When Munro bagger Jo Dytch heard from a friend’s father about the Scottish tradition of marking each summit by stitching a red cross in a woollen hat, she decided to create the Munro beanie. Now the Perthshire entrepreneur sells Munro beanies in 11 different colours, as well as Munro headbands, Corbett beanies and Adventure beanies.
The beanies are made of 100% soft lambswool in the Scottish Borders and £1 from every beanie sold will be donated to the Scottish Mountain Rescue.
I have bee sent a Corbett beanie and a Munro beanie to test and review.
My thoughts: Munro and Corbett beanies
I really like the combination of a practical and warming beanie hat plus the symbolism of marking the hat each time I bag a new summit.
I have chosen the Corbett beanie because I am still working my way through the list of 222 summits in Scotland with a height of between 2500ft and 3000ft.
I am making cross-stitches in the Munro beanie when I bag a new Munro Top. (I have already completed a Munro round, which is why I have chosen to cross-stitch Munro Tops.)
The beanies are made with lovely soft wool. I sometimes find woolly garments itchy but the beanies are so soft that this is not n issue.
The hats are unisex and a bit big for me so I have folded the headband part of the beanie over an extra couple of centimetres to offer a snugger fit.
I like the colour range of the Munro beanies, too.
The beanies come with enough red wool to stitch about 75 crosses and after this I sourced my own wool. It’s simple to sew a cross and the only extra tool required is a needle with an eye large enough to allow wool to pass through.
I’ve already had a few favourable comments about the beanies from friends and walkers I’ve met on the mountains. They all ask me what the crosses mean and it’s been fun telling them the story of the tradition and the modern invention of the Munro / Corbett beanie.
I am still keeping a tally of Corbetts and Munro Tops on the Walk Highlands website and also on a Corbett bagging scratch off map, but I like the idea of making a new stitch with every new summit.
It’s a great to see £1 of each sale going to Scottish Mountain rescue, too.
One improvement I’d like is to have a piece of soft fabric – perhaps fleece – on the inside of the beanie to cover my ears. When it’s a chilly wind, the cold blows through the wool and makes me ears cold. Maybe, this could be a “winter” beanie.
Apart from this, I am a big fan of the Munro and Corbett beanies. The headband is £28, the Corbett beanie is £30 and the Munro beanie is £33. If you are not bagging mountains yourself, the beanies make a great gift for someone who is. Buy from The Munro Beanie.