No woman has completed more Munro rounds than Hazel Strachan. The Bathgate, Scotland native has forged a lifestyle by climbing Scotland’s 282 peaks that are 3,000 feet (914m) and higher.
On one day in mid-October, she put her commanding record even further out of reach.
Strachan summited Glas Maol (1,068m) and Creag Leacach (987m) on October 16 to finish her 11th and 12th Munro rounds. She did the feat on what appears to have been a raw Scottish winter day.
Walked over Glas Maol in driving rain for the second last Munro. The sun is out and I’m now on the summit of Creag Leacach having ‘compleated’ a 12th Munro round.#Munros #doublecompleation #Scotland https://t.co/rt7Mzew3px
— Hazel Strachan (@StrachanHazel) October 16, 2022
The Scottish Mountaineering Club curates the list of Munro peaks. Summit height is the only defining criterion; peak prominence is not a factor. According to Fastest Known Time, completing a round means covering 126,000m of vertical gain.
Hamish Brown reported the first known successful Munro round in 1974. Donnie Campbell ran and walked the circuit continuously in 2020, and covered an estimated 1,422km to do it. The record for the most ever completed Munro rounds belongs to Steve Fallon, with 16.
Strachan holds the women’s record, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what’s important to her about the Munros. In a tweet, she points out that in her last two Munro rounds — almost 600 hikes — she’s only had a partner on 8. It seems she prioritizes a self-reliant approach and the solitude of her home country’s striking natural beauty.
Strachan typically prefers to take her time, bagging Munros one at a time by herself. Of the 564 total Munro summits she needed for her 11th and 12th rounds, she only hiked with a partner on eight of them.
Strachan goes the long way
Each round took Strachan over three years of work. Along the way, she got some traveling in, visiting the United States’ Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Arches National Park.
The detours may have hampered her record-setting pace in the Munros. But she drew intrinsic value from them nonetheless, indulging her curiosity for terrain and geology.
Painted Wall is on the right. The main rock is Gneiss and the white veins is Pegmatite. The canyon of the Gunnison was formed by water erosion. The deepest part of the canyon is at Warner Point. It’s a drop of 2722ft down to the river. #Colorado pic.twitter.com/ifXJTyUzwE
— Hazel Strachan (@StrachanHazel) June 14, 2022
Highlights of Strachan’s last few years in the Munros include packrafting through rivers and lochs during some legs of the trip.
Will Strachan continue to rack up more Munro circuits? All signs point to yes. But now, other peak-bagging objectives now beckon. The Corbett Round consists of 219 Scottish peaks between 762-914m.
A week after her double Munro, Strachan had already gotten started.
22.10.22 By noon the banks of cloud had cleared to revealed the bulk of both Baosbheinn and Beinn an Eoin. I had a great day traversing both #Corbetts The night sky was beautiful with a million stars. The sound of rain against the tarp woke me from a deep sleep.#Scotland pic.twitter.com/eH2Jb81dWg
— Hazel Strachan (@StrachanHazel) October 24, 2022
Get ready for ongoing updates to the Scottish Mountaineering Club record books.
