The Munros are mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet, 914.4 metres, in height. The list of Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro who first published his list in 1891. He died before he was able to climb all of these mountains. The first person to climb all the Munros was the Rev. A. E. Robertson who completed this feat in 1901.
On Sir Hugh's death the Scottish Mountaineering Club took over his list and have made various amendments the last being in 1997. At that time there were 284 Munros ranging from Ben Lomond in the south to Ben Hope in the north and from Ben More on the Island of Mull to Mount Keen on the east coast.
In the summer of 2009 the Munro Society arranged for several mountains around the 914.4 metre height to be re-surveyed and as a result Sgurr nan Ceannaichean in Glen Carron, Wester Ross was found to be under the magical height and has been relegated to Corbett status. This means that there are now only 283 Munros. The Press Release issued by the Munro Society relative to this change can be viewed here. Ordnance Survey, the mapping agency for Great Britain have apparently ratified this change.
The only criteria for a Munro is that it must be over 3,000 feet in height.
Persons climbing the Munros are referred to as Munro Baggers and those who have climbed all the Munros as Munroists. The Scottish Mountaineering Club keep a list of all the Munroists who have registered their completion and this can be viewed at www.smc.org.uk.
In addition to the Munros there are Munro Tops. These are also mountains over 3,000 feet and are subsidiary to the Munros. It is said you are not a true Munroist until you have climbed all the Munro Tops as Sir Hugh included the Munro Tops in his list. However the decision is yours. You can always climb the Munro Tops on a subsequent round of the Munros! The Scottish Mountaineering Club web site also contains a list of those that have climbed the Munro Tops.