After the Wainwrights

I inadvertently started bagging Wainwrights in 1983 but it was in 1988 that I considered that bagging them all would be a goal worth pursuing.  Since then I have had long periods of abstinence from the hills interspersed with times of focussed bagging.

But as I approach the end of the Wainwrights my thoughts have turned to other ticklists.  When I decided to concentrate on the Wainwrights I wanted to include the Outlying Fells in my round.  I didn’t want some smart alec asking me if I’d completed book 8 once I’d finished the 214.  Over time I think that I might have turned into that smart alec as having spent a lot of time on the Outliers, they feel like a logical extension of those fells listed in the 7 Pictorial Guides and they definitely give a greater appreciation of the geography of the Lake District.  My plan is to finish the Outlying Fells and the “regular” Wainwrights on the same day.  But once that day has passed, what next ?

Although some earlier attempts had been made to compile lists of the Scottish 3000-foot mountains, arguably the first ticklist was the Munros, published in 1891.  Since then there have been many other lists compiled – so many that I’m expecting somebody to publish a ticklist of ticklists!  I did toy with the idea of graduating to Munros but, to be blunt, the biggest barrier to completing them is the cost of petrol.  I’ll still visit Scotland and climb the odd Munro or two, but as a whole they are too numerous and too far from home to make “compleation” a realistic goal.

So what lists could be realistic?  The Fell & Rock Climbing Club published “The Lakeland Fells” in 1996 listing 244 fells; the list becoming known as the FRCC 244.  If I complete the Wainwrights and the Outliers, there are only 8 of the 244 that would not have been climbed – not exactly the biggest challenge.  Because of the huge overlap between Wainwrights and the FRCC 244 I have incorporated bagging those extra 8 into plans to finish my Wainwright round.

Bill Birkett wrote “Complete Lakeland Fells”, listing 541 tops with a height of over 1000 feet.  During my Wainwright round so far I’ve walked to the top of a few of these, but many are fairly insignificant bumps.  Ullister Hill near Lord’s Seat is one of the most unrewarding tops I’ve ever visited (even on a sunny day!) and Thirdgill Head Man near Wandope looks very impressive from the ridge below but as it only has a reascent of 2 metres, it’s a very minor bump on a ridge.  And Lad Hows on the south flank of Grasmoor was hardly noticeable!  To complete the Birketts would mean aiming for uninspiring summits – my time on the hills can be far better spent.

I’ve come to the conclusion that once I’ve climbed the Wainwrights, Outliers and FRCC 244, the Nuttalls will become the active ticklist to follow.  Nuttalls are mountains in England & Wales with a height of 2000 feet or more, with a reascent of 50 feet (15 metres).  I’ve already bagged quite a few and I want to spend some time in areas that I’m not too familiar with – I’m not looking forward to some of the rounded Pennines but the Brecon Beacons look like some wonderful peaks to aim for.  And this new quest will not fully take me away from the Lake District as there are a few Nuttalls that I need to reach the top of, the Glaramara ridge and the area south of Crinkle Crags being two areas rich in unclimbed summits.

As well as the Nuttalls I’ve got an eye on the TRAIL 100, a list published in TRAIL magazine in April 2007 listing, in their own view, the best 100 summits in the UK.  There are quite a few in Scotland, but the numbers are more manageable than the Munros.

So with the Nuttalls and the TRAIL 100 to come into focus soon, and maybe adding the Irish 3000s and Scottish 4000s to my targets, I reckon that the next 10 years or so of hillwalking is already accounted for.

The Constancy of Wainwrights

The beauty of the Wainwrights as a ticklist is that their classification will never change.

With the advance of GPS technology, surveys have been undertaken in recent years to determine the status of a number of prominent hills, fells and mountains.  Should Foinavon be promoted to Munro status?  Is Tryfan really a Welsh 3000er?  These questions, which have been posed for a number of years, have finally been answered.  (No and Yes, in case you’re wondering.)

When Wainwright compiled his list of mountains for inclusion in his seven Pictorial Guides, he inadvertently made them technology-proof.  Other than, in his own words, his “arbitrary” definition of boundaries of Lakeland and the areas within, he made no specific definition of what criteria should be met for any particular fell to be included in the guides – no minimum height and no minimum prominence / relative height / drop.  He simply made a choice and stuck to it.

Of course, this doesn’t stop the discussion of the merits of inclusion or exclusion of particular fells.  Whether Mungrisdale Common deserved its own chapter has had many a bagger scratching their head, particularly on a windswept and misty trudge down the broad ridge from Blencathra.  Some have said that Iron Crag deserves greater status than just being a label on a map in the Caw Fell chapter.

From my own experience of Wainwright-bagging, I would question the inclusion of Stone Arthur and argue that the Southern Fells boundary should be extended beyond the Walna Scar road towards Caw.  At least Wainwright addressed some of the exclusions in his Outlying Fells volume – the unofficial book 8 in the series.

But despite the debates that we can have, none of it matters because the list has been fixed within the covers of seven volumes of handwritten genius.  So when I complete my round, which will have taken me 30 years, I don’t have to worry that a future GPS survey will add another fell to my To Do list.