The early start race

[Sunset tripper]

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.

I had another look as promised regarding corbett completions, and this is what I came up with unless I'm missing something? - which is entirely possible I must add.

The 10 years 2002 - 2011 = 278 completions +10 2nd or 3rd rounds Total 288

The 10 years 2012 - 2021 = 291 completions +17 2nd or 3rd rounds Total 308

So not much in it really though there was only 5 completions in Covid struck 2020

Interesting to look through the list. I know a few folk who have done the munros, 1 person with multiple rounds and just a few hills short of a 3rd corbett round.

One thing for sure, before the SMC corbett bible came out in 1990 next to no one was doing the Corbetts with only around 30 completers. It seems even back then the vast majority of hill goers didn't operate without a guide.
Corbett bagging has taken off since then, accelerating fast in the 90s but still slowly getting busier.

Where's Dave Hewitt when you need him, to make sense of it all.

[Moriarty]

I had another look as promised regarding corbett completions, and this is what I came up with unless I'm missing something? - which is entirely possible I must add.

The 10 years 2002 - 2011 = 278 completions +10 2nd or 3rd rounds Total 288

The 10 years 2012 - 2021 = 291 completions +17 2nd or 3rd rounds Total 308

So not much in it really though there was only 5 completions in Covid struck 2020

Interesting to look through the list. I know a few folk who have done the munros, 1 person with multiple rounds and just a few hills short of a 3rd corbett round.

One thing for sure, before the SMC corbett bible came out in 1990 next to no one was doing the Corbetts with only around 30 completers. It seems even back then the vast majority of hill goers didn't operate without a guide.
Corbett bagging has taken off since then, accelerating fast in the 90s but still slowly getting busier.

Where's Dave Hewitt when you need him, to make sense of it all.

It's entirely possible I glitched the data, I pulled it off the SMC website and fed it through Excel, but it isn't organised in a way to make that easy. At the end of the day we both came up with numbers that don't suggest a large increase in this bagging activity in the last 2 decades (and by inference a few years more to allow completions to ripen to fruition).

I'd certainly agree that some Corbetts are busier, the ones you mentioned plus some of the iconic hills like Assynt. Easy access to online route information may well have empowered more people to do these. That wouldn't be representative of the situation on the overall group of hills.

[rockhopper]

Re Corbetts before the SMC guide, I was thinking back to why we walked up a few in the 1980s before I got the guide in the early 1990s - probably more because they were well known hills and not too far from Glasgow as opposed to being on a list.

I'd tend to agree with Sunset tripper's figures - charting the year of first compleation, ie ignoring second and further rounds, gives the illustration below. A rolling 10 year average trendline tends to suggest that numbers of first compleators are perhaps starting to level off at around 30pa. This is based on SMC data and there are likely to be non recorded rounds.

[gld73]

I'm usually just waking up when early starters are setting off from the car on their walk! I usually manage to avoid car park frustrations by just choosing somewhere I know will be less popular if it's a weekend with good weather, and just leaving the honeypot car parks for a time my days off are mid week (a benefit of working shifts).

Part of my laziness is just being shattered after working 13 or 14 hours the day before, or my body still adjusting after finishing night shifts, but I also like to check out the up to date weather forecasts in the morning before I set off. I no longer set my heart on bagging a particular munro come what may, I just look to see where has the best weather and head there so that I get nice views and can relax and enjoy the walk rather than be constantly focusing on navigation (munro, corbett, graham, sub2k, flat walk ... whatever suits the weather best!). As has already been mentioned, this approach often gives morning mist a time to clear too.

This time of year is brilliant, I can leave the house at lunchtime knowing it'll be daylight bright until 10pm (or later if further north), it's lovely having a clear evening summit all to myself

The only time I'm an early starter is on the second day when I do a 2 day trip and am up early having camped overnight. I admit it is nice then arriving to find space in a popular car park ... though some are busy even then with overnighting motorhomes and campervans. For car parks like those, arriving around 9 or 10am can actually be good too, as there'll often be a motorhome or two leaving around then.

[Scraggygoat]

Maybe there is a strong case of observational bias in the SMC stats, consider possibly that people walking the Corbetts were always more likely doing so for purely their own enjoyment and don’t have any inclination to record completion for ‘recognition’. Whereas a lot of Munro baggers set out to & feel the need to have their round documented. I have never written off for any of my round(s), I’ve did them for my own pleasure, never used a walking guidebook, and the idea that being a completer has any ‘status’ is alien to me. So didn’t record.

When people ask me on the hill if I’m doing the munros/corbetts I always reply I’m out for a walk and politely enquiry as to their day.

[Sunset tripper]

Maybe there is a strong case of observational bias in the SMC stats, consider possibly that people walking the Corbetts were always more likely doing so for purely their own enjoyment and don’t have any inclination to record completion for ‘recognition’. Whereas a lot of Munro baggers set out to & feel the need to have their round documented. I have never written off for any of my round(s), I’ve did them for my own pleasure, never used a walking guidebook, and the idea that being a completer has any ‘status’ is alien to me. So didn’t record.

When people ask me on the hill if I’m doing the munros/corbetts I always reply I’m out for a walk and politely enquiry as to their day.

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you think hundreds of people have climbed all the corbetts but not bothered registering with the SMC?

By not using a guidebook do you mean you have never read through the SMC munro or Corbett book?

I'm not a big fan of hiring guides for climbing hills, but I think the SMC books have been invaluable even just for providing parking info for places I had never visited and pointing out the standard or easiest routes which aren't always obvious on the map.

Walkhighlands guides are fantastic also, and I think better than the SMC books, but where WH excels is with low level outings.

I do agree that picking your own routes on the hill is a fine thing but sometimes I like to know what the standard route is and what to expect on it.

all the best.

[Scraggygoat]

Yes, I believe that the proportion of people not registering for the Corbetts will be a lot higher than the those completing the munros and not writing off. Unlikely there will be thousand non recorders, but dozens or more certainty!

Correct I’ve occasionally glanced at other peoples guidebooks, but never really used a guidebook to plan a days walk. Just started from the honeypots (Arran, Skye, Glen Coe, An Teallach, Torridon) as was keen to do all the good scrambling, but I also climbed. Travelling to and from these saw cars parked up and looked at the map to see which hills they were the likely starting points, and if they looked like interesting routes. planned the old fashioned way from 1:50K OS Maps as to route and how many hills to combine and hoped that parking and access would work, if not adjusted on the day.

For example this w/e on Saturday I did the Meggy five with a car shuttle, yet most people do those as two or three separate days, as I presume that’s how the guides split them up.

Granted after doing several rounds I have the knowledge of where to go and park, which routes give fast access, which corners are quiet that others would glean from a guidebook. Though from seeing where people go it’s clear on some hills the trade routes are the most efficient but not the most interesting way.

[Sunset tripper]

For example this w/e on Saturday I did the Meggy five with a car shuttle, yet most people do those as two or three separate days, as I presume that’s how the guides split them up.

I'm sure that covering the 3 munros is by far the most common approach for a day in these hills, but I think you might find doing 5 in one go is more common than you would think. Having a quick look at the WH stats it's maybe more common to do all 5 than picking off Creag Meaghaidh alone - it's a baggers world out there!

[WalkWithWallace]

Not everyone has the luxury of a 2 car shuttle and it's not fuel efficient unless you're meeting someone who lives in the north and you're coming from the south. The more economical idea is to dump a bike at the end of the walk so you can cycle back to your car. Or is there public transport options for a lift back.