Thousands of lives impacted by Munro's Tables...

1997 Edition.

An article by Normal Neville's daughter, Susan Baria, primarily reflecting on how one small book has impacted thousands of lives.

There's a book that lists Scottish Munros, which are mountains in Scotland with a height of 3,000 feet (914.4 meters) or more. There are currently 282 Munros listed in it and they're named after Sir Hugh Munro, who first catalogued both Munros and 'Munro Tops' - the subsidiary peak(s) of a Munro that are also over 3,000ft.

This enabled the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), of which Sir Munro was a founding member, to publish Munro's 'Tables' of Scottish Peaks over 3.000ft in their Journal (Issue 6) in 1891. By 1921 Munro's Tables were published as a separate little book. I wonder if Sir Hugh ever imagined how many lives his Munro's Tables would change?

Sir Hugh Munro

Pursuit of accurate tables certainly changed his own life, even if he didn't quite climb everything on his list. In terms of Munros it's commonly quoted that there are 3 he didn't climb. But one of these is known as the 'Inaccessible Pinnacle' on Skye which appears not to have been formerly listed as a Munro until after his death.

Another was demoted from being a Munro shortly after his death. He attempted the third but the weather was so atrocious that he could only aim to return to it. But he died volunteering for the British Red Cross in France before he had the chance to. Arguably he was left with one: Carn An Fhidhleir. Whether, 1, 2 or 3, I wish he had known about the future influence of his work.

Rev. Robertson

Munro's Tables obviously also influenced the life of the first man registered as climbing them all, Rev Robertson in 1901. A particularly substantial achievement without today's transport and equipment.

Interestingly the second person on record to climb all the Munros was also a clergyman, Rev Ronald Burn. Munro's Tables became such a major part of his life that he was also to become the first person to complete all the subsidiary 'Tops' in 1923. Perhaps the reverends were driven to head into the clouds to be closer to heaven?!

But that was just the beginning of it. The Scottish Mountaineering Club still maintain 'Munro's Tables' 135 years after they were first published. The book contains... (the clue is in the title!) ... tables of data about each Munro such as their names, heights and locations.

By the time of the 1997 edition this also included maps, Gaelic pronunciations and the meaning of the hill names, all adding to the magnetism and conversation for mountaineers. But it's the lists themselves that become the obsession! That's what gradually grows into life-changing proportions and why Munro Bagging is still a major pursuit today. There appear to be currently over 100,000 'followers' of one Munro Facebook Group alone.

A factor that probably sustained the momentum of Munro Bagging before social media existed, is that there's an official register of those who have 'compleated' the 'round'. The old spelling of 'compleated' is still used by the SMC who are 'keepers' of the list of Munroists, incase you find yourselves 'tutting' at the spelling.

Of course, that draws people like my mountaineering, list-collecting Father, even more to into the challenge... to be on the list of those who have ticked off the list!

But why does this impact lives?

Well, the record for climbing all 282 of the Munros without the use of motorised transport is around one month. However, that's extreme. For thousands of baggers, the Munro quest is a motivating feature of their lives for many many years (more statistics later). And if they decide, like my father to tackle the Munro Tops as well, of which there are nearly 230, that's potentially many more years of their lives.

And then, of course, various editions of Munro's Tables incorporated further Scottish mountain categories of lower heights such as: the Corbetts (1935); the Donalds (1953); and the Grahams (1997).

So, once gripped by ticking off a few names from the lists, the breath-taking views and the exhilaration of accomplishment... thousands of mountaineers have found it hard not to continue to feel the draw of the next challenge from the lists... for many further years.

Take my Father, 'Normal Neville' Wiseman, working full-time with a young family and other serious commitments... living in Blackpool... not exactly on the doorstep of Scotland... it took him around eight years to summit all of the Munros, even though he was obsessed to the point that he would tackle them in atrocious conditions.

And even then he had to push the definition of 'a long weekend' to the limits of my mother's tolerance! Especially with TV news of lost climbers and no mobile phones in those days.

