SEIZE THE DAY
THE FIRST THING I was taught about winter hillwalking is that there is no such thing as winter hillwalking, only winter mountaineering. (The second is that malt loaf is the best food for big winter days; but that’s less relevant.) Of all the learning curves we climb during our lifetimes in the mountains, I think that the winter learning curve is the most humbling, the least easy to take shortcuts in, and also by far the most rewarding. What happens, then, when you try to combine winter mountaineering with that other long and enigmatic learning curve – that of the long-distance backpacker?
This was a question, along with many others, that I set out to answer in February 2019 when I began my winter Cape Wrath Trail (CWT): a long-distance walk through the West Highlands from Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath (the standard route begins from Fort William). I have already written about that journey in ; but now, with my new book about this trip,, starting to appear on bookshelves, it’s time to talk about the other side to my CWT. About the summits.
