The Ultimate Guide to the Munros Vol 1 by Ralph Storer sampler
From the pen of a dedicated Munro bagger comes The Ultimate Guide to everything you've wished the other books had told you before you set off. The lowdown on the state of the path, advice on avoiding bogs and tricky situations, tips on how to determine which bump is actually the summit in misty weather... this is the only guide to the Munros you'll ever need.
From the pen of a dedicated Munro bagger comes The Ultimate Guide to everything you've wished the other books had told you before you set off. The lowdown on the state of the path, advice on avoiding bogs and tricky situations, tips on how to determine which bump is actually the summit in misty weather... this is the only guide to the Munros you'll ever need.
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xiv<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
OF MOUNTAINS AND MUNROS<br />
t’s a big place, <strong>the</strong> Scottish<br />
I Highlands. It contains so many<br />
mountains that even resident<br />
hillwalkers struggle <strong>to</strong> climb <strong>the</strong>m all<br />
in a lifetime. How many mountains?<br />
That depends…<br />
If two summits 100m apart are<br />
separated <strong>by</strong> a shallow dip, do <strong>the</strong>y<br />
constitute two mountains or one<br />
mountain with two <strong>to</strong>ps? If <strong>the</strong> latter,<br />
<strong>the</strong>n exactly how far apart do <strong>the</strong>y<br />
have <strong>to</strong> be, and how deep does <strong>the</strong><br />
intervening dip have <strong>to</strong> be, before <strong>the</strong>y<br />
become two separate mountains?<br />
Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919), <strong>the</strong><br />
third President of <strong>the</strong> Scottish<br />
Mountaineering Club, tackled this<br />
problem when he published his<br />
‘Tables of Heights over 3000 Feet’ in<br />
<strong>the</strong> 1891 edition of <strong>the</strong> SMC Journal.<br />
Choosing <strong>the</strong> criterion of 3000ft in <strong>the</strong><br />
imperial system of measurement as<br />
his cut-off point, he counted 283<br />
separate Mountains and a fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
255 Tops that were over 3000ft but<br />
not sufficiently separated from a<br />
Mountain <strong>to</strong> be considered separate<br />
Mountains <strong>the</strong>mselves.<br />
In a country with a highpoint of<br />
4409ft (1344m) at <strong>the</strong> summit of Ben<br />
Nevis, <strong>the</strong> choice of 3000ft as a cut-off<br />
point is aes<strong>the</strong>tically justifiable and<br />
gives a satisfying number of<br />
Mountains. A metric cut-off point of<br />
1000m (3280ft), giving a more humble<br />
137 Mountains, has never captured <strong>the</strong><br />
hillgoing public’s imagination.<br />
Unfortunately Sir Hugh omitted <strong>to</strong><br />
leave <strong>to</strong> posterity <strong>the</strong> criteria he used<br />
<strong>to</strong> distinguish Mountains from Tops,<br />
and Tops from o<strong>the</strong>r highpoints over<br />
3000ft. In his notes <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Tables he<br />
even broached <strong>the</strong> impossibility of<br />
ever making definitive distinctions.<br />
Consider, for example, <strong>the</strong> problem<br />
of differentiating between Mountains,<br />
Tops and o<strong>the</strong>r highpoints on <strong>the</strong><br />
Cairngorm plateaus, where every knoll<br />
<strong>The</strong> old sign at Achallader Farm, which<br />
issued an irresistible invitation, has sadly<br />
not been moved <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> new car park.<br />
Sir Hugh Munro himself<br />
never became a Munroist<br />
(someone who has climbed<br />
all <strong>the</strong> <strong>Munros</strong>). Of <strong>the</strong><br />
Tables of <strong>the</strong> day, he<br />
climbed all but three: <strong>the</strong><br />
Inaccessible Pinnacle<br />
(although that did not<br />
become a Munro until<br />
1921), Carn an Fhidhleir<br />
and Carn Cloich-mhuilinn.<br />
<strong>The</strong> latter, which he was<br />
saving until last because it<br />
was close <strong>to</strong> his home, was<br />
ironically demoted <strong>to</strong> Top<br />
status in 1981.