Pocket Mountains - The Munros

Pocket Mountains - The Munros

Look beneath the waterproofs of any keen hillwalker in Scotland and, once past the midge bites, it’s likely you will find a Munro-bagger. Even those who protest and mumble about it being ‘trainspotting for outdoor types’ often secretly know their Munro tally and are working towards the triumphant moment when they top out on that final summit.

This guide is for anyone who wants to climb the Munros. It aims to provide reliable routes and tips for ascending all of these magical 282 peaks. The other half of the deal is that you have to provide the energy and enthusiasm to make it as enjoyable and safe as possible. Setting out to climb all the Munros is to embark on a huge adventure. No two mountains are the same; weather conditions, companions – and the state of your squashed sandwiches and frozen Mars bars – make every outing different.

The Munros will ensure you reach parts of Scotland you might otherwise have overlooked, spend evenings in pubs, bothies and wild camps all with their own delights, and have encounters with other walkers, locals and wildlife that will enhance the adventure.

What are the Munros?

Scottish mountains over 3000 feet high are collectively called the Munros after Sir Hugh Munro, the man who first catalogued them. A founder member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), Munro was landed gentry, with an estate near Kirriemuir. His first list was published in 1891, the result of meticulous study of the Ordnance Survey one-inch- and six-inch-to-the-mile maps together with knowledge and notes gleaned from his numerous mountaineering expeditions. Other SMC members assisted and Munro spent the next two and a half decades painstakingly, and some would say, pedantically, refining the list – a habit the SMC has continued to the present day. Munro divided the summits into Mountains and Tops, the former being for the main peaks – now referred to as Munros – whilst the Tops are the lesser, subsidiary summits. Munro died in 1919 with only three Munros on his current list remaining unclimbed; the Inaccessible Pinnacle on Skye, Carn an Fhidhleir in the Cairngorms, and Carn Cloich-mhuilinn which was later demoted to a Top.

What you need to know

So what do you need to climb the Munros? Well, you’ll need a good range of layered clothing to keep warm, waterproofs and suitable footwear – boots provide the most support, but dedicated hillrunning shoes are also becoming popular. More important still is navigation – a map, compass (a GPS is also useful) and the knowledge of how to use them. Navigational errors are a factor in a huge proportion of accidents as walkers lose their route and wander onto difficult terrain

In winter the hills become much more serious – under snow, climbing Munros is nothing short of mountaineering, and an ice-axe, crampons and the knowledge of how to use them, plus some awareness of the risk of avalanches, becomes essential.

If you aren’t so sure on your navigation, or need to learn those winter skills, you really have a couple of options. There are a range of mountaineering and hillwalking clubs across all parts of Scotland – a great way to meet experienced friends and to learn from them. Scotland also has an increasing number of instructors and companies offering guiding and skills courses. The Scottish National Outdoor Training Centre at Glenmore Lodge offers a huge range of superb courses for beginners and can help you take your hillwalking into the realms of scrambling, rock or ice-climbing if you become tempted to take things further.

In an Emergency

If one of your party has an accident and cannot be moved phone or text 999 or 112 and ask for Police and then Mountain Rescue. Treat injuries as best you can and calculate your position on the map (or check on a GPS/phone). All hillwalkers should register their mobile phones with the emergency SMS service by texting ‘register’ to 999 – this allows 999 texts to be made and responded to in areas where there is insufficient signal to make a call.

Accommodation

Nowadays there is accommodation to suit all budgets and comfort levels within easy reach of the majority of Munros. However, one of the joys of embarking on the challenge of the Munros is that, unless you are extremely fit, some of the peaks will involve expeditions which are best undertaken with a wild camp or a stay in a remote bothy. Whether walked in blissful isolation or in the company of like-minded walkers and climbers (or the axe-carrying starey-eyed bloke in the corner of the bothy) these nights are often the most memorable and can lead to more of these trips or at the very least a heightened appreciation of home comforts on return.

This guide is focused around good places to base yourself for Munro trips in each area, and a number of local accommodation options are highlighted. However, increasingly many B&B and hotel owners are welcoming walkers and providing early breakfasts, drying facilities and local knowledge which make them a good alternative to the network of hostels (the standard of which continues to rise each year), campsites and self catering cottages. Campervans are also increasingly popular, particularly for hire, and can provide a fun and convenient mobile base for climbing Munros.

The Access Code is generous towards wild campers, allowing camping on access land away from roads and buildings for a maximum of three days at the same site. In some areas where camping has caused a problem with anti-social behaviour, such as east Loch Lomond, local byelaws prohibit it. Wild camping should always be undertaken on the ‘leave no trace’ ethos, with any rubbish carried out. Care should be taken not to pollute rivers, water from pot washing should be poured onto the ground, not into the watercourse, and you should go to the toilet as far away from a watercourse as possible, burying faeces in a hole and burning or packing out toilet paper. In the Cairngorms the problem caused by the number of people camping out or snow-holing in the winter months led to the Cairngorms Poo Project – special pots can be collected to carry out human waste to disposal points.

Bothies, too, need to be used responsibly. Basically these are usually unlocked buildings which provide four walls and a roof but little else – the toilet facilities usually come in the form of a shovel. Some are provided by estates and any abuse is likely to see them locked, but many more are available through the permission of the estate but maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothies Association. The remote locations make keeping these places wind-and-water tight a major challenge – please do your bit by not only carrying out all your own rubbish and leaving the place tidy, but perhaps carrying out any litter other walkers may have left there as well. The MBA organise work parties which are great fun and a good way to give something back if you enjoy bothies. The Mountain Bothies Association publishes a Bothy Code on behaving responsibly.

Transport

Public transport in the remoter parts of the Highlands is sparse and often non-existent. Long-distance coaches do serve many of the walking areas such as Glencoe, and local buses can often be used to get from your accommodation to some of the routes, but access to the start of the walks from public transport is often pretty limited. The West Highland Railway running from Glasgow to Mallaig and its eastern partner from Edinburgh to Inverness do provide access to many of the ranges – this is noted in the text. The transport planner at travelinescotland.com is the best starting point. The Caledonian Sleeper running from London to Fort William, Aviemore and Inverness can be a great way of combining accommodation and transport, but fares can be mortgage jobs unless you are lucky enough to nab one of their elusive bargain berths. Car-sharing via clubs and websites can cut down on costs, and hitching is still commonplace in many of the remoter areas – make sure you take sensible precautions.

Resources

Aside from this volume, of course, the main friend of the Munroist has to be a map. The OS 1:25,000 Explorer series is now the bestselling range aimed at walkers and includes extra navigational features like walls and fences not shown on other scales. More confident navigators will swear by the pink 1:50,000 Landranger series, which certainly reduces damage to your wallet. Harveys also produces very high-quality mapping for many of the mountain areas and once familiar with their distinct look these are favoured by many hillwalkers.