Whilst making the point in a recent interview that the BMC is a home for hill walkers, BMC CEO Dave Turnbull mentioned that a former BMC Treasurer, who is a keen hill walker, had done all the Munros and Marilyns.

This comment raised a few eyebrows in the hill-bagging community as no one has in fact completed the Marilyns. So Dave now stands corrected. It’s true that Gordon Adshead, of whom Dave was speaking, has completed all of the Munros but still has some way to go on his Marilyn quest.

But what are the Marilyns anyway? Most of us have heard of the Munros, Scotland's 283 mountain tops of 3000ft or over, named after the man who first catalogued them, Sir Hugh Munro.  A Marilyn, on the other hand, is a British hill of any height with a drop of 150 metres or more on all sides. Gordon has visited around 85% of the 1554 summits and is listed in the Marilyn Hall of Fame on the Relative Hills of Britain website.

Back to the point Dave was making – the BMC is very open to hill walkers getting involved and influencing the BMC’s work. The organisation can be perceived as predominantly a climbers’ organisation, however in survey conducted in 2010, 62% of members said hill walking was their top activity. It’s true that much of our volunteer-led work tends more towards climbing issues as this is where the interests of many of our passionate volunteers lie. As we know though, the BMC does have a lot of keen hill walkers in its realm and we’d like to hear from you!

What do you think we should be doing for hill walkers that we’re not doing already? The work that the BMC does for hill walkers varies from the series of British Mountain Maps, relevant articles in Summit magazine, providing subsidised hill skills courses, arranging discounts on walking gear, funding footpath repair work through the BMC’s Access & Conservation Trust and lobbying government on a whole range of issues including improvements to coastal access. Download a flyer to find out more.

The new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Mountaineering, which the BMC has recently helped to establish, will only go to strengthen the voice of the BMC and our hill walking membership within government. One of the group’s members, Lord Haworth, has completed all the Munros – we won’t go so far as to say he’s done all the Marilyns!

If you’re interested in what’s what in the world of hill-bagging, this site may be of interest www.hill-bagging.co.uk.

To read the orginal interview with Dave Turnbull see the Grough website.

The BMC Yorkshire Area now has a volunteer Hill Walking Representative.

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