David Lintern rounds out the weirdest of years with a quiet walk through a multi-storied landscape. Today, I’m hitting the pause button. There’s a brief lull in my schedule that coincides with a break in the weather, a benign day between early winter storms, with slowly clearing skies and a thaw after the first big dump of snow. Maybe even a glimpse of sun? After the year we’ve had, I’ll take it. I’ve long had an eye on a giant cleft on the map, a sort of secret doorway to the plateau of the central highlands. Given the recent access…

We’re working with Scottish Mountain Rescue to bring you some of the human stories behind the rescue headlines, hopefully giving more insight into what and how things can go wrong in the mountains and the people who volunteer to help. Here Fiona Bennett tells of her experience following a serious accident in the Cuillin. Tell me a little bit more about yourself? I am 31 years old, from Glasgow and work as an Accountant for the Scottish Government. My accident happened in 2014 when I was 25. I am a keen hill walker and have been since I was very…

In 1997, at the age of 24, Sarah Jane Douglas lost her mother to breast cancer. Alone and adrift in the world, she very nearly gave up hope, but she’d made a promise to her mother that she would keep going no matter what. So she turned to the beautiful, dangerous, forbidding mountains of her native Scotland. Her book Just Another Mountain was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award last year, and it was a Waterstones Book of the Month.  ‘Which is your favourite mountain?’ is a question I’m frequently asked, but there are so many of outstanding…

As many Walkhighlanders know only too well, Munro-bagging can be a headily addictive pursuit, and it’s one gaining more traction than ever in the era of social distancing. But where did it all begin? In his new book, The Munros: A History, Andrew Dempster traces the sport back to its source in 1891, with many a nod to significant figures – both past and present – along the way. Here’s an extract from the first chapter, which takes a look at the key figures that helped influence the creation of the list. ON THE LEVEL bealach below the high point of…

David Lintern celebrates the humble mountain shelter, past and present. As intimated in the close of my last piece here, I found it impossible to walk from Fort William to the Cape without reflecting on the past inhabitants of the glens we walked through. On the way, we passed many bothies I’d not yet visited; real highlights of the walk for me. While these buildings were officially closed due the pandemic, doing a long walk like the Cape Wrath Trail reiterates just how important these shelters are from a mountain safety point of view – there were days when we…

In February 2019, award-winning writer Alex Roddie left his online life behind when he set out to walk 300 miles through the Scottish Highlands, seeking solitude and answers. In leaving the chaos of the internet behind for a month, he hoped to learn how it was truly affecting him – or if he should look elsewhere for the causes of his anxiety. In this extract from his new book The Farthest Shore, out on September 2nd, Alex shares some of the pain and joy from the start of his solo winter challenge. Day 1: 6 February 2019, Ardnamurchan Point, Scotland…