Munro Bagging ⛰

Munro bagging is a popular pastime in Scotland where walking enthusiasts challenge themselves to climb as many of the peaks as they can - over 6,000 people, called 'compleatists' (or Munroists) have climbed them all so far.

Munro Map of Munros

The History of the Munros

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.

Sir Hugh never managed to complete the ascent of all the summits on his list, and it was left to the Revd A E Robertson to complete the first round of the Munros in 1901. Since then, attempting to ascend all the peaks ('Munro-bagging') has become a popular pursuit among British walkers and mountaineers.

Sir Hugh had been planning to revise his list of Munros, and after his death the SMC took over the job of keeping the list upto date. The first revised edition was publised in 1921, and several further changes were made - the most recent revision being in 2012. There are currently 282 Munros and 227 Tops.

Sir Hugh Munro himself never did complete all the ascents; at the time of his death he had omitted Carn an Fhidhleir and Carn Cloich-mhuillin (which was demoted in 1981 and which he was saving until last as it was nearest to his home). He never climbed the Inaccessible Pinnacle ("In Pinn") on Skye but this was not regarded as a Munro on his original list - being omitted in favour of the lower summit of Sgurr Dearg from which it protrudes.

Instead, the Reverend A. E. Robertson became the first to complete the summits, in 1901. The final mountain reached was Meall Dearg (on the Aonach Eagach) - where the Revd famously kissed first the cairn, and then his wife. Recently some doubt has been cast as to whether Robertson was truly the first to complete the round as some researchers believe he may have missed the summit of Ben Wyvis. In 1923 another Reverend, Ronald Burn, became the second Munroist as well as the first person to climb all the subsidiary Tops.

The real explosion in the popularity of Munro-bagging came in the late 1980s and today the numbers are huge. Those who climb all the summits are, following old SMC tradition, known as 'compleaters'.

This page was coded by Caitlin Harrison