Feel free to add your own stats in the comments section below…
Here are my hill statistics and summary for the year but I’ve only worked out the mileage and height gain for Scotland as it was too messy for the English stuff I did (no Welsh stuff again this year unfortunately 😦 ).
Munros: 14 (12 were re-ascents, 2 were my Compleation)
Tops: 30 (1 guided, 1 with Richard, 1 with Mark the rest solo)
Scotland other: 3
Wainwright Reascents: 27
Wainwright Outlying: 2
Birketts: 3 (I’m only counting Birketts which aren’t Wainwrights)
Other English hills: 1
Total hills: 80
Munros Tops to go: 29
Scottish trips: 10 (3 in September!)
English trips: 7
Hill days: Scotland 22 England 20
Summit views (hill days when all wasn’t in the clag):
Scotland 17 England 16
Miles walked (Scotland): 259
Height gain (Scotland): 77313 feet
Miles cycled: 23
Car miles: 12000 (approx) – petrol £1350 (approx)
Guide costs: £150
Holiday Cottage nights (Scotland): 2 weeks – £730
Hotel nights (Scotland): 8 – £439
B&B nights (Scotland): 10 – £400
Youth Hostel nights (Scotland): 4 – £76
Bothy nights: none 😦
Car Camping (Scotland): 3 blissful and free/cheap nights 🙂
Scottish Accommodation Total: £1645
Outdoor Rock Climbs
VDiffs: 2
Severes: 4
VS: 1
all limestone
I found this a particularly tough year. The Munro Tops are much harder than the Munros – some in technical difficulty (scariness in my case) and some are just a damn long walk. Two of the walks, Meall Dearg (Liathach) and The Basteir Tooth wouldn’t have been possible for me without help – I’m particularly grateful to my friend Mark for taking the time to do Meall Dearg with me. That meant he had to do it twice and I’m not sure it’s his favourite hill either.
I’ve also had a confidence crisis this year, possibly due to an ongoing niggling groin strain which sometimes resurfaces and makes my balance bad and causes instability in movement. This has made the peaks even more challenging.
As I said at the start of my Munro Top-bagging this year, I’m going to document all the ones I do from the start of this year as there is so little information out there about the Tops.
Here are some of the ‘highlights’ of the year…
First of all, I got awarded “Worst customer in 22 years” at Cromasaig B&B! See the Beinn Eighe post’s comments and scroll down to see the ‘award’ 😉
I just got my yearly report from WordPress and was extremely amused to see that my biggest referrer (bringing hits to my blog) was my ex-forum who so unceremoniously banned me and caused me to make the sensible decision to blog instead of sharing all my information on someone’s forum! 🙂
Meall Dearg (above right and from the summit below) – would never have got this top without my friend Mark! (photos by Mark)
My proudest moment as I did this scramble on my own, continuing even though it was scaring the hell out of me! (click on photo below for close-up of the scramble)
No idea how I got down this one but it did involve a paid guide!
Biggest shock – luckily it was fine when I got there…
Hope you all have a great year in 2014 and thanks for reading about my adventures 🙂
P.S. unfortunately, my New Year (or at least New Year’s Eve) is cancelled as I’ve just got shingles and have to stay away from crowds of people while I’m infectious in case they haven’t had chickenpox!
The Adventures of a Mountain Coward 
Oh well – perhaps you were just a threat to his masculinity! 😉
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I honestly wondered whether it was because he couldn’t get to the hills any more now he was older and less well
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Good point – might well have been!
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Impressive stats Carol – even more so that you’ve got the petrol costs, miles, hill days and a breakdown of accommodation! I like looking at stats but am hopeless at compiling them. My basic hill stats for last year were:
Munros: 38 (3 re-ascents)
Corbetts: 8
Grahams: 2
sub-2000 Marilyns: 13 (6 re-ascents)
I have no idea how many hill days that was – to think about it makes my head hurt (although as I write this I am bedridden with a chest infection so anything makes my head hurt) I will try and keep a record this year though. Do you track it all in a spreadsheet, including costs etc?
And cannot believe the sheer arrogance of the B&B owner to then come on to your site and try to justify his arrogance! Priceless 😀
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No spreadsheet – I just write them in my diary and put the mileage, ascent and time taken for each walk. Then I page through it all at the end of the year – something fun to do on long December evenings though 🙂
The B&B owner had a sneaky link to their B&B at the bottom of the comments too! I noticed on my stats that a couple of people had gone to their website from my blog so guessed that’s where they’d gone from. So I’ve edited his comments to remove their website. I don’t see why I should be insulted and provide free advertising for them 😉
Carol.
