More Munros in the future?

Climbers in Scotland divide the mountains into "Munros" (over 3,000 feet) and "Corbetts" (between 2,500 and 2,999 feet), named after the gentlemen who collated the first complete list of all of them across the country. There are also "Donalds" - Scottish Lowland hills above 2,000 feet. Some enthusiastic "Munro baggers" climb all the Munros on the list, though in 1997 the list was enlarged to 284, when a number summits close by the main mountain top were given Munro status. Now the number might grow still further. The Ordinance Survey has done all the measurements until now, but they have now said that if climbers use the latest survey-quality GPS technology equipment to measure peaks that are just below the magic 3,000 feet level, they would consider revising the official maps - and that list - if they prove to be above 3,000 feet. There are a number such as Foinaven in north-west Sutherland, which has an official height of 2,999 feet, and Beinn Dearg in Torridon in Wester Ross, which is logged at 2,998 feet.

Previous measurements could even have been correct - but geologists say that Scotland's mountains are growing at about two millimetres a year as the land is still slowly rebounding after being pressed down in the last Ice Age. The last surveys were done in the 1960s and 1970s so could have grown by over three inches since then.