yes you can see on that famous photo

Apparently Marilyn Monroe suffered from Flatulence. (thought i would share that)

And vice versa the only Munroe(sic) you wanted to mount was Marilyn!

I thought it was quite simple
If you're following AW then you go to where he says, If you are climbing hills over 2000ft then you go to the summit. If you are doing a challenge event you follow the route description unless stated otherwise in the rules.

and the only marrilyn I wanted to climb was monroe

I couldn't resist looking in this wonderful can of worms!
First of all we have to decide which hill we are on - is it Gray Crag or Grey Crag - not forgetting Graystones, Grey Knotts or even Grey Friar, most of which have summit issues.
Then we have to determine whether it is the 'Wainwright' or the Summit which is the desired objective.I would insist (but don't do what I do, do what I say) that it should be both. As Geoff says how can you bag a list if you don't visit the author's ticks. Additionally how can any self respecting bagger climb a hill without visiting it's summit (unless it's Helm Crag with wet or icy summit rocks and you're having a bad hair day).
Perhaps there should be two lists for the purist (aka obsessional)- one for 'Wainwrights' and one for 'Wainwright Hills'. Or maybe the precious tick should only be gained if the chosen hill is climbed by all the routes described.
This would solve problems like Seathwaite Fell and Whinlatter where even AW admitted that his selected spot was not the highest point.
My proud boast is to have climbed all the 'Wainwrights' at least 10 times - some many times more - but,obsessional as I undoubtedly am, I cannot claim to have always visited the exactly right spot. But a tick is always a tick!
If all this doesn't drive you mad then get Alan Dawson's Relative Hills of Britain and enter the wacky world of Marilyns.

Long way to come up to the Lakes David, Save that one as an excuse.
David H

Thanks for the replies.

I don't think of myself as a purist but if I want to claim that I've done the Wainwrights then I think I really should visit the tops that AW refers to.

I wonder how many of those that claim to have completed the Wainwrights have visited the correct tops.

In future I shall be refering to my AW guides before venturing out on a peakbagging trip. And I look forward to visiting Gray Crag again.

First of all let me say that I am not a peakbagger and I haven't read the book. For clarity, I refer to a hill as a 'Wainwright' and the man as 'AW'.
Gray Crag isn't unique among the Wainwrights. Arnison Crag (Book 1) and Low Fell (Book 7) are two more where AW's 'summit' isn't the true summit. There will be others. And what about Thunacar Knott (Book 3) where AW identifies two summits but refers to one as the 'main' summit and the other as the 'higher' one. Which is the Wainwright there? And are all you Wainwright baggers certain that the cairn which now stands on Mungrisdale Common is on the same spot that AW recognised?
Surely all this arises from trying to impose organisation and order on to what were, in the first place, delightfully idiosyncratic books. If you are bagging Wainwrights, you must use the selfsame spots that AW used. Nothing else makes sense.

Tony I dont think I ever will be a "purist" and never have followed other peoples ideas of how to get on all the tops in X amount of days. I just use a map and the Wainwright guides (now Mark Richards) as references. When there is a spot height or "I" decide to turn back it is marked on the map and in the journal and that is a fell or hill that has been visited on a route that suits the day. But if you are going to attempt to follow a certain author you should stick to his idea of a top.
David H

David,
I checked with the author, Stuart Marshall that is, not AW who might be a little more difficult to contact. Here is his response:-
Quite right - both tops are cairned but the lower (North) one was favoured by AW, in his wisdom,
so Mr Findel-Hawkins will have to "trudge" to it some time if he's a purist. Please thank him for me.

When the opportunity arises (in 2-3 years' time) I'll modify the text in the book. It will add a dull mile
to the route -- if readers elect to bother with the point!

Yes
David H

I recently did route 10 in Stuart Marshall'a 'Walking the Wainwrights'. I know a number of people are using this as a guide to completing these tops.

On Gray Crag I followed the advise given 'It's hardly worth the effort to trudge to the (lower) north top...'.

After the walk I looked at Wainwright's book of the Far Eastern Fells and he clearly is refering to that lower north top.

So fellow peakbagger have I done Grey Crag or do I need to revisit to tick if off properly?