Jack Wolfskin WINTER

REALLY UNREAL –
SCOTLAND’S NEBULOUS NORTH
MIST SWIRLS AROUND THE MOUNTAIN, BLURRING THE
CONTOURS. PEERING INTENTLY THROUGH THE MURK, WE
REGISTER SOMETHING THAT IS BARELY VISIBLE, THEN LOOK
AGAIN...
There! A silhouette appears out of the mist. Standing there in
all his glory and splendour is a Highland stag. He stares back
at us, then walks away. But let’s go back to the beginning...
We see deer on the drive from Inverness airport to Shieldaig.
Lots of them. And we keep on seeing them. It’s almost as if the
Scottish Tourist Board has put them there specially for us!
Actually, up here in the far north it’s quite a normal sight.
When we ask Jim and Nathan (our guides) about them, they
tell us the stags are the most dangerous thing about Scotland.
Not the mist, not the stormy weather and definitely not the
whisky – the stags. And that’s saying a lot, since in general
these two guys reckon the tougher things are the more
“amazing” they are! The fact that our photographer seems to
have disappeared for a while has nothing to do with the stags,
however. That’s all down to the patchy mobile phone signal,
the remoteness and – admittedly – having to drive on the left.
- 11 -
Once everyone has finally arrived we check in to “base camp”.
Richard and Claire’s cottage lies at the mouth of the Shieldaig
River where it flows into Loch Torridon. And if any of us ever
had any prejudices about British cuisine, the lavish threecourse
meal that they serve us certainly puts paid to that; in
fact, we are full of praise. After the meal we go through the kit
for the following day with Jim. The plan is to climb Beinn
Eighe (1425 m).
As we set off next morning, the scenery is all muddy browns
and lichen greens. The landscape is saturated, soaked by the
mist and by the snow that swirls around us in spite of the low
altitude. We walk a good way towards the mountain, pass the
snow line and pitch our tents. As we look forward to the ridge
walk, a strong wind blows snowflakes and swathes of mist
over our camp.
INSULATION