Failed by 11ft: the mountain that couldn't measure up to the name of Munro

The view from the summit of Foinaven is one of the finest in Europe, affording rugged panoramas over Cape Wrath and the lochs and mountains of the north-west Highlands.

But for the growing army of Munro baggers, the doughty band of enthusiasts bent on conquering each of Scotland's 3,000ft-plus mountains according to rules laid down by the Victorian gentleman adventurer Sir Hugh Munro, this view must continue to suffice as the reward for the climb. Yesterday it was confirmed that Foinaven and its summit, Ganu Mor, were not high enough to qualify for the distinction of joining Scotland's elite league of Munros.

Related articles

• Leading article: Climb every mountain
• Search the news archive for more stories

After half a century of tantalising uncertainty, surveyors demonstratedthat Foinaven was 11ft short of Munro status.

"I'm not disappointed," said a Munro Society spokesman, Dr Iain Robertson, who has climbed all 284 Munro peaks and 227 lesser summits, known as tops, twice. "Whether it is a Munro or not, Foinaven is still a very fine hill and well worth doing. I would encourage anyone to climb it regardless," he said.

Surveyors from CMCR Ltd arrived at their conclusion after taking readings last month using global positioning satellite (GPS) technology, producing results accurate to within 30mm. Foinaven failed to match up to the Ordnance Survey results of 1956 when aerial photography techniques claimed its height as 914m, or 2,998.7ft.

This figure, which has appeared on maps of the county of Sutherland ever since, prompted speculation that it might have been rounded down to take it below the magic number and cheated the peak from its rightful status as a Munro.

Now with the question of Foinaven settled, all eyes are turned towards Beinn Dearg in Torridon, thought to be as little as 30cm short of the target. It will be analysed using the new technology on 25 August.

But shining the cold hard light of GPS on to this outdoor tradition could lead to a much more fundamental shake up of the Scottish hill classification system than previously thought. Some 20 peaks are within a few meters either above or below the required height for a Munro, raising the prospect of promotions and demotions.

Mountains measuring between 2,500ft and 2,999ft are known as Corbetts, after an English climber, John Rooke Corbett. At present, his list, compiled in the 1920s but published posthumously, runs to 219 mountains. Unlike Corbett, the question of what makes a Munro has been debated ever since Sir Hugh's death in 1919. His definition of a "separate mountain" has, for some, never been satisfactorily explained.

Those peaks that do not meet with his approval continue to be categorised as tops. To make matters more confusing, according to Dr Robertson, Sir Hugh had been planning to revise his rules before he was cut down by the influenza epidemic that followed the First World War. Despite such vagaries, the lure of bagging a Munro has continued to grow. In 1945 just eight people had scaled all 511 peaks and tops combined. Today that figure is in excess of 4,000, with tens of thousands more in the process of completing the feat.

"It is excellent exercise and keeps you reasonably fit," said Dr Robertson. "You can combine it with many other hobbies such as geology, botany or photography and it is a great way of exploring Scotland and seeing some wonderful scenery. It takes you to places you wouldn't otherwise go to."

But whatever its official status, Foinaven, which gave its name - although spelt as Foinavon - to the Duchess of Westminster's 1967 Grand National winner, remains a formidable challenge. Translated from the Gaelic variously as white hill, big wedge or wart hill, hikers must traverse 10 miles of wild, boggy ground from the nearest road before reaching its base. From there, it is a steep climb followed by a scramble along a sharp ridge to the summit.

Very strong walkers can then take on Foinaven's smaller neighbour, Arkle, which also provided the name for a champion steeplechaser.

The man who gave his name to Munro-bagging

Clad in his Balmoral bonnet, the aristocratic figure of Sir Hugh Munro, right, was to become a familiar feature of the wilder regions of the Scottish countryside in the 19th century. He rarely ventured from his ancestral home of Lindertis near Kirriemuir in Angus without the primitive instruments that would immortalise his name with future generations of hill walkers. For more than 100 years walkers have battled the elements to bag the famous Munros. Famous climbers include the late Labour leader John Smith, and the author Muriel Gray. Yet Sir Hugh's love of mountains started far from the Highlands, during childhood holidays in the German Alps with his parents and eight siblings. In 1889 he co-founded the Scottish Mountaineering Club, producing his list of 3,000ft-plus mountains two years later. The work was hard and often hazardous.

Mountaineering friends recalled him as "a strange mixture of courtesy and pugnacity". He had a "wonderful ear and memory for music," they said, along with small feet, which blessed him with notable skill in Highland dancing.

He travelled widely throughout Africa, Russia, North America and the Pacific, on intermittent postings with the Foreign Office as well as in search of personal adventure. Often, he was accompanied by his wife and two daughters.

Aged 58 at the outbreak of the First World War, he was too old for military service, but volunteered to help the Red Cross and in 1915 travelled to Malta to care for injured troops. After illness forced him to return home, he rejoined the Red Cross, this time close to the front line in France, running a canteen for Allied forces.

He died in 1919, in the middle of the flu epidemic, aged 63.