Laura Baillie has become the youngest known female to complete an impressive mountain challenge, known as a Full House.
The 38-year-old property manager from Glasgow has reached the all the summits of the hill categories recorded by the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), including the Munros, Munro Tops, Corbetts, Grahams (Fionas) and Donalds. A Full House also lists the Furths, which are defined as mountains that are Munro height in England, Ireland and Wales.
The total tally of Full House mountains is 1072 UK peaks. The SMC records reveal there are 113 Full House completers, of which 23 are female.
See mountain definitions.
Laura’s Full House in 11 years
Laura has achieved the Full House in just 11 years. To put this in perspective, the average time to complete just one list, the 282 Munros, is around 23 years, according to data maintained by the SMC.
After reaching the summit of her final mountain, the Corbett Carn na h-Easgainn, near Moy, in the Scottish Highlands, on August 23 this year, she told me: “People tell me that what I have achieved is impressive but, to me, it’s just a wee hobby that I like.
“I love being out in the hills and mountains and exploring Scotland. Planning all the route routes to different summits is what I do for fun.”
The start of a bagging hobby
In September 2015, having moved back to Scotland after eight years spent living and working in London, Laura recalls walking to her first summit, Ben Cleuch, in the Ochils, Stirlingshire. The hill is a Donald and also a Graham/Fiona.
She said: “I wanted to see more of Scotland and I decided that walking a few hills and mountains would be a good way to do this.”
Laura’s next summit was Merrick, a Corbett in Dumfries & Galloway, and her first Munro was Stob Dubh (Buachaille Etive Beag) in Glencoe.
She said: “Back then, I didn’t really have a clue about what to wear for hill walking, or about safety and navigating.
“I looked back recently at photos and what I was wearing when I started out. It was more fashion clothing than proper walking kit.
“I also think back to how potentially vulnerable I was to the weather and other mountain difficulties.
“I only walked on what I deemed to be good weather days but even then there was always a risk of the conditions changing and getting lost. I used the descriptions on the website WalkHighlands as guidance and I didn’t have a map or map app, or the ability to use a compass.
“I feel extremely lucky that nothing bad happened to me.”
Between 2015 and 2018, Laura, completed only around 20 hikes and her exploring fell by the wayside because of working and travelling in her fashion industry job.
She refound her passion for the summits in 2021, after the Covid pandemic, and when her job moved from fashion to property.
Laura’a first Munro round
By May 2023, Laura had completed her first round of Munros. She said: “In my first three years of walking, I reached about 15 Munros, then from 2021 to 2023 I finished my round.
“Next came another round of Munros, the Munro Tops and a round of Corbetts. I did these simultaneously and had finished them all by August 2025.
“It was while working my way through the second round of Munros that the idea for a Full House came about. I set about bagging all the Grahams, Donalds and the Furths as well.”
Highs and lows of a Full House
Laura reveals that the Corbetts round proved to be the hardest. She said: “The Corbetts are very rough and rugged and they do not have many paths like the Munros.
“I think that the Grahams and Donalds are also tougher rounds but because I’d completed a round of Corbetts when I started to focus on the Grahams and Donalds, I didn’t find them as hard as I might have done if I had completed them earlier.”
Laura has walked some 80 per cent of outings solo and enjoys linking as many different summits from different lists as is reasonably possible.
She has also completed several navigation and winter skills courses. She said: “As my experience grew, I realised it wound be a good idea to gain the right skills for safety and also for planning routes. I like big days out and multi-days, planning the most efficient route to reach as many summits as possible.
“I don’t just look at one list of summits, but rather I try to combine summits from different lists on one route.
“I’ve become fitter as well. Where I used to walk to one or two summits in a day, I now complete multiple summits in one day or I stay out in the mountains with my tent and complete several days in a row.”
Living in Glasgow and working form Monday to Thursday each week, she has spent a lot of time and miles driving to mountains.
She said: “When I got my current car four-and-a-half years ago it had about 4000 miles on the clock. Now it has 90,000 miles.”
She camps before, during and after hiking and, when the cost is not too high, she will treat herself to B&Bs and guest houses while away from home.
Her favourite areas are Skye, Torridon and Assynt. “I especially like the otherworldly landscape of Assynt,” she said.
Her toughest outings have been deep snow while walking in winter in the Monadhliath mountains of the Highlands. There was also a disappointing attempt to complete the 12 Mullardoch Munros when she was hit by an injury and had to retreat after reaching eight of the summits.
The boggiest walk, she recalled, was a Graham on the Cowal peninsula. She said: “It was as if the ground was a saturated sponge. Each step, the ground under me wobbled and I was convinced it would give way.
“I also found the terrain tough on Talla Cleuch Head, a Donald in the Scottish Borders.”
Laura described a scary situation when attempting to reach one of the Munro Tops on the Liathach ridge in Torridon. She said: “I had planned my route, to ascend from behind the ridge, and I was sure I was in the right gully. But suddenly, I found it was too steep to continue upwards and too steep to easily descend again. I eventually managed to find a way to return and headed up the correct gully but for a while I was very scared by where I found myself.
“Overall though, I have greatly enjoyed completing the Full House. When I finished on the Corbettt near Moy, it was the first time I had organised a completion group.
“Until then, I’d chosen to do my last summits in each round on my own. I love the sense of freedom of being on my own in the hills.
“But this time, I wanted family and friends to be there. Carn na h-Easgainn has a wide track all the way to the top, so I knew it would be a good choice for people who have not done a lot of walking.
“I was also really grateful to the estate manager who agreed that we could drive a vehicle to the summit so that my 89-year-old granny could be there. She was thrilled to make it to the top of her first hill.
“No one else in my family, including my dad, mum, twin sister and younger sister, are into hill walking and it felt like a very special day to finish the Full House with everyone there.”
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Anne Butler is first known female to bag a second Full House of mountains