To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir Hugh Munro, The Munro Society is presenting an exhibition celebrating the life of the Scottish mountaineer behind the Munros list, and his legacy.
A founder member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, Sir Hugh Munro first published his list of Scotland’s mountains over 3,000ft in the SMC Journal. Sadly he never completed the list himself, but in the years since thousands of “compleaters” have done so. The SMC keeps records of all those who submit details of their rounds.
The forthcoming Munro Society exhibition, at the A.K Bell Library in Perth, is free of charge, and will take place between 5 March and 18 May 2019. It tells the story of Scotland’s mountains as a source of recreation from its 19th Century beginnings to the present day, and in particular the contribution of the man whose name is used to describe Scotland’s highest mountains.
With posters, banners, display cabinets, and mannequins in traditional and contemporary outdoor kit, the exhibition offers visitors insights into the birth of Munro’s Tables, the growth of the bagging movement and the Munro Society itself. It also discusses how developments impacting on our hills.
Amongst the items in the display cabinets are Sir Hugh’s aneroid barometer, the ice axe used by the first Munroist, the Rev A. E. Robertson, and a copy of the original Munro’s Tables.
In the Spring issue of The Great Outdoors, published on 29 March, Alan Rowan will take a look at the Munro-bagging phenomenon and the ever-changing nature of the Munros list.
Top image of Ben Nevis from Corpach: Harry Feather/Shutterstock
