I intend to use this blog partly to waffle on about my point of view of the world around me and partly to regale you all with my tales of derring-do (!) in the mountains of Scotland. I’m primarily a walker and winter climber, preferring Scottish Ice routes over summer rock. I love the feeling of freedom and the very fact that I can forget the world and the relentless media bombardment that seems to affect us wherever we turn. Only in the hills can you turn your back on the labels and cynicism of our Capitalist and increasingly corrupt society. Up there you can stop and blether with your fellow traveller and not be branded a weirdo for smiling and saying hello to a stranger.



Yes, truly you can avoid the Capitalist trappings of our Society.



Of course I never ever venture out into the hills without my Scarpa boots, North Face jacket (Gore Tex lined), Montane Salopettes and trusty Vango rucksack!



This year, the plan is to get enough days out to enable me to start a Mountain Leader training course (ML). With this under my belt I’ll be able to lead groups out into the hills during the summer (The Winter ML is for the real gnarly types, all big beards, real ale and ruddy cheeks). This will enable me to share my love of the hills with others and make a little bit of extra money too. On the downside it will no doubt make my Hill-days a more noisy and fraught experience!



Ultimately this will turn me into a well honed climbing machine, but the way the weather has been recently I’m more likely to be an embittered old grump due to a lack of exercise, too much chocolate and an ever expanding waistline. I haven’t seen the hills in the last couple of weeks due to the constant gales battering the Highlands. The odd glimpse of snow in the hills is all the more infuriating for it!







Gaelic Phrase for the day: Tha mo ceann gort. (Haa mo kee-awn gorsht) My head is sore. A handy phrase for the coming festive period