Munro bagging record-holder Hazel Strachan has pulled off another remarkable feat – compleating two Munro rounds on one day. It’s thought the 54-year-old’s double completion on October 16, 2022, is likely to be a first.
On the morning of her historic day, Hazel bagged the Munro Glas Maol to compleat her 11th round. That afternoon, she bagged Creag Leacach, the final Munro in her 12th round.
Hazel, of Bathgate, West Lothian, already holds the record for the female with the most Munro round compleations. The title of overall record holder goes to Steven Fallon, who has 16 rounds under his belt.
Did you know?: Compleat is the archaic word used by Munroists instead of complete, when referring to finishing a round of 282 Munros.
Record-breaking Munroist Hazel
For many years, Hazel walked a Munro round every year. Read about her ninth round. Her last completion – her 10th round – was in 2018 but then a period of injury and the Covid pandemic saw her slowing down.
Hazel said: “It was never my intention to complete two rounds of Munros on the same day. The Covid pandemic really put a spanner in the works and my Munros became an exercise in ‘banking’ until I felt safe being near people in a global pandemic.
“I kept myself to myself so, for example, booking a mountain guide to help me get up the Inaccessible Pinnacle was out the question until 2022. This is the only Munro that I required to be guided on.
“I was running out of Munros on the 11th round and the Inaccessible Pinnacle still had to be climbed for an 11th time. This is when the list of ticks of my 12th round gradually built up and I considered that it would be a great idea to celebrate getting through the pandemic and health problems with a double compleation.
“I’ve no idea how many people have compleated two Munro rounds on the same day but I’m sure there won’t have been many people undertake this.”
She describes the double Munro round as a huge feat. She says: “It was the biggest challenge in all my time undertaking of multiple rounds of Munros. I probably won’t make a habit of trying this many more times.”
Hazel enjoys solo Munro bagging. She was accompanied by someone else on only five Munros in round 11 and on three mountains in Munro round 12.
Her husband Ian is a faithful support. Hazel says: “I still work full time, so all my hillwalking is undertaken at weekends and holidays. Ian and myself have a motorhome. I’ll leave him in the ‘mobile bothy’ to make breakfast and read while I go up the Munros. It works well with our marriage as Ian isn’t a hill walker.”
Hazel’s highlights of Munro round 11
Hazel reveals that her 11th round will be best remembered for “some of the best winter days ever”.
She is also a big fan of her packraft. She says: “My packraft, which is a small inflatable boat that weighs just under 7Kg, as well as my paddle and PFD have been carried over a few Munros.
“One of the most exciting trips was in March 2020, the weekend before lockdown started. I climbed Fionn Beinn and watched the sun come up on a cold snowy Munro.
“Once back at Achnasheen, I inflated my packraft and for the next day-and-a-half, I navigated rivers and lochs to finish my journey at the high-water mark at Muir of Ord on the Cromarty Firth. It was an exciting summit-to-sea journey.”
Hazel has also swapped the traditional cycling access to the Ben Alder Munros by using her packraft. She says: “With a windless forecast in February 2019, Ian dropped me off at Loch Rannoch with paddling and overnight kit and I walked into Loch Ericht. I woke to a completely still loch.
“After a couple of hours paddling, I was at Alder Bay. With my boat on my back, I traversed Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil in snowless conditions. I was back down by Loch Erict before sunrise for a bivvy for the night.
“The evening temperature was only 5C, so I was very comfortable using a summer sleeping bag despite it being February. I had an early start just as a southerly wind was starting to pick up. The wind makes the loch very turbulent but at least it was helpful not having to paddle into the wind.
“I’ve since done the trip in temperatures of -8C. My drippy paddling technique resulted in icicles hanging down from the rim of my hat.”
However, Hazel describes her best packrafting trip as the one she did in April 2019. She says: “The forecast wasn’t very good with a strong easterly wind. I stood overlooking Loch Laggan, watching waves being driven down the loch. I wondered as to whether it would be safe to be on the loch.
“But I decided to throw caution to the wind. Once on Loch Laggan I felt like I was on a bucking bronco being blown along the length of the loch from the sandy beach at Laggan to the dam.
“At times I gazed up to the misty white bulk of Creag Meagaidh hoping that the good forecast for the next day was correct. It was so blowy but I found a tiny, sheltered bay near the dam and came ashore.
“I deflated my packraft, put it in my rucksack and headed off to find a place to camp for the night. The next day was amazing as I walked over four of the Creag Meagaidh Munros back to Laggan sands. The cloud was high above me and I had lots of firm snow to walk on.”
The winter highlight of Hazel’s 11th round was a traverse of Sgurr Choinnich, Sgurr a’ Chaorachain, Maoile Lunndaidh and the Corbett An Sidhean in January 2019.
She says: “With a good forecast for the Saturday, I left the car at Craig by torchlight. I was heading up the Bealach Bhearnais as the first light came over the hills. The sunrise was so amazing because every snow-covered hill on the horizon was in sharp focus.
“I made the first impressions on the snow for the ridge until I got onto Maoile Lunndaidh. The sky was blue for the whole day and high-level cloud started to creep in around sunset. I was still walking after sunset.
“Luckily, deer had been congregating near Loch a’ Chlaidheimh so I could tell from their hoof prints how deep the snow was. This meant I was able to see the best places to put my feet.
“I headed up An Sidhean by torchlight. The moon had a huge crimson halo around it as I reached the summit – an indication of a front coming in.
