peakbaggers 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. 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.

Notable peaks

The most famous Munro is Ben Nevis in the Lochaber area. It is the highest peak in the British Isles, with an elevation of 4,411 ft
Other well-known Munros include:
When compared to continental ranges, such as The Alps, Scottish peaks are generally lesser in height. However, walking and climbing in them can still be dangerous and difficult to navigate the recommended routes due to their latitude and exposure to Atlantic and Arctic weather systems. Even in summer, the weather can change quickly in the mountains and conditions can be atrocious; thunderstorms, thick fog, strong winds, driving rain and freezing summit temperatures close to 0 °C are not unusual.
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.

Notable completions

The Scottish Mountaineering Club maintains a list of walkers who have reported completing the Munros., there are 7,654 names on the list.
Hugh Munro never completed his own list, missing out on Càrn an Fhidhleir and Càrn Cloich-mhuillin. Sir Hugh is said to have missed the Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgùrr Dearg, on the Isle of Skye, which he never climbed. However the "In Pinn", as it is known colloquially within Scottish mountaineering, was only listed as a Munro Top on his list.
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 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. 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.