Bagging - Just ticks in a list.....

In message <[email hidden]>, Flat Earth
Society <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to work my way round all the Wainwrights but it's not point
of my walks in the Lake District, it just provides an underlying
structure.

Is this a common philosophy...?

Yes, and it works.
I started doing it as a result of discussions on this newsgroup in 1997
when the list of Munros was altered. I pointed out that by doing the
Wainwrights one was safe from such bureaucratic interference. I had a
baby son at the time [I still have him, but he's not a baby - well not a
baby most of the time :-)] who was taken on my back and had limited
abilities of endurance of both distance and bad weather. Doing the
Wainwrights enabled me to start with lower and shorter walks and work
upwards.
We now do them together on foot and are a couple short of the ton.

The effect of it all is that bagging a new top involves thinking of a
new walk: not just saying, 'Why don't we do Thingy Crag - that's a good
one'. You finish up with a fuller, richer experience and learn to
appreciate that the less prominent summits often offer better views and
are considerably quieter.

--
Michael Farthing
Aardvark Ltd

Michael Farthing said:

Yes, and it works.
I started doing it as a result of discussions on this newsgroup in 1997
when the list of Munros was altered. I pointed out that by doing the
Wainwrights one was safe from such bureaucratic interference. I had a
baby son at the time [I still have him, but he's not a baby - well not a
baby most of the time :-)] who was taken on my back and had limited
abilities of endurance of both distance and bad weather. Doing the
Wainwrights enabled me to start with lower and shorter walks and work
upwards.
We now do them together on foot and are a couple short of the ton.

Better still , I am bashing away at any 610m top in Scotland.. This is
an ideal way of not only revisiting old favourites by new and
unfashionable routes, but opens up a new world of unmarked wild
summits, which are so satisfying.

I am still quite happy to visit a hill even if it is not on a list...
Havent done anything listed for weeks now...

For most of us the marilyns are an open ended list.. There is always
more to explore...

Richard Webb

The message <[email hidden]>
from [email hidden] (Flat Earth Society) contains these words:

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to work my way round all the Wainwrights but it's not point
of my walks in the Lake District, it just provides an underlying
structure.

Quoted message said:

Is this a common philosophy...?

Peak bagging is an acceptable activity these days but when I started
Munro bagging back in the 60s it was treated with scorn and there
probably weren't many of us who did indulge (if the compleations
reported to the SMC are any guide).

Quoted message said:

have dreamt going to before consulting the list e.g. Brecon Beacons
Pen-y-fan, Long Mynd, Pentlands near Penicuik.

Gets you out into new areas, some of which you would never otherwise
have thought of and, with the lesser Marilyns at least, some of which
you wonder why you bothered once you had made the effort. :-)

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 123 summits
New - 94 (Marilyns 14, Sweats 5, Outlying Fells 82)
Repeats - 29 (Marilyns 11, Sweats 21, Wainwrights 16, Outlying Fells 2)

I'm only doing the Wainwrights (less the 10 to go) and Munros (more then a
160 to go!), but I've an eye on Corbetts as well. It's certainly been
worthwhile as it's taken me away from my usual haunts of steep rocky things
and has set me out on more rounded blobs.

I'm not one for bagging a summit and getting down fast. I like to take my
time. I hate to see people bagging a top and then getting down as fast as
they can - what's the point?

Possibly over half my ascents and descents (somewhere along the line) have
been off the normal route, which I'm quite proud of. I like exploring
possibly more then the bagging. This is possibly why I'll find it hard to
bag all the munros.

Jhimmy

Michael Farthing said:

Quoted message said:

it just provides an
underlying structure.

Is this a common philosophy...?

Yes, and it works.

On the whole I agree, but there's still a tendency to concentrate on
listed summits and ignore others.

Quoted message said:

The effect of it all is that bagging a new top involves thinking of a
new walk:

If you base a walk around it great, but some people just pick the
shortest route to the top and back, just to get the tick, which rather
misses the point IMO.