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Quite right too. It wouldnt have been so bad if he hadnt come onto the site and started mouthing off! I wondered if he didnt realise what a ‘top’ was and thought that you were just bagging the Munro? Still…no excuse!
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He should know – apparently he used to be in the mountain rescue when he was fitter
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You put my record to shame, Carol. I must resolve to get out more this year.
Interesting to note all the referrals from your old forum. I find that sort of thing very satisfying.
All the best for the new year, Alen
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Happy New Year!
Like you I have had a bit of a crisis of confidence recently and am struggling as to how to overcome it. 😦 Fingers crossed we both can in the New Year.
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I tend to be even worse after a Scottish lay-off over the winter. I’ll have to go off and do some Lakes stuff like Striding and Swirral Edges before I start back in Scotland or something just to get my confidence up a bit. I’ve tried that before and it worked a bit. I have much more faith in the Lakes hills…
Carol.
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Hi Carol. Wow, that looks like an incredible year! 77000 ft. height gain – my quads are burning just thinking about it. All the best in 2015!
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I think the average would probably be about 4000 feet per Scottish walk. The Scottish hills are much tougher than the ones we have in England and the thing both Richard and I notice when we go back up there is that the descents seem to go on forever (and even the ascents too some days) 😉
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4000 ft is a good rise! I have enjoyed reading your blog and have learned a lot about your mountains. I look forward to seeing more tops in 2015!
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Well done Carol on your commitment to the Scottish economy once again. Sorry to hear about the shingles. My niece had that years ago and I think it can be painful in some cases. I already know you’re a mad bugger, as most dedicated baggers or bloggers have to be to keep on doing it with scant reward but I did feel the need to point out your hill walking experience regarding molehill comment as I know you research all your routes up mountains painstakingly before any trip.Which is more than I do in most cases as I usually just pick a line on sight.
Best wishes for 2015.
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I’ve just nearly stopped laughing at it – great comment Bob and thanks 🙂 I passed his comment on to my usual hotels/guesthouses/B&Bs and they thought he was nuts as they find me and Richard most uncomplaining!
Hope you have a great 2015 🙂
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A lot of people say I shouldn’t do so much obsessive research before I go up Scottish peaks and just ‘go for it’ – some people think that’s the key to me not getting worked up beforehand and scared on the hill. Haven’t tried it so don’t know if they’re right!
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WOW! That is impressive Carol….
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Thanks – I’m hoping I can have as good a year next year and get the tops done – then I can get onto other things…
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A busy year Carol. All that, and ‘worst customer in 22 years’ as well – that’s an award to savour 🙂
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Me and Richard are still giggling about it – that and the molehill comment further up! 😉
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Nice totals Carol, the end must seem within reach 🙂 I notice your bagging Birketts now too 😉 you may find shingles more appealing then some of them!
I only managed 3 ‘mountain’ days North of the Border (2 on Jura, 1 on N Uist) so nothing to shout about there and stopped counting Wainwrights when the dog started his 4th round!
Hope your better soon and have a great 2015 😀
Cheers Simon
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I’m not collecting Birketts as such – I just noticed we did some of them while we were doing walks to get Richard his Wainwrights. Might be a list to take on after the Outlying Wainwrights though?
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Good effort there Carol. 30 Munro Tops is, I’d say, that’s going some.👍
Agreed, Meall Dearg is a bit of a bugger to get at. It’s unlikely I’ll be repaying another visit………..
Munros; 2, all repeats
Munro Tops; 3, all repeats
Deleated Munro Tops; 0
Corbetts; 34, +2 repeats
Grahams; 14
Sub 2ks; 5
Donalds; 6
New Donalds; 9
44 mountain days in Scotland, I must try harder.😕
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I think that’s a pretty good year – and you did lots of bothying which is great – I’m jealous of that and can’t wait to get back to doing more of that sort of thing.
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Managed ten bothy nights. Four in Wales and six in Scotland. I’ll be getting 2015 underway with four bothy nights in the NW. Tis the bothying season.😉
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Tis the scratching season for me sitting here with shingles! 😦
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Grand pictures too!
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Thanks John – they were some of my favourites from the year 🙂
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