The Munros: Scottish Mountaineering Club Hillwalkers' Guide

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To begin logging your ascents or writing your own account of your experiences on the Munros and other walks, or to also show Munro Tops, Login or Register now - it's free! The Munros were first listed by Sir Hugh Munro (1856 - 1919) in his 'Munros Tables', published in the Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) in 1891. Sir Hugh divided the summits into 283 seperate mountains (now known as the Munros), whilst 255 further summits over 3000 feet were considered to be only subsidiary 'Tops'. His list caused quite a stir at the time, as it had previously been thought that there were only around 30 mountains of that height.

The weather was better the following day but bitterly cold. Snow was on the ground so the distances felt longer than they are. These four do make the easiest day on the Munro calendar with two positioned on the top of the ski slopes. An Socach is the only Munro which is harder to get to but this was mainly because of the snow lying in the gully between it and the other three. Slogging up snow slopes is difficult but a high start made this a comfortable day. 1999 Assynt. A dramatic descent

The books give numerous routes for the hills and also grade the scrambling and climbing routes too. This book provides a compendium of maps including coverage of every Munro (hill over 3000'). It will assist the planning of countless days of hillwalking. By its nature it is a picture of the upland topography of Scotland. What do others have these days? Is the "The Munros: Scottish Mountaineering Club Hillwalkers' Guide" the holy bible? SMC Corbetts too? What about Ralph Storer volumes? or the cicerone guides? The most recent revision of the list found Beinn a'Chlaidheimh in Fisherfield to be under the 3,000ft height, therefore bringing the current total to 282 Munros. I too prefer the Cicerone/Steve Kew guides. Concise and informative but timings are lively! I've been 20-25% out on times . But maybe he's younger than me . Too heavy for a day on the hills though.

Sir Hugh did not manage to complete an ascent of all the summits on his list; instead the Rev. A. E Robertson became the first person to complete 'The Munros' in 1901. Now, over a hundred years later, there are over 5000 people who have registered as ‘compleaters’, with completions recorded with the Scottish Mountaineering Club. Compleaters also become eligible to join The Munro Society.

Database of British and Irish Hills - not just Munros, Munro Tops and Murdos, but lots of hill-lists throughout the UK and Ireland. it cannot be denied that some few disadvantages attend winter and early Spring climbing, but I am sure that all who have tried it will agree that the pleasure derived is more than ample compensation. Munro, H, ‘Winter Ascents’ in Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal volume 1, 1890, pp. 20–24. The accompanying map has colour-coded routes. A solid red line is the principal (or more frequented0 route and red dashed lines are variations and extension routes. A yellow, or yellow dashed line, shows secondary routes and extensions. I would surmise that such ample compensation would struggle to exert itself on his Beinn a’ Ghlò traverse of 1891! A day which started gloriously with a great crossing to Lapaich from the Mullardoch dam but ended in a lot of pain on the long walk down Glen Elchaig. . . Day 1

Views good – Cairngorms and Ben Alder groups, the Glencoe hills, Schiehallion (which does not show to advantage from here), Ben Lawers looking well, with Stobinian over his left shoulder, Ben Chonzie, the Fifeshire Lomonds and Sidlaws showing well, with the smoke of Dundee behind. The special feature, however, is the fine view of the higher peaks of Beinn a’ Ghlò.And those hills, scattered all over Scotland, from Ben Lomond in the South to Ben Hope in the north, and Sgurr na Banachdich in the west to Mount Keen in the east, offer no end of challenging and immensely enjoyable days out, in all seasons. The figure then turns to face north-east with the merciless wind now thankfully behind him. The manic, turbulent gusts are now whipping up snow Profits from the sale of the book go to the Scottish Mountaineering Trust, which is a charity that provides grants to recreation, education and safety projects in the outdoors. However, I've often thought that it could be useful having a wee handbook with routes, comments, data etc with me on the hills along with the usual OS map. I've had a look through threads on WH and in the bookshop but haven't really found what I'm looking for. I parked on the north side of the Linn of Dee and started the long walk in past Derry Lodge to Derry Cairngorm. Even at this stage it was clear that water was going to be important as the weather was sunny and getting hot. The Plateau can be a very dry place. Once on Derry Cairngorm the scale of the walk was evident. I crossed to Beinn Mheadhoin and then spent a further hour circulating to one of the tops. The long climb up to the summit of Ben Macdui also took a while but in reality I did not need to summit it apart from the fact it was on the way to a top I needed. The summit of Ben Macdui is vast but I was really pleased to view it all in good weather – I am a fortunate person! I dawdled on the long descent towards Carn a Mhaim, at this stage the day looked like it was coming to an end with plenty to spare.