Not picking on Roy specifically, but I remember he bagged Hirfynydd by
the shortest route possible, namely through the opencast coalfied, which
is the worst possible route. For Roy it was just a quick tick, but
there are far longer and more interesting routes around the mountain.
Admittedly most of it is forestry which I know some people have a
particular hatred of, but the entire ridge is topped by a Roman road
which is worth a walk in it's own right IMO.

Speaking of ridges, many are often ignored because there are no listed
tops on them, yet ridges can make great walks. I know Adrian is a fan
of ridges. Perhaps someone should produce a list of ridges to walk,
rather than summits to bag?

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Jhimmy said:

I'm not one for bagging a summit and getting down fast.

Quoted message said:

I like
exploring possibly more then the bagging.

Good philosophy.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

On the whole I agree, but there's still a tendency to concentrate on
listed summits and ignore others.

Anyone concentrating all their efforts on bagging Wainwrights won't see much
of Scotland and anyone overly keen on bagging Munros won't see much of the
Lake District. And anyone spending all their limited walking time bagging
any kind of hill will miss out on the other bits of our varied countryside.

The message <[email hidden]>
from "AndyP" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On the whole I agree, but there's still a tendency to concentrate on
listed summits and ignore others.

Quoted message said:

Anyone concentrating all their efforts on bagging Wainwrights won't see much
of Scotland and anyone overly keen on bagging Munros won't see much of the
Lake District. And anyone spending all their limited walking time bagging
any kind of hill will miss out on the other bits of our varied countryside.

But they don't take forever .Wainwrights in particular can be polished
off quite quickly if a determined effort is made or in a year or 3 if
approached in a more casual fashion. The basic problem with Munros (and
Corbetts) for most of us is that they are such a long way from home.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 123 summits
New - 94 (Marilyns 14, Sweats 5, Outlying Fells 82)
Repeats - 29 (Marilyns 11, Sweats 21, Wainwrights 16, Outlying Fells 2)

"Flat Earth Society" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to work my way round all the Wainwrights but it's not point
of my walks in the Lake District, it just provides an underlying
structure.

Is this a common philosophy...?

Same applies to the list of Marilyns (although have no ambition to
complete that list). This year I've been to several places I wouldn't
have dreamt going to before consulting the list e.g. Brecon Beacons
Pen-y-fan, Long Mynd, Pentlands near Penicuik.

Bagging for me not only takes me to hills I would not normally go to, even
some much maligned hills can give great days out. Had a great day out on Ben
Chonzie a few weeks back, a hill that gets a particularly bad press.
http://www.stuartstuart.fsnet.co.uk/hillwalking/pans/benchonzie.htm
.....480K

It is also a great motivator to get me into the hills, without lists to
complete I may find myself spending too much time waiting on perfect weather
conditions!!
http://www.stuartstuart.fsnet.co.uk/munros/

Quoted message said:

Not picking on Roy specifically, but I remember he bagged Hirfynydd by
the shortest route possible, namely through the opencast coalfied, which
is the worst possible route. For Roy it was just a quick tick, but
there are far longer and more interesting routes around the mountain.
Admittedly most of it is forestry which I know some people have a
particular hatred of, but the entire ridge is topped by a Roman road
which is worth a walk in it's own right IMO.

Hirfynydd is something you just want to get over with.... Mind, the
summit is really elusive.. What are the trees like up there now?

Trouble with a lot of South Wales tops, is that you really want to be
off them and back to your car ASAP. Or use another mode of transport.

Richard Webb

Quoted message said:

Gets you out into new areas, some of which you would never otherwise
have thought of and, with the lesser Marilyns at least, some of which
you wonder why you bothered once you had made the effort. :-)

Not many of those, thank goodness.. Hirfynydd comes to mind...

Some real dogs on the map have come up as great days in real life....

Richard Webb

O

Quoted message said:

Anyone concentrating all their efforts on bagging Wainwrights won't see much
of Scotland and anyone overly keen on bagging Munros won't see much of the
Lake District. And anyone spending all their limited walking time bagging
any kind of hill will miss out on the other bits of our varied countryside.

Not at all...

Hills are not summits alone...

other bits of our varied countryside. is what you walk through to get
to your hill top.

