Ben Lawers has already been climbed by National Trust for Scotland teams
Staff and volunteers from a conservation charity will attempt to summit every munro owned by the organisation in time for the birth anniversary of the man who first listed the mountains.
Sir Hugh Munro would have been 155 on 16 October next year, and teams from the National Trust for Scotland are taking to the hills to raise awareness that charity owns and cares for 46 of Scotland’s 283 munros – 3,000ft mountains in the official list maintained by the Scottish Mountaineering Club.
The country’s most southerly munro, Ben Lomond, is among those in the care of the trust, along with peaks as far north as Torridon.
Teams will tackle three peaks – Meall Garbh, An Stùc and Meall Greigh this Friday, 5 November. Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers have already been summited by National Trust teams in October.
The project was the brainchild of Edinburgh-based unrelated hillwalkers David McKinnon and Angus McKinnon, who both work in the charity’s development and commercial services directorate.
David, the trust’s corporate relationships manager explains: “So few people seem to know that the trust owns 46 Munros, so we’ve decided to take action and spread the word about the fantastic countryside that is in our care.
“Our plan is to get groups of trust staff and volunteers involved in climbing every one of the trust’s munros over the next year, starting at Ben Lawers.”
Gus McKinnon who heads the charity’s design and production team is a keen mountaineer and walker, having climbed Scottish peaks for decades. He has also walked across Scotland 11 times, as part of the TGO Challenge.
He said: “This is a great opportunity to talk to other hillwalkers and tell them how much time, money and work the trust puts in to looking after Scotland’s hills, which so many enjoy every day. We hope that we’ll encourage a few fellow walkers to contribute to our cause, on the way.”
The team also intend to set up a blog, sharing their experience and pictures of the climbs.
The National Trust for Scotland is also on the lookout for companies to come forward and take part in a final co-ordinated climb of all 46 peaks on 16 October 2011, to mark the date in mountaineering history.
