UKH

Anna Wells has just finished her winter Munro round, becoming the fourth person - and the first woman - to complete a round of all 282 Scottish 3000-foot peaks in a single winter season.

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In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Phenomenal achievement - been following on facebook and its been a hell of a journey. Hearty congrats!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Nice one, Anna.

That's quite an achievement.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Awesome, round of applause. 

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

That's amazing, especially allowing for being ill in the course of ticking off Munros in hard conditions. 

Extremely well done.

I'm jealous, but in the right way. (Will Self would no doubt pick me up on this, in not correctly using the word). Even when younger, I doubt that I could have done it (Partly as my dad would not have been around when I was at my fittest....    :-}          ).

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Well done, Anna! What perseverance.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

That Achnasheen day out sounds epic. Well done from one completist to another!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Amazing effort - many congratulations to Anna!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Great effort - well done - UR A STAR!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

I just heard it reported on the 4 pm BBC Radio 4 news. Going mainstream! Well done!

In reply to TobyA:

Also on the BBC News Website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckk726lkx7po

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Superb achievement, well done Anna! 

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Congratulations Anna, a marvellous achievement!

(And thank you Dan for the ref to Steve and his own amazing self-propelled round: never forgotten, forever missed)

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

I'm a bit disappointed that the comment about the carbon footprint was deleted so fast.

In reply to UKC/UKH News
Huge congrats! Massively inspiring!! 

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

I have followed her all the way around - there have been some massive days in the mix - astounding achievement and total respect

Chris

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Pheeeeenominal achievement, Anna.

In reply to simes303:

I can't imagine there's many who didn't have that thought regarding that number of day trips. It's a valid criticism for sure, irrespective of the impressiveness of the achievement.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I don’t understand why Anna gets criticised for her carbon footprint, but no mention of it is made in Jack’s interview and thread celebrating climbing 200 grade 8 boulder problems in a year. Anna only took 83 days and often cycled, Jack says he climbed on 136 days outside in the year including a trip to Sweden. He says he visited 60 different crags and went all over the UK including South Wales, Lakes and Devon. I bet there’s not that much difference in carbon footprint when everything is taken into account. 

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

I read her interview on UKH. Crikey! She's a machine. Good effort.

In reply to squashmiller:

I don't think she has been, really; the comment I replied to is the only mention of it I've seen. But I don't understand the kickback to bringing the subject up either. Sure, it's only 83 days, but that's a lot within the context of 3 months. I just couldn't help thinking that staying in a van for example, one could cover all the hills in a certain area without all the back and forth.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

You yourself said wrote "It is a valid criticism for sure".

This thread had immediately been almost entirely taken over by criticism and discussion of the carbon footprint, squeezing out the actual round and achievement. It seemed that the mods, I thought reasonably, decided to wipe the slate clean and allow it to start again.

Following her progress, I got the impression that "back and forth" was mostly only done to take advantage of better weather and conditions. 

In reply to simes303:

It wasn't just about one comment. It was that it was the very first (I think) comment and the whole thread had then been hijacked by it and the subsequent replies. I am sure I am not alone in thinking this came over as an extremely mean response to an amazing and inspirational achievement, the following of which many had enjoyed and could really relate to, and which had basically been done on her own doorstep without flying anywhere. I estimate that she probably drove a similar sort of distance to my own van trip to Spain during that period which took half the time and would probably be seen by many as virtuous because I didn't fly.

Basically I think that criticism from people who do  their climbing and hill walking by car (so most people) is pretty hypocritical. 

In reply to Robert Durran:

Perhaps it would help if someone walks the whole round wearing a hair shirt

In reply to dread-i:

She really is. We bumped into her the day she knocked off the Fannichs 9, although we didn't know it was her at the time, and she was hammering up Sgurr Breac faster than we were coming down. Hugely impressive.

In reply to Robert Durran:

This. It's incredibly mean spirited and misplaced.

I'll wager I've burned a lot more fuel than her on my Munro bagging trips over the past 38 years and I haven't even finished them yet.

In reply to Robert Durran:

OK, I didn't see that. I thought it was just one comment which had been deleted.

It remains a valid criticism when clearly there are less fuel-burning methods of doing a rapid Munro round than repeated day trips from a single base. That's just a fact, whether it comes across as being mean spirited or not. I can't believe someone has cited using more fuel over 38 years than 83 days as anything other than, well, expected. 

