Leader: Bit of a climbdown to lose a Munro just like that

THOSE pesky Munros: now you see them, now you don't! A new survey of a mountain in Wester Ross shows it has shrunk in official measurement and no longer qualifies as a Munro - mountains over 3,000 feet high.

So spare a thought for all those who have huffed and puffed their way up this mountain, borne the strained and aching muscles, survived the blistered feet and the straps of the rucksack cutting into the shoulders to place a stone on the summit cairn. It's all been for nothing. They've shrunk the mountain. Beinn a Chlaidheimh, between Loch Maree and Little Loch Broom in Wester Ross, is no longer 3,004 feet as per previous official measurement - and all those aching limbs. According to latest satellite technology it's only 2,997.7 feet - hardly worth climbing at all.

It has been stripped of its Munro status and now becomes a mere Corbett. And it means there are now only 282 Munros in Scotland. More than 4,000 people claim to have scaled every one, but if the statisticians keep shrinking the Munros, what's the point? Those proud mantlepiece photographs showing how we conquered Ben Whats-its-name are now destined for a trunk in the attic: the glory that once was and which has now been torn from us - and all for less than three measly feet.