“Sure, enough I woke in a damp bivvy bag the next morning to low cloud and a thaw right down to the bottom of the glen. I walked back to Craig in rain showers slipping about on ice and slushy snow.”
Hazel’s summer highlight was a bivvy at the summit of Ben Lui in August 2020. She says: “It was 25C in Tyndrum. Sweat poured down my face as I walked up into Fionn Choirean below Beinn a’ Chleibh and Ben Lui.
“Finding I had more time available to me, I quickly walked down Beinn a’ Chleibh and made my way up Ben Lui. At this point, cloud was starting to create an inversion above all the land to the south of me. I walked quicker and quicker and made the summit of Ben Lui with enough light left to set up my bivvy bag for the evening just feet from the summit cairn.
“I watched in amazement as the inversion became denser in consistency. I felt that if I was to wake up in the inside of a cloud the following morning, I’d have been incredibly grateful to have been part of a spectacular end of a magnificent day.
“I woke up to an inversion stretching 360 degrees – I felt I truly was in heaven! I watched the sun break over the cloudy horizon. Eventually I had to pack up my bivvy as I was meeting Ian at Tyndrum.
“Walking down into the cloud for both Ben Oss and Beinn Dubhchraig was cold and damp. What a tremendous day this was.”
Hazel’s highlights of Munro round 12
Hazel continued to carry her packraft and paddling gear up Munros during her 12th Round. She says: “In May 2019, I paddled up Loch Earn, packed up and climbed Ben Vorlich and Stuc a’ Chroin. I dropped down to Loch Lubnaig in early afternoon just as the wind was picking up to help blow me to the end of the loch where Ian picked me up.
“On August 1, 2020, I set off paddling from Killin to Lawers. I packed my packraft into my rucksack and for the next 13 hours I wandered over the seven Munros of the Ben Lawers group. It was a really good trip.”
The Munros on the Black Cuillin were another huge highlight. These Munros were the crux of compleating her 11th and 12 rounds.
She says: “In April and May 2022, for four weekends in succession, I drove from my home to Sligachan or Glen Brittle. The forecasts were pretty good even if route plans and times on the ridge had to be tweaked for safety.
“On April 23, I spent a morning on Blaven while there were big windy updrafts. That afternoon, I drove round to Sligachan and started to walk up to Bruach na Frithe. The wind was dying but there was cloud still on the summit. I hung around and it wasn’t long before the cloud lifted.
“I had the perfect bivvy spot by the trig point. The sunset was amazing – the night was still with the most perfect dark sky filled with so many stars. After sunrise, I packed up and headed for Am Basteir.
“I will always be a fan of dry basalt. This made down-climbing the ‘bad step’ easier. I’m 5ft 1 inch tall and I can just reach the holds so having dry rock makes it easier.”
Hazel also enjoyed a fabulous fog bow on the Cuillin. She says: “I think the Munro days in May this year have been some of the finest days spent on the Cuillin in all of my life.”
Then in July, she decided to try a solo attempt of the Inaccessible Pinnacle as part of her 12th round. Prior to this she has always booked a guide for this one tricky summit.
She says: “With a good forecast, I was walking by 5am and reached the foot of the In Pinn at 7.30am in mist. There wasn’t anyone around so I couldn’t bottle out of the ascent having to wait in a queue.
“Fear, exhilaration and sheer amazement of being on the In Pinn on my own were emotions that kept me company for the half hour it took to climb and abseil off the In Pinn. It was an incredible moment, knowing that I was finally self-sufficient and I could summit all the Munros without needing a guide for the In Pinn. I really think this is the highlight of my 12th round.”
Note that while Hazel was banking a Munro round while compleating another round, she always fully walked – and pack rafted – the routes. She says: “There were days when I did the same Munro twice, such as one outing at sunrise and then another in the afternoon. I did Ben Hope twice, too, the first time in the afternoon and then I returned back to the start and climbed it again to bivvy overnight on top.
“I felt each Munro needed to be completed ethically, that is to return to the start or car each time at least to change my boots.
“Mostly however, I did all the Munros twice but at different times.”
Hazel has never used a bike to access any of the Munros. She says: “I walk or pack-raft. It’s just the rules I apply for myself. I feel that at walking and pack-rafting pace you get to better experience what is around you – and that really matters to me.”
Changing times on the Munros
Hazel believes that weather patterns and general mountain weather have changed since she was undertaking a round of Munros annually in the late 2010s. She says: “Noticeably, there have been wetter, mistier and windier winters.
“In the winter of 2021/22, I ended up climbing very few Munros and bagged 28 Grahams instead so I could be on lower ground for safety because of poor visibility and strong winds on my weekend walks. That has never happened to me in all the years I’ve been hillwalking.
“Even this summer it seemed that usually one day out of the weekend had poor weather. Indeed, for the last couple of months, I haven’t seen many views and I have a reputation for being in the right place for good weather.”
What’s next for Hazel?
Hazel has started her next Munro round although she describes it s still in its fledgling stage. She says: “I will continue doing more rounds until I don’t want to anymore but I won’t be in a rush to finish this next one.
“I prefer to be out in good weather and I am also enjoy doing other hill lists, such as the Grahams, which I think are fantastic.
“I’ve compleated three rounds of Donalds and I have around 20 Corbetts to compleat, too.”
You can follow Hazel on Twitter and Instagram at @strachanhazel.