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How did you first take to the hills?

How did you first take to the hills?


Postby Ben Nachie » Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:56 pm

A couple of recent posts have started me thinking. It seems that the way that I got introduced to the Scottish hills and gained some experience is not the same as how it's done today.

I was introduced to the hills by family friends who were members of a local mountaineering club. This was when I'd just left school in the mid '80s. I then went to university and joined the club there, where I learned a lot in a very short space of time.

Anyway, it seems that this route is taken by fewer and fewer folk these days, so how did you get introduced, how did you gain experience, and when?
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby rgallie » Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:49 pm

I have a permanent injury in my knee.
The doctor told me to exercise.

One snowy day I wandered up the path to Ben Wyvis in my jeans and casual shoes. I don't know why, I was bored and needed reflection time after finding out my knee would never recover.

Anyway it dawned on me my source of exercise was staring me right in the face, a day later I went out and bought as much gear as I could get on a budget, making my boots and socks my main big spend.

A week after that I took a solo trip up Tor Leathan near Ardross then the following weekend after that a solo trip up Ben Wyvis. It was freezing, sleet falling like pellets in the face, big snow patches towards the top and tiring....that sold me.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby jmarkb » Thu Jan 18, 2018 3:17 pm

Introduced by my parents - first Lake District hill aged 5, first Munro aged 7.
Did a lot through school in my teens, too, including winter stuff (in both Lakes and Scotland), and rock climbing.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Coop » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:41 pm

Walked up to Loch Tinker to go fishing with a pal and his da - many moons ago. Then a couple more fishing and camping trips.
Then a few years later when adventure training ever came round - rather than canoeing or water sports I'd rather go hillwalking.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Jaywizz » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:46 pm

Dad had spent part of his life in the Himalayas - he started me walking on hills at a very early age. Earliest memory is on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, being encouraged to look around the summit - and finding a Mars bar. Ever since that day, it has been a disappointment not to find chocolate bars on summits ........................
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Quincy » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:19 pm

My parents dragged me and my sister up every hill in sight. From being carried up Hellvelyn at 1 to my first hill Ben Vrackie at 5 and finally throwing down my boots at 15 after the wettest muddiest trudge along the west highland way. Took me 15 years to get back into it in an usual way. I joined Lothian Conservation Volunteers in Edinburgh which was a great way to get out in the countryside at the weekends. A weekend away on Arran finally persuaded me to pick up the boots again when I could spend time enjoying the hills at my leisure.

So parents be warned......there's only so many wet, midgy camping weekends the kids can take! Maybe if there'd been mars bars at the top of my hills :)
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Fiona Reid » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:43 pm

Well....aside from a trip up Schiehallion in truly minging weather in October 2003 where I vowed I was never ever going up a hill again... ***

My hillwalking began mostly as an effort to get fit for a holiday in the Alps back in 2005. We'd previously spent a week in Austria and basically not used to hillwalking and downhills in particular had crippled our quads on day 1 and thus spent the rest holiday sore and struggling to do much. We didn't want a repeat in the Alps and thus decided we should do some hills in the UK first.

So, a number of months before the trip we started doing the odd day hillwalk with a club and then it all kinda snowballed and before we knew it we were out walking most weekends. We'd never any intention to climb all the Munros, in fact I didn't even know what a Munro was until one of my colleagues told me!



*** I didn't have any decent waterproofs or gear so got very wet and very very miserable. By 2005 I had bought some better kit!
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Roland Tattiescone » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:45 pm

Due to being into photography. Saw a photo online of Beinn Dorain and thought ‘I’d love to go there’. Roped in a friend, packed my camera and got the train to Bridge of Orchy. Climbed Beinn an Dothaidh by mistake. I’ve since went back and climbed Beinn Dorain :lol:
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Cairngormwanderer » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:53 pm

Started because my Dad thought it would be a good idea to take his kids into the Cairngorms... Seem to have failed to get out of the habit ever since, even after half a century. https://cairngormwanderer.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/50-years-in-the-cairngorms/
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Mal Grey » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:05 pm

My parents took me and my brother with them on their own adventures. As they were teachers, they took school expeditions to places like Iceland, Norway and the Pyrenees every few years, and we got to tag along.

Joined the local walking club as a 6th former, and did some big walks with them in the Peak District, Lake District and North Wales.

When I went to college (Portsmouth Poly!), I joined the walking club there, and soon found myself helping organise and lead trips as I was more experienced than most. I still do most of my Scottish mountain walking with a couple of the chaps I met then, nearly 30 years later.

