I've never been sure if I actually suffer from these or not...once went skiing abroad in January and felt abnormally fantastic so that led me to wondering briefly if I did. Sadly there's no annual winter holiday to keep flagging spirits up, so I'm delighted to have stumbled across a foolproof, cheap, winter blues avoidance tactic..... WINTER HILLWALKING in SCOTLAND!
Now don't stop reading..
Never in a million years did I picture a non -athletic, impractical female like myself wielding an ice axe without (yet) doing myself or anyone else an injury... or for that matter wearing crampons over my newly acquired hiking boots. Yes, I too thought crampons were purchased by women on a monthly basis and ice axes were for hairy mountain men of incredible physical strength and ability. My oh my how wrong can you be...here's a photo of me on my first Scottish winter mountain last year (Tarmachan Ridge). Hopefully the distinction's clear between this and my imagined winter mountaineer
Anyway, proud to say that although it didn't last long in the howling gales and snow up there I did start out as usual with nicely washed hair and a full face of make up (no reason to drop the standards of a lifetime) My advice to all women (especially) who have never been particularly athletic but fancy doing something different is WALK to get fit and then LEARN the skills to hill walk in winter. It's FAB and you FEEL GOOD!
Anyway, proud to say that although it didn't last long in the howling gales and snow up there I did start out as usual with nicely washed hair and a full face of make up (no reason to drop the standards of a lifetime) My advice to all women (especially) who have never been particularly athletic but fancy doing something different is WALK to get fit and then LEARN the skills to hill walk in winter. It's FAB and you FEEL GOOD!
Totally get where you're coming from. I never imagined I'd enjoy the cold winter hills but after two trips I have become a convert. See www.fionaoutdoors,blogspot.com Admittedly the weather was extremely favourable both times (ie no howling gales) but I really loved the chance to pull on crampons and make use of an ice axe and really get out into what felt like Scotland's wild outdoors. Sublime. Keep spreading the word Mrs Glen Trek!
ReplyDelete