I guess I learned to love the Scottish hills when I was in the Viking Venture Unit. I remember to this day the exhilaration of topping out with John Thurman on Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis as the sun was setting – an irresponsibly bold winter climbing route for a pair that had never done any winter climbing before. I recall the magic of negotiating the cornices on the Devil’s Ridge in the Mamores on a crisp, clear, sunny day during one of the Unit’s visits to Corpach Scout Hut one Christmas holiday in the mid-1970s. And who could forget the traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye – the Island of Mists – on a day so cloudless that we were all dreaming of a large, cold glass of water as we negotiated the finest mountaineering route in the British Isles?
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