The Munros are mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet in height. The list of Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro who first published such a list in 1891. Sadly he died before he was able to climb them all. The first person to climb all the Munros was the Rev. A. E. Robertson who completed this feat in 1901.
On Sir Hugh's death the Scottish Mountaineering Club took over this responsibility and last revised the tables of Munros in 1997. At the present time there are 284 Munros ranging from Ben Lomond in the south to Ben Hope in the north and from Ben More on the Island of Mull to Mount Keen on the east coast.
There is no set criteria for the definition of a Munro other than it must be over 3,000 feet in height.
Persons climbing the Munros are referred to as Munro Baggers and those who have climbed all the Munros as Munroists. The Scottish Mountaineering Club keep a list of all the Munroists who have registered their completion and this can be viewed at www.smc.org.uk. As we approach the end of 2004 over 3,300 people have registered.
In addition to the Munros there are Munro Tops. These are obviously mountains over 3,000 feet and are subsidiary to the Munros. It is said you are not a true Munroist until you have climbed all the Munro Tops as Sir Hugh's list included the Munro Tops. However the decision is yours. You can always climb the Munro Tops on a subsequent round of the Munros! The Scottish Mountaineering Club web site also contains a list of those that have climbed the Munro Tops.