If you must have height or country limits you may miss out, but cast
your net wide..... I have even been to Port Talbot - and enjoyed it!
(Well Mynydd Dinas anyway.. Lovely hill)

Richard Webb

"Stuart" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bagging for me not only takes me to hills I would not normally go to, even
some much maligned hills can give great days out. Had a great day out on

Ben

Quoted message said:

Chonzie a few weeks back, a hill that gets a particularly bad press.
http://www.stuartstuart.fsnet.co.uk/hillwalking/pans/benchonzie.htm
....480K

Everyone says Ben Chonzie is one of the most boring munros, but I can't
remember ever hearing/reading anyone say they had a bad day there.

--
Duncan Gray

www.duncolm.co.uk
also The Mountaineering Council of Scotland
www.mountaineering-scotland.org.uk

In article <[email hidden]>, pvs1
@wildwales.fsnet.co.uk says...
[...]

Quoted message said:

Speaking of ridges, many are often ignored because there are no listed
tops on them, yet ridges can make great walks. I know Adrian is a fan
of ridges. Perhaps someone should produce a list of ridges to walk,
rather than summits to bag?

excellent idea IMO. I'd much rather do a ridge than just hitting a
summit. But as most ridges tend to link summits, doing ridges means
summits anyway.

There's a book I've seen and nearly bought a few times which is just
Snowdonia ridge walks.

--
Darren

It provides a good structure I have done all the Wainwrights and now
the Birketts and Wainwright outliers and I am still getting to areas I
have never been and doing many fells by 'alternative' routes. This
provides a good amount of motivation and keeps the interest.
Regards,
Sean McMahon
http://www.stridingedge.net

Darren G said:

excellent idea IMO. I'd much rather do a ridge than just hitting a
summit. But as most ridges tend to link summits, doing ridges means
summits anyway.

Not always. There's bound to be at least one listed summit on a ridge,
but if there aren't many ups and downs the rest of the ridge may be
"summitless", at least from a listed summits point of view, i.e. the
summits on the ridge may be too small to qualify.

Take for example the ridge starting SW of Corn Du, running from Craig
Gwaun Taf 824m SW to Gwaun y Pynt 528m, a distance of 6.7km from peak to
peak, never dropping below 500m. This could easily be extended to
include Garn Ddu 462m and Cefn Cil-Sanws 461m, making the distance
12.9km from peak to peak, yet there are no listed summits on this ridge,
either due to lack of sufficient drop or to being below 500m. The
northern bit of the ridge is quite popular as part of the southern
Beacons horseshoe, but how many people have ever walked the whole ridge?

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

RJ Webb said:

Hirfynydd is something you just want to get over with....

Speak for yourself! As I say, some people have a real hatred of
forestry, but I don't mind it that much. Not as good as real woodland
obviously, but there are some nice bits on Hirfynydd - a cliff that
gives excellent views, some waterfalls, a nice "green" path under the
trees that I discovered, away from the gravel tracks, and parts of the
Roman road are not bad. Some horrible bits there too though, like the
tussock bogs...

Quoted message said:

Mind, the
summit is really elusive.. What are the trees like up there now?

Haven't been up there for years actually. I know they chopped a lot
down, and I think they've reforested some of the opencast. I really
must get up there again sometime.

Quoted message said:

Trouble with a lot of South Wales tops, is that you really want to be
off them and back to your car ASAP. Or use another mode of transport.

In a lot of South Wales yes, but I don't consider the Neath valley to be
a problem.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

RJ Webb said:

Not many of those, thank goodness.. Hirfynydd comes to mind...

Which way did you go up?

Quoted message said:

Some real dogs on the map have come up as great days in real life....

True. I had a great day on Fan Bwlch Chwyth once.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk
http://www.wildwales.fsnet.co.uk

Paul Saunders said:

RJ Webb said:

Not many of those, thank goodness.. Hirfynydd comes to mind...

Which way did you go up?

Up a forest road from the west... Along Sarn Helen to the trig and
then a bushwhack to to summit.

I do not like sitka...

Richard Webb