During the course of registering new Munroists, the Clerk of The List receives a cornucopia of interesting details about individuals and their Rounds. Some of this is presented below as answers to questions which other hill-goers have asked. This information is by no means comprehensive and the Clerk is always happy to receive relevant updates.
Please note that this information was compiled by the previous Clerk, Dave Broadhead, from correspondence received since 2007, plus information published in SMC Journals prior to that. It has been updated by Alison Coull.
1. Why does the SMC refer to “compleating” the Munros?
It is not a spelling mistake. This quirky spelling comes from the book “The Compleat Angler” by Izaak Walton, first published in 1653.
2. What is the history of the list of Munroists?
The SMC Clerk of the list is responsible for maintaining the list of Munroists and other hills on the website.
The role was formally established in 1987 and since then the list of Clerks is as follows -
- W D Brooker 1987 to 1993
- Chris Huntley 1993 to 2002
- David Kirk 2002 to 2007
- David Broadhead 2007 to 2019
- Alison Coull 2019 to date
Background on the creation of the list of Munroists and the role of the Clerk can be found in Dave Broadhead’s journal article “The SMC’s Clerk of the List – A short history”.
3. What are the fastest/slowest rounds?
Jamie Aarons (7642) completed a third round of Munros on 26 June 2023 in 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes.
Donnie Campbell (not registered) Compleated on 2 September 2021, taking 31 days, 23 hours and 2 minutes; Stephen Pyke (not registered) Compleated on 3 June 2010, taking 39 days, 9 hours and 6 minutes.
Robert Waterston (3210) took 69 years, finishing at the age of 80.
The SMC refers to those who took 50 or more years between first and last Munros as “Golden Munroists”.
4. Who has completed Munro rounds over a single Winter season?
A winter Munro round is normally regarded as having to be compleated in a single astronomical winter season. Martin Moran (383) was the first to do this over 1984/85 over 83 days. Kevin Woods (5792) compleated his winter round over 97 days over 2020/2021. Anna Wells compleated her winter round in 83 days over 2023/2024.
Steve Perry (3114) compleated a continuous winter Munro journey on foot between 1st December 2005 and 31st March 2006.
5. Who is the youngest munroist?
This has gradually decreased over the years:
Andrew Nisbet (106) aged 18
Fraser Wallace (6939) aged 17
Simon Dale (281) aged 14
David Kale (494) aged 13
Lynn Batty (1517) aged 11
Ben Fleetwood (4954) aged 10 years 3 months
Cliona & Nuala McCheyne (5117 & 5118) aged 10
Daniel M. Smith (5216) aged 9
6. Who is the oldest munroist?
Those Compleating in their 80th year include Louis Skinner (2710), Pamela E. Wigston (4408), Alasdair Macpherson (5305), Rod Shaw (6363) and Howard Andrew (6518).
Nick Gardner (7246) completed on 20 August 2022 aged 82.
7. Who has done the most rounds of munros?
Steve Fallon (1045) has registered 16 Rounds.
Hazel Strachan (3438) has registered 10 Rounds.
8. Are there any overseas munroists?
Climbing Munros attracts walkers from all over the world. Some are foreign nationals living in the UK while many have made regular visits to Scotland from overseas. The SMC does not keep a list. The nationalities/compleation residence of Munroists include the following countries – Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine and USA
9. What is an SMC “Full House”?
The term Full House was introduced in SMCJ, 41/201 (2010) by the then Clerk of the Munro list Dave Broadhead, simply to mean compleation of a full line of the hills on the SMC register. (The term is used by bingo players when they fill a complete line, although Dave insists he has never played bingo.) Martin Almond (1911) came up with a Gaelic term sarbheanntair for those compleat compleatists, suggested by the Gaelic Translation Service. There are now nearly 100 Full House compleations.
10. Which is the most remote munro?
David Barraclough (4637) did some research involving many hours of “wheeling” round maps and concluded:
Carn an Fhidhleir from Linn of Dee, via White Bridge = 11.40 miles.
A’ Mhaighdean from Incheril via Gleann Bianasdail = 10.98 miles.
Beinn Bheoil from Rannoch Lodge via Benalder Cottage = 10.46 miles.
Ruadh Stac Mor from A832 near Corrie Hallie via Sheneval = 10.37 miles.
Ben Alder from Corrour station via Loch Ossian = 10.34 miles.
Mullach na Dheiragainrom A87 near Cluanie Inn via Alltbeithe = 10.25 miles.
An Sgarsoch from Linn of Dee via White Bridge = 10.16 miles.