I have walked and scrambled my way to the top of every 3,000ft Munro mountain in Scotland and, unsurprisingly, when people hear this, the first follow up question I get asked is – “How many Munros are there in Scotland?”
The Magic Number – How Many Munros In Scotland?
There are 282 Munros in Scotland as at 11 Februrary 2020. It’s important to note the date because the number does change as mountains are re-measured and their heights more accurately recorded. This has happened a number of times in recent years. In fact, Beinn a’Chlaidheimh lost its Munro status as recently as 2011. The mountain is one of the Fisherfield 6, which is a popular circular route in one of the most remote wildernesses of the Scottish Highlands. Similarly, Sgurr Nan Ceannaichean lost Munro status in 2009. It lies just south west of the Munro Moruisg. Ironically, it was only upgraded to Munro status less than 30 years earlier!
Why are they called Munros?
Sir Hugh Munro published the first list of 3,000ft peaks for the Scottish Mountaineering Club in the late 1800s. He was a Scottish Mountaineer and the Munros carry his surname. In fact, to this day, the Scottish Mountaineering Club still maintains the current list of Munros.
Scotland Peak Bagging – Munros, Munro Tops, Murdos, Corbetts, Grahams…
The Munros are probably the most recognisable mountain classification in Scotland but there are many more! If you are list-obsessed, goal-obsessed, challenge-obsessed and mountain-obsessed (like me) you will never run out of mountain classifications to ‘tick off’.
Take The Next Step
Make a start on your peak bagging journey and become a Munroist like me by heading over to my Munro Routes page. There, you can view the list of Munro mountains and start planning your Munro round. In addition, you can ask me a specific question on Munro Bagging by email.
Have you already started your Munro Bagging journey? If you have, let me know how many you’ve climbed in the comments below.
About the Author
Adventurer Nic is a Munroist and ‘compleated’ the list over a six month period in 2019. She stood atop each of the 282 Munro summits with her peak bagging partner in adventure – James Forrest. Let her know what you thought of this post by dropping her a comment.