The Munros by Andrew Dempster Sampler

andrew dempster has over 40 years’ experience of Scotland’s
mountains. He is nearing completion of a third round of the
Munros and has climbed all the Corbetts and Grahams, and
has written the first guidebook to the latter. In addition, he has
compiled a list of Hughs – Scottish hills below 2,000 feet and
has published the first volume of a guide to these summits. He
has also walked and climbed in such varied locations as the
Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalaya, Africa, Iceland, Greenland
and the usa. He is a retired mathematics teacher, currently living
in rural Perthshire with his wife, Heather.

By the same author:
Classic Mountain Scrambles in Scotland, Mainstream 1992; new
edition Luath Press 2016
The Munro Phenomenon, Mainstream 1995
The Grahams: A Guide to Scotland’s 2,000ft Peaks, Mainstream
1997
Skye 360, Walking the Coastline of Skye, Luath Press 2003
100 Classic Coastal Walks in Scotland, Mainstream 2011
The Hughs: The Best Wee Hills Under 2,000ft, Volume 1, Luath
Press 2015

The Munros
A History
ANDREW DEMPSTER

First published 2021
isbn: 978-1-910022-58-0
The author’s right to be identified as author of this book
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been asserted.
The paper used in this book is recyclable. It is made
from low chlorine pulps produced in a low energy,
low emissions manner from renewable forests.
Printed and bound by
Severnprint Ltd, Gloucester
Typeset in 10.5 point Sabon by
Main Point Books, Edinburgh
Photographs (except where indicated) and text © Andrew Dempster 2021

Contents
Introduction 9
Munro Timeline 13
Chapter 1 Veterans and Visionaries 19
Early map-makers William Roy and
Thomas Colby; early tourists and baggers;
early lists: Matthew Forster Heddle
and Sir Hugh Munro
Chapter 2 Munroist Ministers 54
The Rev AE Robertson and the Rev ARG Burn
Chapter 3 Fire And Freedom 84
Early Munroists, the 1930s working-class
outdoor revolution, the Craigallion fire
Chapter 4 Topography and Topology 94
Formation and the Scottish mountains;
Munros and Tops analysis with heights
Chapter 5 Boomers and Baggers 118
The post-war revolution, influences, books,
media, magazines
5

Chapter 6 Rounds and Records 138
Continuous Munro rounds, fell-running,
other records
Chapter 7 The Why, the Wry and the Whimsical 181
Reasons, risks, musings
Chapter 8 Below and Beyond 205
Post-Munro activities, hill lists,
The Munro Society
Chapter 9 Memorable Munros 233
Profiles of some memorable Munros
Chapter 10 Wildness and Well-Being 274
Conservation, land use, access, rewilding,
well-being
Bibliography 293
Acknowledgements 295
Endnotes 296
6

