Chris Townsend is a passionate hillwalker

Hillwalking

In the British Isles, the terms hillwalking or fellwalking are commonly used to describe the recreational outdoor activity of walking on hills and mountains, often with the intention of visiting their summits...

 and author of 15 books.

Townsend was the first person to climb all of the Munro

Munro

A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over . They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet , who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munros Tables, in 1891. A Munro top is a summit over 3,000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain...

s and Tops in a continuous walk involving 1700 miles (2700 km) and 575,000 feet (170,000 m) of ascent over all 517 of the 3000 ft (914 m) Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 summits listed in Munro's Tables. He was also the first person to walk the length of the Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

, a distance of 1600 miles (2500 km). Chris Townsend has also hiked the 2600 mile (4200 km) Pacific Crest Trail

Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail is a long-distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail on the Western Seaboard of the United States. The southern terminus is at the California border with Mexico...

, the 3100 mile (5000 km) Continental Divide Trail

Continental Divide Trail

The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is a United States National Scenic Trail running 3,100 miles between Mexico and Canada. It follows the Continental Divide along the Rocky Mountains and traverses five U.S. states — Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico...

, Land's End

Land's End

Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....

 to John o' Groats

John o' Groats

John o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Part of the county of Caithness, John o' Groats is popular with tourists because it is usually regarded as the most northerly settlement of mainland Great Britain, although this is not a claim made by the inhabitants...

 in the UK (1250 miles, 2000 km), south-north through the Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n mountains (1300 miles, 2100 km), 1000 miles (1600 km) south-north through the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

 Territory and the 800 mile (1300 km) Arizona Trail

Arizona Trail

The Arizona National Scenic Trail is a National Scenic Trail from Mexico to Utah that traverses the whole north-south length of Arizona. The trail begins at the Coronado National Memorial near the US-Mexico border and moves north through parts of the Huachuca, Santa Rita, and Rincon Mountains; it...

.

External links

• Personal website