A personal challenge finally compleated* (see below for an explanation of the term compleater)
The Munros and the Munro Furth *
By Ronnie Wade
My first recollection was Easter Monday in 1973 when Ben Nevis was climbed. This was how it remained until Feb 1977 when I started what seemed an annual pilgrimage to Scotland...
By that time all the English 3000 foot peaks had been ascended with the exception of Scafell. This was completed with a winter ascent of Lords Rake and the West Wall Traverse in February 1978.
All the Welsh peaks were completed by the early 1980s with the exception of one, this was not put to rights until August 2011 with the ascent of Elidir Fawr.
Ireland was ticked off the list in May 1988 and again revisited in May 2006 as on the first trip the weather had been mixed. Success was had with regard to the weather on the second trip with the exception of Mount Brandon. It was again cloud covered and it looked like it may have to be third time lucky for a view from that summit.
From 1977 my ascent of Munros was slow as I was only going to Scotland for one week in February but in 1982 a group from work commenced back packing in the May Day week and this turned within two years to be a Munro bagging trip to get to some of the remote Scottish peaks. This holiday over the years changed to rented accommodation but to this day we all try to keep this week free to make this trip.
By 1989 the numbers of Munros climbed exceeded 150 and the magic 200 was exceeded by 1997. This should have seen the end in sight but married life and children intervened for a time so I was not able to reach 250 until 2006.
Now I was on the final leg and this has involved trips to mop up the mountains which had been left due to time or bad weather intervening as well as the trips to the far north for Ben Hope and Ben Klibreck.
The main stumbling block was Skye where three mountains were needed to be climbed. These included The Inaccessible Pinnacle. All three were climbed in September 2010. This now left two large blocks in Fisherfield and further south around Ben Starav and these were compleated in July of this year.
I now had four mountains to compleat, two on Liathach and two on Beinn Eighe and these were accomplished in September of this year. Ruadh Stac Mhor on Beinn Eighe being the final summit climbed on the 5th September. True to form the cloud and rain came less than 400 yards from the summit so I was denied a view from the final summit.
The highlight of this marathon has to be the climbing of Ladhar Bheinn in Knoydart as the views are stunning and it took three trips to accomplish the feat. Previously I had been defeated by unseasonal deep snow and torrential rain (The storms after Chernobyl in 1986).
*The term ‘compleater’ is an archaic term to describe those who have ascended all the 3,000 foot summits listed in Munros Tables at the time of their completion.
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The Munros and the Munro Furth *
By Ronnie Wade
My first recollection was Easter Monday in 1973 when Ben Nevis was climbed. This was how it remained until Feb 1977 when I started what seemed an annual pilgrimage to Scotland...
By that time all the English 3000 foot peaks had been ascended with the exception of Scafell. This was completed with a winter ascent of Lords Rake and the West Wall Traverse in February 1978.
All the Welsh peaks were completed by the early 1980s with the exception of one, this was not put to rights until August 2011 with the ascent of Elidir Fawr.
Ireland was ticked off the list in May 1988 and again revisited in May 2006 as on the first trip the weather had been mixed. Success was had with regard to the weather on the second trip with the exception of Mount Brandon. It was again cloud covered and it looked like it may have to be third time lucky for a view from that summit.
From 1977 my ascent of Munros was slow as I was only going to Scotland for one week in February but in 1982 a group from work commenced back packing in the May Day week and this turned within two years to be a Munro bagging trip to get to some of the remote Scottish peaks. This holiday over the years changed to rented accommodation but to this day we all try to keep this week free to make this trip.
By 1989 the numbers of Munros climbed exceeded 150 and the magic 200 was exceeded by 1997. This should have seen the end in sight but married life and children intervened for a time so I was not able to reach 250 until 2006.
Now I was on the final leg and this has involved trips to mop up the mountains which had been left due to time or bad weather intervening as well as the trips to the far north for Ben Hope and Ben Klibreck.
The main stumbling block was Skye where three mountains were needed to be climbed. These included The Inaccessible Pinnacle. All three were climbed in September 2010. This now left two large blocks in Fisherfield and further south around Ben Starav and these were compleated in July of this year.
I now had four mountains to compleat, two on Liathach and two on Beinn Eighe and these were accomplished in September of this year. Ruadh Stac Mhor on Beinn Eighe being the final summit climbed on the 5th September. True to form the cloud and rain came less than 400 yards from the summit so I was denied a view from the final summit.
The highlight of this marathon has to be the climbing of Ladhar Bheinn in Knoydart as the views are stunning and it took three trips to accomplish the feat. Previously I had been defeated by unseasonal deep snow and torrential rain (The storms after Chernobyl in 1986).
*The term ‘compleater’ is an archaic term to describe those who have ascended all the 3,000 foot summits listed in Munros Tables at the time of their completion.
Go to page two
