Thanks for the congrats everyone. Much appreciated from all you guys who go bagging yourselves and know what is involved
inca wrote:Mind if ask how long you guys have been battering away at the Marilyns? Best of luck to you both with your new ventures.
Didn't really know about the Marilyns for a long while and then R bought Alan Dawson's "Relative Hills of Britain" and was hooked. I had to get my own copy as I was so far behind. Personally I didn't start walking the hills with any thought of bagging them until I was well into my 50s. R had done most of the Munros and I had gone with him for about 20 or so, but those were the only ones I did before I was a granny at 52. Officially my first Marilyn was Ben Cleuch, bagged in 1996, but I didn't do it to bag it, any more than R climbed The Great Orme with his aunties around the age of 6. So it is an idea that grew on us. R would have polished them off ages ago, if he hadn't had to do a second round of Munros with me. We were aware of them while doing the Corbetts, but didn't particularly go out of our way to bag them, so maybe started taking them really seriously between Munro and Corbett rounds, say 2007.
mrssanta wrote: It seems to me that the sea stacks would just be the cherry on top of the icing and quite unnecessary!
Mal Gray wrote:Eventually, sea stacks will crumble and fall down, so perhaps they don't really count
I'm afraid since Rob Woodall climbed the final sea stack, they DO count
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Ticked-off-the-man-who-climbed-all-1556-MarilynsI think the compleationists are still in single figures but there are 17 or 18 people who went on one or other major raid and are now in a position to compleat when they get the others.
It is utterly terrifying See
THIS video
Also, some people have said the may crumble. The old Man of Hoy may crumble, but the St. Kilda sea stacks are made of the same tough rock as Skye, and no way will they crumble in many life-times.
mountainsof scotland wrote:Have found a number of your reports useful over the years
And we yours...and you may not remember, but you steered me through the process of inserting photos into trip reports in 2008, so we have to thank you for anything that has appeared since.
rockhopper wrote:Am wondering what challenges you'll be thinking of next ? - cheers
Well, I could do without a challenge, and maybe go back and climb the nice ones, but I spotted R with the Wainwright lists the other day, and he has done a lot of arm-chair bagging re-reading his accounts and working out which Waiwrights we climbed en-route to the Lake District Marilyns. A holiday is booked at the end of next week.
iangpark wrote:Also saw your name under the Leverburgh photo on a rare occasion of watching TV and proclaimed to my family: "That's Squiz!"
That's my real "retirement ploy". I keep firing them off, and last year got Editor's Picks for over 45. But they have now announced they have reached the wonderful milestone of 200,000 weather watchers, so some of us who have been doing it for a while may have to take a back seat. They didn't want my solstice sun rise, so I felt very grumpy getting up so early, but had to admit that the Watcher down the coast got a better one.
definella wrote:And what better way to celebrate than with a bottle of shower gel?
I am getting disorganised. Made a Corbetteer cake, and a Grahamist cake for R. But I finished on different mountains from him, and didn't get one (did get a good dinner) so maybe the shower gel was as good as it gets.
Thanks again
