That Last Munro

Darrell Farrant

Countless articles must have been written by the almost two thousand mountaineers who have now successfully completed the Munros. They will have described the sense of elation at the final achievement, the careful preparations that went into it, and probably the nature of the celebration with the chosen companions.

I was no different when I finally reached the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor on a foully wet day in May 1974. An article for the Club Journal (1976) duly appeared to describe the nine year odyssey and I assumed that that was the end of it. 1 had, however, not reckoned with metric surveys and the reforming zeal of the SMC.

First I was informed by a friend of mine in Edinburgh that the new survey had discovered that the summit of Sgurr nan Ceannaichean, next to Moruisg in Glen Canon was just above the magic mark and had been added to the list. A family holiday in Glen Shiel in July 1977 provided the opportunity for a quick get-away and I plodded up the newcomer on a drizzly day, having survived a near miss when crossing the railway line in the glen.

The next news was of another survey that had produced Beinn Teallach at the western end of Loch Laggan. My visits to Scotland had become fairly infrequent by then and it was not until August 1997 that the opportunity arose to add this one to the list. This time I chose an absolutely scorching day on what is rather a dreary hill but all was redeemed by a marvellous swim in the bum at the bottom. No sooner had I done my last Munro for the third time when the SMC published a significantly revised list which added no fewer than eight new summits. I scanned the list anxiously and found that I had done only five of them Here we go again! This time I decided on a joint campaign with my oldest climbing friend, who had done well over a hundred Munros with me and whom I had had the pleasure of accompanying on his last summit a couple of years before.

Thus in June of this year we planned our expedition to Scotland and were extremely fortunate to enjoy a short spell of beautiful weather in what has otherwise been a wretched summer. The first objective was Stob na Broige at the southern end of the Buachaille ridge and we climbed this by a track from Glencoe that contained several quite awkwardly steep sections. The next day we set out on mountain bikes on the long track up Glen Einich and parked close to the loch before setting off up the steep ridge towards the Cairngorm plateau. We came out on the cliffs of Braeriach and walked round the lip of this magnificent come to our objective of The Angel’s Peak (another 4000 footer to add to the collection!). I had in fact walked past the base of this some years before when en route for Cairn Toul but it was a joy to return to such a superb location. The following day was another hip to a summit that I had missed by less than half a mile in 1973, Maoile Lunndaidh. Previously the other top on the plateau had been the Munro and I had looked across the short distance and had decided it was not really on the route!

We again cycled up the glen (last time I had managed to get the car up there) and it is a long trek to Glenuaig Lodge. The ascent is quite a brute but we were rewarded with the most superb views stretching out to Hams, Skye, Rhum and Eigg as well as to the closer hills of the Fisherfie1d Forest. Once we had got down we fell into discussion about the various summits and to my horror I was informed that another recent change had been to move the Munro on An Socach in the Southern Cairngorms from the Eastern Peak to the Western.

This meant that it was necessary to set out for the last Munro for the fifth time. I took the opportunity when we were up in Edinburgh for our annual visit to the Festival to drive up to Glenshee and walk through all the mess of the ski-tows to Glen Baddoch. From here the western plateau of An Socach is readily attainable and I was back at the car after just over four hours.

Have I really done it this time? I suppose the argument is academic in that if you climb all the Munros on the current list you can be officially registered as a Munroist and I have my “Certificate of Completion” number 127 as well as the tie to prove it. Nevertheless there is still the sneaking feeling when the lists are revised that you want to remain up to date. I hope that this recent revision will be the last for a very long time. Interestingly enough, although the Official list now stands at 284 Munros, I actually have 296 on my list if I include all those that qualified at the time of ascent. Perhaps I shall make 300 yet.