Fortunately my amazing mother Marjorie adjusted her life to make room for this hypnotic call of the Scottish Hills. How many thousands of partners and children out there had their lives changed by this little book too? Even if you ignore the Facebook data, it can't be less than 16,000 for reasons explained below.

It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that the book changed my father's life. He started climbing the Munros in 1980 at around the age of 40 and finished them in 1988. And the thrill of wild landscapes drove him to change career and give up leading his Accountancy practice... to renovate remote and derelict properties with no DIY skills whatsoever! Munro's Tables did that!

This was despite the fact that being a prominent Accountant had led him into many interesting opportunities... including becoming Deputy Mayor of Blackpool from 1972-3.

He finished the Munros nearly 100 years after the original compilation of the list... and yet he was still only the 604th person to prove they had compleated them all, ever! You can see his name in the 1997 edition. But the momentum for climbing the mountains listed in Munro's Tables was only just starting, for him and for thousands of others.

After bagging them all he just had to pacify the empty grieving... and satiate that thirst for another list of Scottish hills to conquer, by working through the other mountains in the Munro's Tables book, for almost another decade before the Grahams were even formalised in the tables!

The tough decision regarding 'what to do next?' after the Munros is covered in a blog that my Father has written. Of course the primary factor regarding the draw of the lists, is how spectacular the experiences of climbing the Scottish Mountains are. The views, the adrenalin, the camaraderie, the personal challenges, and for my Father... the stories! This website only touches on his countless stories, including his Diary of a Munroist and at 86 he's even started doing podcast cum videos about his Munroing (new verb?) experiences on his own YouTube channel!

Without the next Scottish trip in the calendar, there would have been a gaping hole in his life- despite his prolific walking elsewhere in the UK.

Even at 86 he still collects a few Grahams each year and the odd repeat Munro! Munro's Tables have been a companion throughout most of his life, and the lives of those he's been climbing with since their teens. It's led to their adventures, shaped who they are and formed a lifetime bond of friendship, climbing together for over 70 years.

Still today, his rucksack is packed and shoulders jigging to Scottish reels, weeks before a trip. And then there's the obligatory sessions in the pub with walking partners... which for the last 15 years has also included his son (my brother) David... to plan the targets, the routes and the accommodation. And so the next generation catches the bug!

Now social media proliferates it's becoming clearer that similar stories have been happening across the UK and beyond. According to Mountaineering Scotland's President Anne Butler on Facebook, it appears there are over 8,000 compleaters and it takes an average of 20 years to complete a round of the Munros. Other sources say an average of 8 years, but whichever... it's a significant impact on people's lives. That's got to impact at least one other life each, (16,000) not including the people who've technically compleated them but not formerly registered that fact... or those who are currently in the process of bagging them.

Many Munro Baggers (I believe over 300) have compleated multiple rounds of the Munros, with one giant of the Munro Bagging landscape called Steve Fallon who appears to be undertaking his 17th round, which is presumably how he keeps his remarkable website of routes alive with authoritative content.

So there's absolutely no doubt that The Munro Tables has impacted thousands of lives.

Betty

I say lives, because not all of the names on the compleated list are the names of men, or even of women or children for that matter. The records also include a small list (20 odd I believe) of dogs that have climbed all of the Munros! Although the influence of the book was clearly by proxy!

Remarkably, it turns out that one little life, that of a Kerry Blue Terrier called Betty, was so influenced by its human's obsession for the lists in Munro's Tables, that she achieved the 'full house' of climbs. By that I mean she apparently conquered all 282 Munros, 226 Munro Tops, 222 Corbetts, 231 Grahams, and 141 Donalds... as well as the highest peaks in England, Wales, and Ireland!

I know it's cheesy to say it, but the breadth and depth of the influence of this little book... is definitely worth paws for thought.

The picture of Betty is sourced from an article about her by a prolific Scottish adventure journalist who I think has fantastic articles if you want to find out more: Betty set to become first Full House dog – FionaOutdoors

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