The early start race

[WalkWithWallace]

Top 10 Corbetts per Walkhighlands logs. I was right with Ben Ledi as the Cobbler is mostly done from Succoth which is also the start point for Narnain and Ime.

[Moriarty]

There are far more folk out doing the Corbetts now than there has been in the past. Just look at the amount of compleaters per year now compared to 2 or 3 decades ago.

SMC completions are a lagging indicator, but don't support that claim.

Completions ran in tiny numbers to about 1990, then increased fairly linearly to about 25/yr by 2000.

For the last 2 decades they have been fairly consistent at about 25-35/yr, with a big Pandemic dip (possible rebound if fuel costs allow to come).

So like Munros, more people out on Corbetts since the turn of the Century, but no real trend to suggest a big increase in the last 20 years.

Of course there may simply be a population of people enjoying the Corbetts with no intention of bagging or completing missing from that data set! .....nah.

[iain_atkinson_1986]

I was wondering what is the busiest standalone corbett car park? - by that I mean a car park that serves one corbett and no other munros / corbetts.

I was thinking maybe Ben Vrackie, though there are some in the deep south I may have overlooked.

I concur re. Ben Ledi.

I rocked up at 0645 in April and got the last "proper space".

[Sgurr]

This is worrying. How early do I need to get up for car parking along the Wrynose Pass?

[simon-b]

This is worrying. How early do I need to get up for car parking along the Wrynose Pass?

Even before the pandemic, you'd have to be pretty early to drive over Wrynose and Hardknott without parking there (M25 style).

[Sunset tripper]

There are far more folk out doing the Corbetts now than there has been in the past. Just look at the amount of compleaters per year now compared to 2 or 3 decades ago.

SMC completions are a lagging indicator, but don't support that claim.

Completions ran in tiny numbers to about 1990, then increased fairly linearly to about 25/yr by 2000.

For the last 2 decades they have been fairly consistent at about 25-35/yr, with a big Pandemic dip (possible rebound if fuel costs allow to come).

Sorry - by in the past I meant 2 or 3 decades ago i.e. 20 or 30 years ago but fair enough, maybe that wasn't clear.

Had a quick look at the SMC stats and yes they have been more consistent in the last 2 dcades but still increasing. The ten years up to the end of 2021 had more new corbett compleaters than the 10 before that even including the covid years.

The Corbett book came out in 1990 I think, and I guess there is still people meandering through them since then and onwards, heading towards completion or maybe just picking a few off, many possibly with no intention of completing.

Anyway there are far more folk out on the corbetts now than there were 30 years ago and maybe even 20 years ago according to my own memory.

[Sunset tripper]

Top 10 Corbetts per Walkhighlands logs. I was right with Ben Ledi as the Cobbler is mostly done from Succoth which is also the start point for Narnain and Ime.

Yes of course Ben Ledi - I forgot about that one!

Cheers

[Moriarty]

Sorry - by in the past I meant 2 or 3 decades ago i.e. 20 or 30 years ago but fair enough, maybe that wasn't clear.

Had a quick look at the SMC stats and yes they have been more consistent in the last 2 dcades but still increasing. The ten years up to the end of 2021 had more new corbett compleaters than the 10 before that even including the covid years.

The Corbett book came out in 1990 I think, and I guess there is still people meandering through them since then and onwards, heading towards completion or maybe just picking a few off, many possibly with no intention of completing.

Anyway there are far more folk out on the corbetts now than there were 30 years ago and maybe even 20 years ago according to my own memory.

No, as far as I can see there are 276 Corbett completions listed 2002-2011 and 266 listed 2012-2021. So less in the later decade (would probably have been only marginally larger without Covid).

...and since completions lag behind activity by several years, implies as best you can that this Corbett bagging/completing activity has not significantly increased since the late 90's. Could be more people on the Corbetts not doing rounds, but I'm not sure if there is data available.

How large is your anecdotal data set and what Corbetts does it cover? If you were to pick "honeypot" Corbetts like Ledi, Cobbler etc you might think the Corbetts are busy. Some of them get a lot of footfall not reflected across the whole grouping.

