Meeting The Full Housers
Just what does it take to scale all of the Munros, Corbetts, Grahams, Donalds and Furths?
FOR many walkers, a list of hills and mountains creates purpose and motivation for numerous happy years of summit bagging. In Scotland, the most famous collection is the Munros, established by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891 as “all the Scottish mountains with a summit of 3000ft or more”. To date, 6419 people have recorded at least one round of the 282 Munros with the official keeper of such lists, the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC).
After finishing a round, walkers often embark on another or move to a different collection of mountains, such as the Corbetts. The Corbetts were first defined by John Rooke Corbett in the 1920s as Scots mountains with a summit of between 2500ft and 3000ft. There are 222.
And there are more “lists” determined by relative height and location.
● Munro Tops: 227 subsidiary 3000ft-plus peaks
(over 914.4m)
● Grahams: 219 Scottish peaks 2000ft to 2500ft
(609.6m-762m)
● Donalds: 89 Scottish peaks of 2000ft-plus (over
609.6m) and 51 tops
● Furths: 34 peaks of 3000ft-plus (over 914.4m) in the UK but outwith Scotland.
Together, these six lists are known as a “Full House” and account for 1073 peaks.
As with many hobbyists, where there is a longer list there is still a group, albeit smaller, of avid walkers. To date, just 53 people have finished this Holy Grail of hill bagging. We speak to three who have most recently reached the milestone.