TACit Tables: The New Donalds
Percy Donald's original list of hills over 2000 feet in the Scottish Lowlands has been published in the book of Munro's Tables for many years. This list is based on a complicated formula for determining separate hills, but uses a simple rule of a 100-foot drop (30.5 metres) to determine a Top (though selected Tops with less than 30 metres drop are also included). The Donalds have never been particularly popular, and few people have climbed them all, but most of them offer fine easy walking away from the crowds.
The New Donalds bring the list right up to date, using the latest large-scale maps to eliminate discrepancies. All summits with a drop of at least 30 metres are included and all lesser summits excluded. Three hills on the south side of Glen Artney (between Callander and Crieff) have been added, as these lie south of the Highland boundary fault and so can be considered as part of the Scottish 'Lowlands'. A New Donald is therefore defined as a hill in Central or Southern Scotland at least 610 metres high (2000 feet) with a drop of at least 30 metres (98 feet) all round. There are 118 New Donalds, compared to 87 old Donalds and 138 old Donald Tops.
A further 26 summits with between 20 and 30 metres drop are also listed, to indicate why they do not appear in the main list of New Donalds. Eight of these have not been listed as Donald Tops: Meall Clachach, Uamh Bheag East Top, Shiel Dod, Green Trough, Dungrain Law, Moorbrock Hill North Top, Grey Weather Law and Notman Law. Five old Donald Tops are omitted altogether: Keoch Rig (19m drop), Black Law South-West Top (11m drop), Auchope Cairn (9m drop), Cairn Hill West Top (5m drop) and Dugland (only 608m high).
Details given are the same as for the Grahams, but the layout highlights a distinction between hills with a 150-metre drop (Grahams or Corbetts) and other summits. Grahams (over 2000 feet) and Corbetts (over 2500 feet) are treated as major summits, with other hills grouped beneath the relevant major summit and listed in order of relative height, so that the most significant summits are shown first. Obvious groups of hills are kept together.
The meaning of the drop column is also slightly different. For Grahams or Corbetts the drop relates to the next hill with a 150-metre drop, which may be either higher or lower. For other hills the drop always relates to a higher summit. This is illustrated on the inside back cover.