Stone Country – Landscapes and Lifescapes

The biggest peaks in each Scottish Mountain range - how many are there? Not as many as Munro's table of clustered bumps (pity the poor Skye bagger on the ridge!). The qualification is simple: the biggest peak in each distinct mountain range, though distinction is sometimes difficult. While this might seem lazy or just as arbitrary as Munro's fascination (a case in point is the Cobbler, much more dramatic than Ben Ime), it is at least not quite as obsessive, as each range gives a geological colour of its own and climbing the highest peak (usually) provides a good enough walking challenge, as well as offering a more realistic tour of Scotland's landscape, with landscape in mind rather than a tick-box. A good example of this is the northern Breadalbane range of hills sandwiching Glen Lyon. Beinn Dorain dominates only because it's by the road and it naturally captures the attention, but Beinn a' Chreachain provides a more remote experience entirely and arguably a rich...

I still haven't bagged them all and I guess I don't feel that urge or itch - just being on the flanks of hills, in the bowels of corries, in deep lush gorges with no escape, in echoey stone shoots, or buffeted on the steep faces of rock, it doesn't matter to me where I am on the hill, I'm just happy to be out, like the stag who knows there are parts of the mountain for every season. The summit is for a peculiar kind of  beast and the odd and very British fad for Munro bagging is now a kind of institutionalised fever that is as popular as ever. So what does a climber do when it rains, or tweaks a tendon, or is just sore and old...? Go for a walk... I would recommend getting a good Munro guide and stomping around a few, you'll enjoy it and I guarantee you'll find some new rock. I was on Aonach Beag recently and was delighted to discover a tremendous face of rock high on the hill with only a handful of routes on it and in the corrie a host of largely untouched...