by houdi » Thu May 12, 2011 10:17 pm
I'm not sure I actually understood anything of what you said Kinley, but I never used the phrase list-ticking obsessionalism. Very clever words, but not mine. Smacks of journalistic sensationalism (now those are my words). You're not a reporter for the News of the World by any chance? I have read walk reports on this forum where people have had a bad day in the clag and other people have replied with things like 'oh well, at least that's another one ticked off' I spent a week in Glen Shiel with my mate Stu last year and there were days when you couldn't see anything from almost ground level. He still went out on the hills (I didn't bother) to tick something else off his list. He did A' Ghlas-bheinn without actually finding the summit, and had a thoroughly wet and miserable day according to him. His only reason for doing it was that it was one more on the way to his hundredth Munro (which he clocked up on the last day when we did the Five Sisters). Now if that isn't list-ticking then I don't know what is.
All I am saying is that I won't do what Stu did. The Scottish Hills are a long way from Devon and as I am lucky enough to be able to take last minute holidays, I try to make sure I pick a time when there is High Pressure forecast. Two years ago I had a full fortnight in May/June of glorious weather when I was out almost every day. Stu picked the first week in May last year which I was dead against (turned out to be cracking weather at end of the month) and I had two days of walking (South Ridge & Five Sisters). Pretty poor for all that travelling and expense. If I am the odd one out on this forum in not enjoying walking in bad weather, then so be it. That's my choice. I have just had a glorious week in Scotland - seven consecutive days of the very best weather, lots of walking, lots of photographs and many treasured memories. Last May was a total disappointment for me. I never got anywhere near the Cuillins because of the weather and if it wasn't for the fact that I came back later in the year (an unexpected bonus) to do the Saddle and Liathac, I would still be disappointed. I appreciate you may love being out walking regardless of the weather and fair play to you. However, it is not my idea of enjoyment. I love scrambling and in the clag the rock is invariably wet. I am not crazy enough to scramble on wet rock which is one of the reasons I prefer good weather.
As for the boring hills thing. It was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Chonzie has a reputation for being boring (deserved or otherwise) and I just borrowed from that. I still didn't find anything on the hill itself to get excited about but I don't expect anyone else to have this opinion. What you seem to be saying is that I can expect a backlash from people on here just because I have an opinion that doesn't conform to theirs. How does that work exactly?