A Corbett Completion ...

In September 2000, I stood on the summit of Stob na Broige to mark my completion of a round of the Scottish Munro summits (mountains above 3000 ft.). The list, which has changed over the years, at that point numbered 284 summits and it had taken me seventeen years to visit them all. It was a very special moment in time shared with family and friends but I vowed not to get involved in another list of hills. The plan was to simply enjoy and reacquaint myself with more local mountains rather than long drives and longer approaches to visit a “new” summit.

The Big Buachaille - photo by Sally Heath

I stayed true to that promise until May 2009 when I shared a few days with my pal Manny Gorman during his epic and inspirational journey round the Corbetts. The story of his 70 dayself-propelled trip is told in his book which I highly recommend to anyone who appreciates a well told tale that is guaranteed to both inspire and make you laugh.

Maself and Manny - photo by Sally Heath

As I followed his adventure, I caught myself map gazing more and more and by the time he had completed his round, I was the proud owner of a dirty secret…I was up for following in his footsteps at a more leisurely pace and had started a new list of the Corbett summits marked up to record ascents completed. Of course the public declaration was that I was simply looking for new training routes. Over the coming years, any spare weekends and the odd day trip was filled with visits to new areas not previously visited on the Munros round which included Arran, Jura, Rum, the Scottish Borders and the spectacular Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan peninsula.

If my Munro round was marked by trips with pals, my Corbett round was to largely be a solo adventure. Many of the folks I know are still collecting their own Munros and others have to balance family life and work maybe more than I do. Another possible reason is that the Corbetts are not as convenient to access or traverse, with very few having good paths. There were exceptions and for some of the most important trips, I was lucky enough to share the experience with some of the same folks I had done similar with on the Munros and equally, enjoyed some trips to new areas with new pals.

Leading up to the last Corbett, I spent a lot of time cross checking maps, diaries and lists to ensure that when I did stand on Beinn a'Chrulaiste, it was indeed a complete list. Possibly the two statistics that surprised me most was that I had spent a total of 50 days in the mountains during 2010 (the usual is around 30 days per year) and I had stood on 114 of the 221 summits on my own.

On Saturday the 1st November 2014, I was humbled when so many family and friends made the time to join me for the ascent of Beinn a'Chrulaiste. There were a few reasons for leaving this till last. For one it was close to Glasgow and sat between the Kinghouse and Clachaig Hotels which had both played a part in my misspent youth. Possibly more significantly, the ascent route shared the same car park as used for my Munro completion back in 2000. It also felt appropriate being able to look across the ridge of Buachaille Etive Mor with Stob na Broige at the far end. Kinda like going full circle or returning to the scene of the crime if you will.

Summit approach with Sally and the bottle - photo by Pete Duggan

I’ve thought long and hard about what to write about the day itself and continue to struggle to put it into words. There were many wonderful aspects such as the weather remaining kind until we were ready to leave the summit anyway, passing round a very special bottle of whisky and late night celebrations in the Clachaig after, but to single any individual story out from that day would be doing an injustice to the many tales that could be told. There were also folks who would have liked to have been there but simply could not. To all who have shared the Corbett journey from the very bottom of my heart I am grateful to all who have shared life and laughs over the years.

Whats a round without a piper !
 Proud to have Gordon on both ma Munro and Corbett completion days - photo by Cameron Burt

After a quiet toast of whisky tae absent friends, I got to thinking about the inevitable “next.” In the short term, I want to provide support to pals who are on their own Munro gig. On a personal level though, there is another list of Scottish mountains which does actually have ma name oan it!

Tae be continued…mibbe ?

Rio has nothin oan the Coe - photo by Cameron Burt