A motion lodged at the Scottish Parliament by a Munro-bagging MSP calls for the originator of the 3000-footer list, Sir Hugh Munro, to be inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame alongside more mainstream sporting figures such as Kenny Dalglish.
© Sean Kelly, Feb 2010
Murdo Fraser, conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, wants Munro's contribution to hillwalking and mountaineering to be officially recognised - an idea that's found some cross-party support.
'Although he was born in London' says the motion, 'Sir Hugh was brought up in Scotland on his family estate at Lindertis near Kirriemuir in Angus.'
'He was a founding member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club and eventually held the position of president of the club... in 1891, Sir Hugh's "table giving all the Scottish mountains exceeding 3,000 feet in height" was published in the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal.'
Sir Hugh's figure of 283 separate mountains, which subsequently became known as Munros, and 255 subsidiary mountain tops, was 'impressively close to the most up-to-date figures, following a century of improved mapping techniques, of 282 Munros and 221 tops' says Fraser.
'Sir Hugh’s stamina, attention to detail and reputation as a superb climber aided him in his pursuit.'
The motion notes with sadness that Sir Hugh never completed his personal list of Munros, falling three short of the target when he died in 1919.
'Without Sir Hugh, the popular mountaineering activity known as Munro bagging would never have existed' concludes Fraser. And that's of course true, so far as it goes. Perhaps generations of walkers would've been bagging Smiths or Joneses instead.
Comments