There was a brief foray into climbing in my early 20s, which helped the scrambling and meant I got to do things like the Cuillins under my own steam as a climber, which was fabulous. Would need to be dragged up on a rope now, I suspect.

Basically, though, we learnt our "craft" under our own steam, by experimentation, sometimes with borrowed gear like my dad's 85cm wooden shafted "alpine axes", which must have been pre-war in origin. We read books avidly, both guidebooks and things like Mountaincraft & Leadership, and later Martin Moran's Scotland's Winter Mountains. Butterfield's The High Mountains was my favourite book, just looking at the images was exciting. Still is!

Living in the south, the regular trips became less and less, so I took up mountain biking to get a buzz, and barely got on the hills walking during my 30s.

For my 40th, I randomly bought myself an inflatable canoe, and paddling has become my biggest passion since. Luckily this works perfectly with walking in Scotland, so I'm now getting up there more than I have for 20 years or so. Fortunately, I'm also fitter than I've been since my 20s, so loving it!
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby walkingpoles » Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:58 pm

When I grew up in Switzerland, I spent many hiking holidays in the Alps with my parents. During highschool, I don't remember how, I ended up doing orienteering courses. I was never good at it but it certainly helped with navigation later. Got into mountaineering through youth camps but never did a lot. When I moved to Glasgow in my twenties, I assumed that people will take me hiking. It turned out to be the other way, as people asked me very soon to take them to the highlands. I learnt mostly by exploring and building up experience from easier mountains to more adventurous outings. Guiding people in the mountains was a great experience (and still is). The only book I ever read was Camerons book about the munros. And I learnt how to get away with not checking wheather forecasts and ignoring paths and I enjoyed to be able to go mountaineering all year round, seeing the colours shift with the seasons.

Now I live in Switzerland and recently became a SAC mountain guide. I do a fair share of mountaineering in the alps during the summer season but I still miss the highlands and I have been back at least every other year. Hiking style is different. Next trip is scheduled.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby BobMcBob » Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:48 pm

One of my earliest memories is of scrambling up the north-east ridge of Moel Siabod in the rain, with my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my two cousins. That was 40 years ago and I went back 5 years ago and did it again and it was exactly as I remembered it. The next year my Dad and I climbed Sgurr Dearg on Skye on a beautiful day. Again I've been back recently and remembered it as if was yesterday. Memories of days that full of wonder and excitement never leave you, and while I've not always been in the mountains they've always been in me.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Sgurr » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:04 pm

Married someone who liked hill walking. he took me up Cadair Idris in 1963 and looked back in horror to see me CRAWLING up a 1 in 10 slope. Prior to that I had always crossed the road at home to avoid walking across a junction where there was a gentle downwards slope. Went on holiday to Austria hut to hutting and liked the views. Then hardly did anything except when the in-laws looked after the kids for a few days in the mid '70s. Went on cycle touring holidays with daughter and tried to persuade husband to join me when she left home, so started hill-walking with him. I think I did about 15 Munros before I became a granny at 52, and didn't finish them until I was 65, finished the Corbetts at 71 and Grahams at 74, so it was a long slow process
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby johnkaysleftleg » Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:15 pm

I grew up with parents who had little to no interest in walking anywhere with my dad's only real interest being football. Having been passed this poisoned chalice I waisted much money and time in this most unfulfilling way for years. One thing from my younger years that had stuck in my mind was the TV series Billy Connolly's world tour of Scotland, I was astounded that such a beautiful place was so close to where I lived so once I got a car me and my wife to be, started our Scottish holidays. At first this involved driving around and stopping at the usual spots to take photos and continued once Grace arrived in 2002. Eventually the urge to stray from the car grew stronger culminating in climbing Ben Vrackie on April fools day 2007 with Grace a mere five years of age. It had taken me 35 years to climb my first hill and now I can't imagine life without it.
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Re: How did you first take to the hills?

Postby Scottk » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:01 pm

I grew up near Aberdeen so we used to go to Deeside regularly. My first hillwalk was up Bennachie when I was in primary school. At secondary, one of the Biology teachers was a very keen walker so he used to take pupils out. This was the first time I had been up Lochnagar (with cagoules!!). Interest waned as I was playing rugby and then moved to London but started again when we moved back up here. Kids have now lost interest as my daughter climbs competitively and has started uni and my son plays lots of golf and getting ready to go to uni. I now find I have more time which has been great!
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