Munro

A mountain in Scotland over 3000 feet. There are a few other rules such as a maximum lowest point between different Munros. There are 284 altogether and many people spend far too much time trying to climb all of them and so be heralded as a 'Munroist'. One such group is the Munro Pineapple Society.
The first person to complete all the Munros was the Reverend Archibald Eneas Robertson in 1901, who is said to have revealed the priorities in his life when he reached the final summit and kissed first the cairn and then his wife. His diaries, however, have raised suspicions that he might have missed one of them out.
Until 1981, there were only 250 Munroists on record but the total is now rising at the rate of 153 a year and stands at 2,200 - plus an unknown number who have chosen not to register their feat with the SMC. The fastest circuit is 66 days, and one enthusiast finished his 10th round at the millennium!
The main concentrations of Munros are in the Cairngorms, the North-West Highlands and the area East of Fort William which includes Ben Nevis and Glencoe. Only the Inaccessible Pinnacle demands rock-climbing equipment, but there have been several fatal accidents and countless dozens of other incidents on Munros in highly exposed places where scrambling is demanding. In winter, many routes require ice axes and crampons.
Some ridges in summer are covered with Munro-baggers, ticking off their lists. In 1991, it was reported
that a new Munro had been found and dozens of obsessives climbed it the next weekend - only to hear that the report had been wrong and the extra ascent had been in vain.

The ten tallest Munros are;

1. Ben Nevis 1344 metres
   A combination of fame as the tallest mountain in the UK, easy accessibility through proximity to the important town of Fort William and slopes which become very dangerous in poor weather leads to a grim toll of death and injury every year. Even the "tourist route" to the summit claims victims.
2. Ben MacDhui 1309 metres
   Once thought to be the tallest mountain, this mountain is in the region of large mountains known as the Cairngorms and is said to be haunted by a mysterious creature known as The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui who seems to be similar to an abominable snowman or yeti.
3. Braeriach 1296 metres
   A second Cairngorm, also apparently haunted by a strange creature.
4. Cairn Toul 1293 metres
   A third Cairngorm, this and Braeriach rise from a high plateau near Ben MacDhui.
5. Cairngorm 1245 metres The mountain after which the area is named.
6. Aonach Beag 1236 metres
   This and the next two mountains on the list lie just to the east of Ben Nevis
7. Carn Mor Dearg 1223 metres
8. Aonach Mor 1219 metres
9. Ben Lawers 1214 metres
   The tallest mountain in the Southern Highlands, and easy to reach from the central belt of Scotland, this is the only mountain in the top ten which the current author has climbed to the summit.
10. Beinn a' Bhuird 1196 metres
    Yet another Cairngorm.

Heights are from Munro's Tables by The Scottish Mountaineering Club, first metric edition 1974

Other interesting Scottish Mountains are Driesh, The Cobbler, and Ben Lomond.

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ryano says I think it's interesting that Aonach Beag is taller than Aonach Mor. Is Aonach Mor bigger in volume, or something?

Bad Loser replies Yes, that's right. The names mean little, and big, ridge ,and the "little ridge" is taller, while the "big ridge" appears bulkier.

Munro is also the title of a children's (and adults') book by Jules Pfeiffer. There are a few comic-art stories in it; the title piece is about a four-year-old boy named (surprise) Munro who is drafted by the army. No-one, of course, will believe him when he says "I'm only four," which is pretty much all he says the whole time. His take on army life is freakin' hilarious, especially when mated with Pfeiffer's trademark pencil sketch silliness.

For example, his take on The Sergeant:

The Sergeant could not, apparently, speak English. None of The Sergeants could. They spoke in code. This captions a drawing of marching drill with the Sergeant shouting "HUP! TOOP! THREEP! FOURP! HUP! TOOP! COMMMMPNEEEEEEEE....HULT!"

The next game they all played was called 'Face.' It was very popular. Everyone was doing it. The drawing here shows a disastrous close-order drill, recruits facing every which way, while The Sergeant screams (so loudly that all we can see are his chin and his tonsils) "RYE FACE! LEF FACE! FRONT FACE! BACK FACE! UP FACE! DOWN FACE! FACE FACE!"

Another frequent game was called 'bendover.' This one has pictures of Munro cleaning ovens, digging trenches, mopping floors, all bent over his task.

When Munro finally insists he's only four, they send him to Sick Call, where a doctor walks down the rows of hacking, coughing soldiers muttering to himself "Everybody's faking, everybody's faking, everybody's faking... He gives Munro some pills for the condition of being four and tells him to stop faking.

The entire book is a commentary on the military and the Cold War arms race; the last sequence involves atmospheric atomic testing, complete with sound effects (BASH) and the problems that crop up when there are all sorts of little floating black specks in the atmosphere. (Hint: it involves billboard campaigns extolling the notion that "YOUR GOVERNMENT wants YOU to know that Little Floating Black Specks are GOOD for YOU!") The last copy of this I saw was a paperback, and that some time ago. If you run across it in a used book sale, grab it and treasure it.