Dedicated to all Munro baggers, past, present and future.
7

Introduction
when my book The Munro Phenomenon (the natural precursor
to this book) was published by Mainstream in 1995, over a
thousand people were known to have climbed all 282 Munros.
Today the tally is around 7,000, and rising rapidly. It is reckoned
that at least 200 people a year ‘compleat’ a full round of the
Munros.
The Munro Phenomenon was essentially a history of ‘Munrobagging’
and an analysis of the rationale behind the growing
popularity of this addictive pursuit. In the 25-plus years since
the book’s release, advancing years, hindsight, experience and
wisdom have led me to re-evaluate the book’s content, aims and
conclusions. In addition, the formation of The Munro Society
in 2002, the passing of the centenary of Sir Hugh Munro’s
death in 2019 and the covid-19 hiatus of 2020 and beyond
have given cause to stop and reflect. Several people have indeed
commented that The Munro Phenomenon is long due a reprint
– updated to include more modern trends, new records and
different viewpoints.
This book attempts to tackle this challenge, but rather than
simply reproduce The Munro Phenomenon with additional
updated material, I have effectively started from scratch and
written a book which I believe to be more relevant and focused
on the issues and influences of today. Of course, history never
changes… or does it? The name Matthew Heddle may not ring
any bells, but it turns out that this 19th century ‘mineralogist
and mountaineer’ was a key player in the subsequent creation
of Hugh Munro’s famous Tables. Indeed, following Heddle’s
death, Hugh Munro himself paid tribute to him, writing that
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the munros: a history
‘Professor Heddle had climbed far more Scottish mountains
than any man who has yet lived’. Quite how this influential
character has fallen through the net is a mystery, but this book
has attempted to raise Heddle from the trough of obscurity and
restore his reputation to its rightful place in Munro history. (See
chapter 1: Veterans and Visionaries.)
Moving to the present day, one phenomenal Munro exploit
in 2020 deserves a mention in this introduction: namely, Donnie
Campbell’s staggering accomplishment of a complete round of
the Munros in just under 32 days. In The Munro Phenomenon,
I commented that doing ‘the Munros in a month’ could be
considered to have ‘ultimate challenge’ status – now, a supercharged
fell-runner has come within a hair’s breadth of realising
this dizzying goal. Munro legend Hamish Brown (the first
person to perform a continuous round of the Munros) once
commented that
when someone does the Munros in a month, I will
shake my head, and his hand. 1
I still shake my head in disbelief at Donnie’s incredible feat.
You can read more about it in chapter 6: Rounds and Records.
One other ‘undone’ challenge posed in The Munro Phenomenon
was a continuous round of all the Munros and Tops. The ‘Tops’
are an additional class of subsidiary summits which are not
classified as full Munros, despite being over 3,000 feet (see chapter
4). Only a year after the release of the book, celebrated longdistance
walker and backpacker Chris Townsend took up the
challenge with relish, compleating the round in 118 days – again,
see chapter 6 for more details.
On reading the last two paragraphs, some could be forgiven
for thinking that Munros are only for super-fit, driven, highly
motivated individuals. Think again, however. The vast majority
of the seven thousand ‘compleaters’ mentioned at the start of
this introduction are just ordinary, sane folk of all ages and
occupations. Doctors and decorators, teachers and preachers,
10

introduction
lawyers and labourers and even television presenters and
politicians have all been smitten with the healthy addiction of a
recreational activity which has now morphed into a gloriously
rampant phenomenon.
This book has been written for all those Munroists and
aspiring Munroists, but also for ‘armchair’ Munro-baggers who
may have no intention of hauling themselves up a 3,000-foot
peak, but nevertheless are curious about this growing craze.
Indeed, if the book encourages just a few to swap their armchair
for the more healthy delights of Munro climbing, then it will
have been worth writing.
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Munro Timeline
1590 The first recorded ascent of a Munro (Stuchd an
Lochain) by Colin Campbell of Glen Lyon.
1791 Formation of the Ordnance Survey.
1819 Completion of the Scottish map survey by Thomas
Colby.
1856 Sir Hugh Munro is born.
1882 Robert Hall’s list of Scottish mountains is
published.
1889 The Scottish Mountaineering Club is formed.
1891 The first edition of Munro’s Tables appears in the
SMC Journal.
1894 Hugh Munro is elected president of the smc.
1901 The Rev AE Robertson becomes the first person to
climb all the Munros (the first Munroist).
1919 Sir Hugh Munro dies aged 63.
1921 The smc publishes its General Guide with Hugh
Munro’s revised and updated list of 3,000-foot
mountains.
1923 The Rev A Burn becomes the second Munroist and
the first person to also compleat all the Tops.
(For an explanation of the spelling, please see
chapter 2)
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the munros: a history
1929 JA Parker becomes the first person to compleat
all the Munros and 3,000-foot peaks in England,
Wales and Ireland (Furth).
1947 Mrs J Hirst becomes the first woman to compleat
all the Munros (and Tops).
Mr and Mrs J Hirst also become the first married
couple to compleat.
1949 WM Docharty becomes the first person to
compleat all the Munros, Tops and Furth – known
as the Grand Slam.
1960 Anne Littlejohn becomes the first woman to
compleat the Grand Slam.
1964 Philip Tranter becomes the first person to compleat
a second round of the Munros and climbs a record
19 Munros in 24 hours.
1965 WA Poucher’s The Scottish Peaks is published.
1967 The first attempt at a continuous traverse of all the
Munros by the Ripley brothers. 230 Munros are
climbed.
1974 The first successful continuous, self-propelled
traverse of all the Munros by Hamish Brown in
112 days.
1978 Hamish’s Mountain Walk is published by Gollancz.
Charlie Ramsay climbs 24 Munros in 24 hours
(Ramsay’s Round).
1981 Publication of new edition of Munro’s Tables with
the controversial Donaldson/Brown revisions.
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munro timeline
1982 Kathy Murgatroyd makes the first continuous
round of the Munros by a woman and the second
continuous round, taking 134 days.
1984 George Keeping accomplishes the first continuous
round of the Munros and English and Welsh 3,000
foot peaks in 165 days (entirely on foot).
1984–5 The first continuous winter round of the Munros in
83 days by Martin Moran (vehicle assisted).
1985 The smc guide, The Munros, is published.
1985–6 The first continuous round of the Munros and
Corbetts is made, within 13 months, by Craig
Caldwell.
1986 Irvine Butterfield’s The High Mountains is
published.
Ashley Cooper makes the first continuous round of
the Munros and Furth.
1987 Martin Stone extends Ramsay’s Round and climbs
26 Munros in 24 hours.
1988 Mark Elsegood compleats the Munros in 66 days
with vehicular support.
Jon Broxap climbs 28 Munros in 24 hours in the
Shiel/Affric area.
1989 Paul Tattersall makes the first continuous round of
the Munros while on or carrying a mountain bike.
1990 Hugh Symonds achieves the fastest continuous
traverse of the Munros and Furth in 97 days; also
including the fastest purely self-propelled (entirely
15

