How high are the Munros?
The 282 Munros range from Beinn Teallach at 914.6 m to Ben Nevis at 1,344.5 m, a spread of only 429.9 m. Half are above 999 m; 136 reach 1,000 m, 49 reach 1,100 m, 10 reach 1,200 m, and just two, Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui, top 1,300 m.
The shape of the list
Many Munros only just qualify. Of the 282, 68 (24%) are below 950 m, within about 35 m of the 3,000 ft line. The count falls steadily with height after 1,000 m, and only ten Munros reach 1,200 m; they are the ten in the next table.
| Height band | Munros | |
|---|---|---|
| 900–950 m | 68 | 68 Munros |
| 950–1,000 m | 78 | 78 Munros |
| 1,000–1,050 m | 57 | 57 Munros |
| 1,050–1,100 m | 30 | 30 Munros |
| 1,100–1,150 m | 27 | 27 Munros |
| 1,150–1,200 m | 12 | 12 Munros |
| 1,200–1,250 m | 5 | 5 Munros |
| 1,250–1,300 m | 3 | 3 Munros |
| 1,300–1,350 m | 2 | 2 Munros |
Munros by 50 m height band. Heights as published in the database.
The ten highest
| No. | Munro | Height | Drop | County | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Nevis | 1,344.5 m | 1,344.5 m | Highland | Drop 1,344.5 m · Highland |
| 2 | Ben Macdui | 1,309.3 m | 950 m | Aberdeenshire, Moray | Drop 950 m · Aberdeenshire, Moray |
| 3 | Braeriach | 1,295.5 m | 461 m | Aberdeenshire, Highland | Drop 461 m · Aberdeenshire, Highland |
| 4 | Cairn Toul | 1,292.4 m | 167 m | Aberdeenshire | Drop 167 m · Aberdeenshire |
| 5 | Sgor an Lochain Uaine | 1,258 m | 116.7 m | Aberdeenshire | Drop 116.7 m · Aberdeenshire |
| 6 | Cairn Gorm | 1,244.8 m | 145.8 m | Highland, Moray | Drop 145.8 m · Highland, Moray |
| 7 | Aonach Beag (Highland, NN197715) | 1,234.2 m | 404 m | Highland | Drop 404 m · Highland |
| 8 | Carn Mor Dearg | 1,221.1 m | 164.1 m | Highland | Drop 164.1 m · Highland |
| 9 | Aonach Mor | 1,220.4 m | 133 m | Highland | Drop 133 m · Highland |
| 10 | Ben Lawers | 1,214.3 m | 914 m | Perth and Kinross | Drop 914 m · Perth and Kinross |
Ben Nevis is 35.2 m higher than Ben Macdui, the biggest gap between any two neighbours in the ranking. Five of the top ten are recorded in Aberdeenshire or Moray, alone or on a boundary with Highland; four of the other five are in Highland and one, Ben Lawers, in Perth and Kinross.
The ten lowest
| Rank | Munro | Height | Drop | County | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 282 | Beinn Teallach | 914.6 m | 301.5 m | Highland | Drop 301.5 m · Highland |
| 281 | Carn Aosda | 915.3 m | 122.1 m | Aberdeenshire | Drop 122.1 m · Aberdeenshire |
| 280 | Ben Vane | 915.8 m | 424 m | Argyll and Bute | Drop 424 m · Argyll and Bute |
| 279 | Beinn a' Chleibh | 916.3 m | 139.9 m | Argyll and Bute, Stirling | Drop 139.9 m · Argyll and Bute, Stirling |
| 278 | Meall na Teanga | 916.8 m | 305.5 m | Highland | Drop 305.5 m · Highland |
| 277 | A' Ghlas-bheinn | 917.1 m | 406 m | Highland | Drop 406 m · Highland |
| 276 | Geal-charn (Highland, NN596782) | 917.1 m | 178 m | Highland | Drop 178 m · Highland |
| 275 | Creag nan Damh | 917.2 m | 196 m | Highland | Drop 196 m · Highland |
| 274 | Sgurr a' Mhadaidh | 918 m | 72.9 m | Highland | Drop 72.9 m · Highland |
| 273 | Ruadh Stac Mor | 918.7 m | 169.8 m | Highland | Drop 169.8 m · Highland |
The lowest, Beinn Teallach, clears 3,000 ft by 0.2 m. Low Munros are not necessarily small hills: four of these ten have more drop than the median Munro (245.7 m), led by Ben Vane at 424 m. Height decides whether a hill is a Munro, but not how it looks from the glen.
Munros and the 3,000 ft line
Being over 3,000 ft is necessary but not enough. The database records 630 Scottish hills of 3,000 ft or more, so 348 of them are not Munros: they are lesser tops that the list does not count as separate mountains. Only one of those is profiled on this site, because it is also a Marilyn: Creag Toll a' Choin (1,005.3 m). Its Munro neighbour Maoile Lunndaidh, 0.7 km away, is 0.4 m lower and is on the list.
The boundary with the Corbetts is just as fine. The highest Corbett, Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, stands at 914 m: 0.4 m short of 3,000 ft and 0.6 m lower than the lowest Munro. The two lists meet within a metre, so a small change in a surveyed height is enough to move a hill across the line.
The same height outside Scotland gives a different list. England, Wales and Ireland have 34 summits of 3,000 ft or more in the database, known as the Furths, led by Snowdon – Yr Wyddfa at 1,085 m. Their highest point would rank 57th among the Munros, and their median height of 959.9 m is below the median Munro.
Where the Munros are
By the county recorded in the database, 173 Munros are in Highland alone, followed by Perth and Kinross (28), Argyll and Bute (16), Aberdeenshire (14), Stirling (14). The remainder are on county boundaries or in smaller counties. The database's own regions narrow it further: the busiest are Fort William to Loch Treig & Loch Leven (20), Loch Duich to Cannich (17), Cairngorms (14). Munros occur in 40 of the database's regions.
From the coordinates, the most northerly Munro is Ben Hope (927 m) and the most southerly Ben Lomond (973.7 m), 245.8 km apart in a straight line. The most westerly is Sgurr na Banachdich and the most easterly Mount Keen. By height, the northernmost ranks 256th of the 282 and the southernmost 182nd.
The median Munro is 2.9 km from its nearest higher summit, so most stand in close groups along ridges. Close neighbours often mean shallow cols: 80 of the 282 have less than 150 m of drop and are not Marilyns. Three Munros have their key col at sea level, so their drop is their full height: Ben Nevis, Sgurr Alasdair and Ben More (Argyll and Bute). For the median Munro the drop is 23.6% of the height, against 36.4% for the median Corbett, which has to stand clear of its neighbours to qualify. The Munros with the greatest drop are Ben Nevis, 1,344.5 m; Carn Eighe, 1,147 m; Sgurr Alasdair, 992 m; Ben More (Stirling), 986 m; and Ben More (Argyll and Bute), 966 m.
In the finder: show the 136 Munros of 1,000 m or more and tick the ones you have done
The full list with heights, drops and counties is on the Munros page, and every Munro has its own page with neighbours and rank. For how the Munros compare with the other lists, read Munros, Marilyns and Wainwrights: how the lists differ.
Sources
- Contains data from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.6 (www.hill-bagging.co.uk/dobih), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Distances, ranks and comparisons are our own calculations. hill-bagging.co.uk/dobih, licence.
- How drop, isolation and ranks are worked out: Data & methodology.