[Sunset tripper]

Sorry - by in the past I meant 2 or 3 decades ago i.e. 20 or 30 years ago but fair enough, maybe that wasn't clear.

Had a quick look at the SMC stats and yes they have been more consistent in the last 2 dcades but still increasing. The ten years up to the end of 2021 had more new corbett compleaters than the 10 before that even including the covid years.

The Corbett book came out in 1990 I think, and I guess there is still people meandering through them since then and onwards, heading towards completion or maybe just picking a few off, many possibly with no intention of completing.

Anyway there are far more folk out on the corbetts now than there were 30 years ago and maybe even 20 years ago according to my own memory.

No, as far as I can see there are 276 Corbett completions listed 2002-2011 and 266 listed 2012-2021. So less in the later decade (would probably have been only marginally larger without Covid).

...and since completions lag behind activity by several years, implies as best you can that this Corbett bagging/completing activity has not significantly increased since the late 90's. Could be more people on the Corbetts not doing rounds, but I'm not sure if there is data available.

How large is your anecdotal data set and what Corbetts does it cover? If you were to pick "honeypot" Corbetts like Ledi, Cobbler etc you might think the Corbetts are busy. Some of them get a lot of footfall not reflected across the whole grouping.

I will have a look again when I have a chance. Are you counting out from the SMC list? I got more than that for the last decade but not a significant amount more.
I wasn't counting 2nd or 3rd rounds of corbetts either which I imagine there has been more of in the last decade.
Yes not sure if anyone has data on amount of folk on the hills outwith the completion list.


My Corbett "anecdotal data set"??? - no room to list that here.

Haven't been on Ledi or the Cobbler area for a while and not likely to be any time soon if ever. I've been on Vrackie and Meall a' Buachaille several times which some might call "Honeypot" corbetts, for me they are not bad to do by public transport and nice hills... no bog on them anymore either.
Meall a' Buachaille was relatively popular before corbetts became a thing. I was on it around 30 years ago and it was definitely quieter than my last visit which was in the last decade and late December, if that helps at all.

[Coulags]

Car parks on Arran are usually pretty full by all accounts . And so they should be for the finest Corbetts in Scotland ( imho )

[Senja]

Going back to the early 1980s - not uncommon not to see a path on a munro. Some hills I did back there that did have paths included the four on Arran, Meall a Bhuchaille, Cleuch, Tinto and Suilven. A few years on I found paths on Ledi and Vrackie.

Cobbler left out as it is shares a lot of its route with Ime and Narnain.

Suggests that this small sample were popular in the days when you saw few cars at hill foot carparks.

[simon-b]

Car parks on Arran are usually pretty full by all accounts . And so they should be for the finest Corbetts in Scotland ( imho )

We always parked where we wanted to on Arran, even during the 2017 and 2018 mountain festival weekends. Has it got a that much busier there post pandemic?

[KatTai]

I usually set off early to avoid the traffic, especially if the route there involves trying to get around Dundee and it was a case of be through before 8am or have lots of fun sitting in traffic, and it seems to be even worse lately with one of the sets of traffic lights not staying on green for very long at all. It also means finishing at a time where there should still be a cafe open for cake afterwards A9 Munro's I can usually set off later and cut across country, for some reason they don't seem to attract many visitors...

[AyrshireAlps]

Car parks on Arran are usually pretty full by all accounts . And so they should be for the finest Corbetts in Scotland ( imho )

Don't think I've ever seen any of the car parks full, or even near full, on the island.

Agree with your sentiment though, the 4 corbetts in a day is one of the finest days you can spend on the hills.

[Roo and Plum]

Car parks on Arran are usually pretty full by all accounts . And so they should be for the finest Corbetts in Scotland ( imho )

Don't think I've ever seen any of the car parks full, or even near full, on the island.

Agree with your sentiment though, the 4 corbetts in a day is one of the finest days you can spend on the hills.

Yeah I've never seen them full but they are unusual in that it's probably easier to use public transport to climb then than a car and that's what the vast majority of people do. Well, normally it is but the state of the ferries the last couple of years is shocking with the number of cancellations, broken ferries, diversions to Gourock etc. It's definitely put me off going a few times because you don't know if you'll get home again.