the munros: a history
on foot and without ferries) round of the Munros
in 67 days.
A team of seven fell runners complete the Munros
by relay in under 13 days.
Stuart Clements and Kate Weyman become the first
couple to accomplish a continuous round of the
Munros.
1991 The Munro Show appears on Scottish Television.
Munro Tables centenary dinner held in the
Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh.
Adrian Belton climbs 28 Munros in 24 hours in the
Lochaber area, extending Ramsay’s Round.
1992 Andrew Johnstone and Rory Gibson compleat the
Munros in 51 days.
1993 A team of seven fell runners complete the Munros
by relay in 11 days and 20 hours.
1994 Mike Cudahy compleats the Munros in 66 days
and 7 hours entirely on foot, but using ferries.
1995 The Munro Phenomenon by Andrew Dempster is
published and Burn on the Hill by Elizabeth Allan
are published.
Andrew Allum begins his record round of all
British peaks over 2,000 feet.
1996 Chris Townsend becomes the first person to
accomplish a continuous round of the Munros and
Tops.
1997 Publication of new edition of Munro’s Tables (smc)
with 284 Munros. (Two later deleted, being under
3,000 feet.)
16

munro timeline
1999 The Munroist’s Companion (smc) by Robin N
Campbell is published and The Magic of the
Munros by Irvine Butterfield are published.
2000 Charlie Campbell compleats the Munros in 48
days.
2002 The Munro Society is formed by Iain Robertson
and others.
2003 The Scottish Land Reform Act is introduced.
2005–6 Steven Perry completes the second continuous
winter round of the Munros (without a vehicle) in
121 days.
2006 Walkhighlands website set up by Paul and Helen
Webster.
2010 Stephen Pyke compleats the Munros in 39 days.
Gerry McPartlin becomes the oldest continuous
Munroist at age 66, taking 88 days.
2015 Matthew Forster Heddle, Mineralogist and
Mountaineer by Hamish H Johnston is published.
2017 Jim Mann climbs 30 Munros in under 24 hours in
the Cairngorms area.
2019–20 In 97 days, Kevin Woods compleats the third
continuous winter Munro round using a vehicle.
2020 Donnie Campbell compleats the Munros in 32
days.
Sasha Chepelin climbs 32 Munros in under 24
hours in the Cairngorms area.
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the munros: a history
2021 The new large format smc guide to the Munros is
published.
Members of the Carnethy Hill Running Club of
Edinburgh achieve the first recorded ascent of all
the Munros in a day.
18