British Mountain Lists

The Peak Bagging Phenomenon

The allure of mountain lists is a very British phenomenon. This is a brief introduction to the various British mountain lists. These lists are concerned primarily with the mountains, hills and fells of 2000 ft and above.

Peak bagging is often used as a derogatory term for walkers and mountaineers who appear to show more interest in the list than the mountain. However, it is quite possible to combine a deep love for the mountains and an interest in completing a list. Indeed, the target of completing a list can encourage the walker to get out into some of the more remote areas of our islands. Anyone who has completed a list will, at the very least, have a good knowledge of the area covered.

Mountaineering Lists

There are numerous mountain lists - every walker could compile his or her own based on individual criteria. It is my intention to outline the best-known of the eponymously named lists and others with, where available, online links.

The best-known of lists is the Munros. This list was first recorded by Sir Hugh Munro in the September 1891 issue of the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. An original member of the club, he set himself the task of recording all the Scottish peaks over 3000 ft - before then it was thought the number was little over 30.

The original Munro Tables contained 538 tops of over 3000 ft, of which 283 were considered distinct mountains. Unfortunately, Munro never made clear the criteria he used and the Tables have undergone periodic revision, the latest being in the summer of 1997.

A 'Munroist' is a mountaineer who has successfully ascended the complete list of separate Mountains. Munro himself never did become a 'Munroist' as he died with two left to climb: the Innaccessible Pinnacle, which thwarted him on two occasions, and Carn Cloich-mhuillin, the Munro nearest his home which he was saving until last.

Munros (284) and Tops (511).

Following on from Munro, J. Rooke Corbett (the fourth man to complete the Munros) compiled a list of Scottish hills between 2500 and 3000 ft. Although he never made explicit the criteria he used, it seems clear that his only test was a re-ascent of 500 ft on all sides - regardless of distance covered or the difficulty of the terrain. This list differs from Munro's in that it does not purport to contain every summit between 2500 and 2999 ft in Scotland.

Corbetts.

The obvious extension to the Corbetts was a list of those Scottish hills between 2000 and 2500 ft that fulfilled the criteria of a 500 ft re-ascent on all sides. This was done independently by both Fiona Graham and Alan Dawson. They eventually met to finalise a definitive list and agreed that it should be termed the Grahams. Tragically, Fiona Graham - whose real name was Helen Torbett - was murdered whilst on a hillwalking holiday in the Highlands.

Grahams.

The third list of Scottish hills was that compiled by Percy Donald, a list of the hills in the Scottish lowlands above 2000 ft. In this list there were 133 'Tops' of which 86 were considered separate 'Hills' according to the criteria laid down by Donald. This list were later redefined by Alan Dawson using a simple drop rather than Percy Donald's complicated formula.

Donalds.

The list of Marilyns was compiled by Alan Dawson. He defined a Marilyn as being any hill:
"that has a drop of at least 150 metres on all sides, regardless
of distance,absolute height or topographical merit."
At the last count there were 1542 Marilyns.

Marilyns.

Probably the best known list of English summits is the Wainwrights. This refers to the 214 Lakeland fells ascended by the late Alfred Wainwright and described in his seven volume series 'A Pictorial Guide To the Lakeland Fells'. The one great advantage this list has over all others is that there can never be any dispute as to which fells are included. No fells will be demoted or added due to resurveying. It also differs from the other lists in that just over one-third of the fells are below 2000 ft and one, Castle Crag, is below 1000 ft.

Wainwright wrote an eighth volume - 'The Outlying Fells of Lakeland' - which contained 102, mainly lower, fells around the periphery of the Lake District. These can be included in much the same way that the Munro Tops are.

Wainwrights.

Tim Synge has published a survey of the fells of the Lake District National Park (The Lakeland Summits by Tim Synge - Sigma Leisure 1995 [ISBN: 1 85058 446 X]). This lists 256 fells and 645 tops above the 300 metre contour line - and Castle Crag! There is no online version of the list available.

Joss Lynam has recently revised the list of Irish 600m Tops.

Irish 600m Tops

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