WINTER PERFECTION

STARE AT ANYTHING for long enough, and its significance can be blown out of all proportion. For several years, whenever I was craving a winter day in the mountains, I would gaze endlessly at a photo of Skye’s Cuillin Ridge in the classic book Cold Climbs. It was an idyllic scene – the shadow of a mountaineer, cast against a pristine snow slope in the light of the sunset, with the icy summit of Sgurr nan Gillean beyond. For me, the idea of being up on the Cuillin in such conditions was the epitome of Scottish winter perfection.

I was an experienced winter mountaineer, having enjoyed most of Scotland’s classic winter ridges, and I was familiar with the Cuillin Ridge in summer conditions. However, venturing onto the ridge in winter was something I held back from for the longest time. It was an intimidating prospect. The Cuillin contains the most complex and serious mountaineering ground in the UK, by quite a large margin. It is also widely regarded as one of the finest winter ridges in the world. If I was ever going to get up there to see it for myself under snow, I wanted an immaculate combination of weather and conditions to make it my finest ever day in had left quite an impression.