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I cited it as a slightly snide/humourous (take your pick) way of highlighting the absurd hypocrisy of probably most if not all of her detractors, unless of course any of them have exclusively used a bicycle or public transport to go to the hills in which case fair play. 

Vehicle use and emissions are a serious issue, don't mistake me for a car-lobby apologist. I just find raising it in the context of Anna's munro round a bit absurd and petty considering the entire demographic of UKC forum users might reasonably be expected to do a lot of what others might argue to be unnecessary driving. 

I'd love it if Anna came on here and said she had an electric car.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

So should anything anybody does be criticised if there is theoretically a lower carbon way of doing it?

In reply to Michael Gordon:

She used several bases.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Very much case dependent. A lot depends on how easy it is to do the lower carbon way, and quickly gets ridiculous when folk start talking about a US climbing trip involving sailing the Atlantic...

In reply to 65:

I think 'detractors' is a bit strong. For me it's more recognising flaws while still applauding the rest of the effort.

Absolutely. Particularly the fine low key way of just doing it, without feeling the need to tell the media all about it, which most electrically-driven adventurers seem to do.

In reply to Cog:

I'm sure you're right; I was generalising. "Anna used a car to access the hills as a series of day trips (albeit giant ones in many cases), usually returning to a base in Inverness to regroup overnight."

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I can't help thinking that misogyny is a factor here. Not so much "RECOGNISING" flaws, but disproportionately highlighting these in an attempt to belittle the achievement. Rather like when when Lynn Hill freed The Nose and there were(*) murmurings of "well she has smaller fingers so the holds feel bigger and therefore easier". I note that in all these posts, nobody has acknowledged that Martin Moran and Kev Woods also used cars. 

I am aware of the irony inherent in my post here only feeding this narrative. 


* this example is probably eighth-hand, probably read as a side comment on these forums when Hill's book was published. I can not testify to it but, accurate or not, it exemplifies what I am talking about and I've seen this sort of thing many times regarding women's achievements. Find a way to bring them down a peg or two. And it needs to stop. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

That was brought up at the time of Meltdown (later proved incorrect), can't speak for the Nose. Either way, both are recognised universally as two of the leading ascents of, well, ever. 

"I note that in all these posts, nobody has acknowledged that Martin Moran and Kev Woods also used cars."

They used vans (which they slept in).

In reply to Michael Gordon:

For the entire duration? So you are telling us that this reportage is factually wrong?

" Like forerunners Martin Moran and Kev Woods (2020), Anna used a car to access the hills as a series of day trips"

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I think it was about fitting fingers in thin cracks. Hand and finger size can undeniably significantly affect the difficulty of cracks. Someone else might be able to comment on the specifics of the Nose (I think it was the Great Roof) and of Meltdown. I seem to remember the Nose case as a point of interest rather than an attempt to belittle the achievement.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Acknowledged. I should have found a more solid example. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Martin and Joy Moran used a rented motorhome for their trip which they slept in most nights, although I seem to remember a few bothies and other types of accommadation were used occasionally.

Anyway, congratulations to Anna for such an amazing and inspirational achievement.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I can't speak for every single hill, but as explained above, they used vans, which they slept in. Martin's book and the Kev Woods film make that abundantly clear (the film is really good if you haven't seen it). I think it is perhaps just a clumsy sentence in the reporting, which was there to explain that motorised transport was used, unlike some other Munro rounds, Steve Perry's being the only winter example.  

In reply to Robert Durran:

And likewise here. The day trip driving thing was (to some, at least) the elephant in the room and would be weird not to bring it up. But it has no bearing on the actual achievement.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

I just thought it was tediously predictable; just looking to criticise.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

Surprisingly (or not), you didn't comment on the amount of flights Will Bosi has been taking to get his tick list. Nor Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll repeated flights to Patagonia and elsewhere.

A return flight to the east coast of the US is about 5,500 kg of CO2 or the equivalent of driving 11,000 miles.

Most climbers celebrated in the news are taking many, many flights per year but you choose Anna as the person you make your comments about, can you explain why that is?

In reply to timparkin:

To be fair to Michael, he picked up a baton from an earlier, less measured post and to my mind has been more interested in discussion than bashing Anna over the head with it like the original, now thankfully deleted post was. But the gist of your point is absolutely spot on and better addresses the petty hypocrisy of this thread's sourer notes than I did with my 38 years of driving up and down the A9/A82 example.

