rounding the munros

Tue, Aug 9, 2011

I was flabbergasted to learn that Beinn a’Chlaidheimh in the Fisherfield wilderness is due to lose its Munro status. As we all know, a Munro is 3000 feet, or 914.4m but Beinn a’Chlaidheimh is apparently 913.96m. just short of Munro height. It thus raises the interesting question of what happens in winter? The hill will undoubtedly return to the Munro club as up to a foot of snow settles on its summit, to melt in the spring when it becomes a Corbett. What a ridiculous state of affairs.

I think the Munro Society are taking this all too seriously. Sir Hugh T chose an imperial 3000 feet but these days they insist on measuring everything using metric units. So why not do what he did and go precise? Why not use 900m? It’s a nice round number and resonates well with the history of bagging which positively embraces round numbers. 3000 feet for a Munro,  2500 feet for a Corbett, 2000 feet for a Donald and so on. 150m for a Marilyn shows that round numbers make it into the modern idiom. The Munro Society are  a square boot in a round crampon.

Imagine a round metric number for being a Munro. The new market for guidebook writers, gear manufacturers, television personalities, philosophical bores and baggers who compleated aeons ago. They’d all be out there envigoured anew.

So I propose to start a motion. Round the Munros. Make Munro height 900m. However, to doff one’s cap to history, make it 900m plus or minus the height of an Alpenstock. Sir Hugh T would approve, I’m sure.

Who’s with me?