“If you think carefully about what outdoor gear you buy, and look after it well, with the right products, it can last a lot longer than you might imagine.”
COIRE ARDAIR is a long, winding valley that cuts deeply into the Creag Meagaidh massif, ending with great cliffs rising above the dark waters of Lochan a’ Choire. Creag Meagaidh became a National Nature Reserve in the 1980s; and since then birch woodlands have spread out in the lower valley as overgrazing by deer has been reduced, making it a wonderful and inspiring place.
I set out up Coire Ardair with James Roddie on a freezing December day, with a pack full of old well-used and well-looked-after gear. The idea of