I think Es Tressider made a good go of mountaineering with a minimal carbon footprint some years back and he may even have done article on here about it. The rest of us can and should talk about vehicle use but we're almost certainly all hypocrites if we criticise our peers for driving to the hills.

In reply to Lankyman:

That would just have the vegans criticising.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Could you get round this by weaving your own hair into a shirt? Where there's a will ...

In reply to timparkin:

It's not like these things don't come in for criticism or at least get highlighted.

In some ways they're highlighted by examples of others making different choices. E.g. Seb Berthe sailing to America to go to Yosemite instead of flying or Aiden Roberts more or less committing to doing all his climbing in places he can reach without flying.

To be clear, I'm guilty in this regard - I fly (including to America a couple of times), I drive places, I heat my house, I own stuff I don't need etc.

I also think that threads like these typically just die unless there's some element of controversy! E.g. as brought up in this thread a couple of times, the recent article about Jack Palmeiri doing 200 8's in a year could have basically the same discussion about driving in it. It doesn't - but it doesn't have anything in it! (https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/ukc/jack_palmieri_on_climbing_200_8s_in_a...) I'm sure everyone agrees it's a very impressive achievement, but no-one (on this forum at least) really had anything to say about it.

A while ago I asked a question on a news report about Jacopo Larcher repeating Parthian Shot. The question was the first post in the forum and was asking if the side runner he was using was normally used. It came across more negative than I intended, and I did feel a bit bad about it, but also I wanted to know!

That turned into a bit of a ramble, I don't think I really have a point.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Anyone know what the overall mileage/height gain for this is roughly? Must be a lot!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Congratulations to Anna on her amazing achievement.

In reply to the old male gits criticising Anna for using a car to get from a to b - get out from behind your keyboards and get a life!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Nice little interview with Anna right at the end of today's PM on R4. Will be on BBC Sounds.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Ive only just read this string of comments and whilst I don't want to get too engulfed I thought I would share my thoughts!

I actually stayed away overnight quite a lot, about 20/25 nights. So out of 67 hill days, I think less than half were day trips. (E.g. if you assume 1 night away links two days together.) Those that were day trips were often with friends from Inverness, in which case we were car sharing. So a little better. 

I do recognise the carbon footprint associated with the round, it was something I thought about beforehand, and of course I recognise that its a bad thing. Its probably no more than a week's ski holiday to France which thousands of people do, and again, I know that doesn't make it ok, but it's not abnormal. The last few years I have increasingly spent more holidays at home in Scotland appreciating local adventures, and perhaps people who followed the round might also be inspired to spend more time in Scotland or dream up UK based adventures.

In terms of how I could have done it better, staying in a van would not have worked for me, because Im simply not tough enough!! Big days punctuated by comfort was the only way it worked for me, and my alternative would have been not to do it at all. I guess you can compare that to someone flying to southern Spain instead of taking the bus? It's suboptimal ,but again it's not abnormal. I think someone commented above "So should anything anybody does be criticised if there is theoretically a lower carbon way of doing it?". 

Fortunately I received immense support and offers of accomodation all over the country, and if I had stuck to a rigid schedule and order, then I could have reduced driving - but, my strategy was to optimise weather and snow conditions which inevitably meant jumping about between different areas. I think this strategy was what helped me achieve a fast completion time and dodge a lot of storms.

So I don't really have a conclusion other than to say, I recognise there is a carbon footprint associated with the round, and I recognise that's a bad thing, but I don't think it's grossly abnormal or significantly worse than what most people do when you consider foreign holidays. I had actually hoped to visit my family in Texas after I finished, but the flight prices doubled and I couldn't afford it in the end , but I bet no one would have criticised my carbon footprint for that! 

In reply to annawells89:

Thankyou for that thoughtful and very measured response.

In reply to sandrow:

Enough with the sexist responses please.

In reply to annawells89:

Excellent response.

In reply to annawells89:

A well written response and congratulations.

In reply to annawells89:

Thanks Anna. It's a shame that this aspect, rather than CONGRATULATIONS, has so dominated this thread. 
I do wonder what the carbon footprint of this thread is (regarding server and device energy, and the heating of our homes during the time spent reading and posting )