A Munro is a Scottish mountain above 3000 feet above sea level (914m). They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, a member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), who created the original list in 1891. The SMC, over the years, has updated the list. Now there are 284 mountains in Scotland that are officially called Munros. The SMC has published a very popular guide book describing the routes up these mountains. You can also buy maps of Scotland which list these mountains and have a list on the side, so you can tick them off as you do them. This activity has been called 'munro-bagging'. It becomes somewhat addictive the more you tick on your list. I now have only 26 left. Munro-bagging is made somewhat more challenging by the fact that the weather is Scotland, particularly on higher ground, can be very harsh. We are at the same latitude as Churchill in Canada (popular for polar bear spotting) and Moscow. We enjoy a comparatively mild climate at sea level, due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. However, up in the hills, even though 3000 feet doesn't seem that high, we can easily experience arctic conditions. I have seen it snow in the hills in June! On a good day however, as you can see in the photo above, you can't beat the view. For those of you who are familiar with the munros, my remaining 26 are: two on the Cullin Ridge on Skye; two on An Tellach; Anoch Mor, Anoch Beag and one Grey Corry; 8 in the Cairngorms; all 10 of the Mamores and Ben Lomond (which I am leaving for last). This doesn't seem like a lot left to do. However, what with work, going off to South America every summer and crap weather, it has taken me years to do the first 258 of them.
Not happy with just having a list of Munros, the SMC also decided to create a few more lists. So John Corbett, came up with a list of Corbetts. These are Scottish mountains between 2500 and 2999m above sea level with a drop of 500 feet between separate peaks. There are 221 of these. There are also Grahams, which are Scottish hills between 2000 and 2499 feet above sea level. There are 224 of these (according to my 1997 guidebook). There are other lists like the Donalds which are in the Borders region of Scotland. My favorite list has to be the 'Marilyns'. These are named after another famous Munroe. These are mountains that, regardless of height, have a difference of 150 metres (492 feet) between themselves and the next peak. In a word, these are mountains with cleavage.
Not happy with just having a list of Munros, the SMC also decided to create a few more lists. So John Corbett, came up with a list of Corbetts. These are Scottish mountains between 2500 and 2999m above sea level with a drop of 500 feet between separate peaks. There are 221 of these. There are also Grahams, which are Scottish hills between 2000 and 2499 feet above sea level. There are 224 of these (according to my 1997 guidebook). There are other lists like the Donalds which are in the Borders region of Scotland. My favorite list has to be the 'Marilyns'. These are named after another famous Munroe. These are mountains that, regardless of height, have a difference of 150 metres (492 feet) between themselves and the next peak. In a word, these are mountains with cleavage.
8 comments:
I think that it would take me forever to bag all of the munro's. You remember hill walking in the Dales?
Kendlemint time!
I remember you and Christine thinking that optimism had reached a new level when I kept on saying 'look! it is clearing a bit!'. The cow skull was a hoot. I remember you wet, tired and unhappy looking at the skull and then saying: 'at least we know it didn't die of thirst!'.
:D I forgot about the cow skull.
But yes, even though it was trudging through mounds of muck, I do have fond memories of that trek up Whernside. I remember kendlemint and pausing a moment to look at the "view", the view being what you'd see in the middle of a cloud. And I remember those grilled Wensleydale cheese sandwiches at the campsite. (As I recall Wensleydale cheese doesn't melt very well.)
Hopefully, Joe and I will come back to Scotland soon so that we can bag a Munroe with you before you finish them all.
Speaking of being wet Christine, there was the unforgetable moment when, while punting on the Cam, you said 'I think I am getting the hang of this' seconds before you fell in. I laugh when I think of you sliding down the pole. I laugh when I remember that Jackie and I were totally incapable of pulling you back into the punt because we were laughing so hard (thanks Steve!!). I also laugh when I think of the story of you going back through customs with your bag of river wet clothes.
:) That was fun.
Everybody should fall in a river on their birthday.
The thing I remember most about your time with sisters in the UK is how much I missed Ack.
And mountains with cleavage? There's a notion. My Wednesday afternoon lab, which is a statistical aberration, I'm sure, sports a great deal of cleavage. They certainly seem to enjoy flaunting it these days. I forget whether that was going on when I was a student, but I don't think so.
A sociologist should study whether cleavage (and sexual signaling in general) gets 'louder' with increases in population density. It would explain a lot....
And about that crap weather that's prevented you from bagging them? Didn't somebody do them in like a month? All of them?
Davimac, you think weather in Scotland is crap at sea level? Try going up to 1000m above sea level. In high winds, you can't even stand upright. Once the hail and snow gets started (and yes, I really have seen this happen in June at 1000m) things start to get really fun.
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