The beginnings

Roll back to April 2008 to a claggy day slogging up Ben Lomond with some friends. The calf burning, lung busting and heart thumping ascent was making me question what I was doing in an environment that felt unwelcoming but enticing then breaking through the cloud at 930m the answer was obvious. Seeing other peaks like islands in the clouds was even more breath taking than the effort to the summit of my first munro.

I could look back on my up bringing in a small village of the Scottish borders as the ingraining of the outdoors and adventure but moving to Dunblane in 96' gave me the back garden of Sherrifmuir and the surrounding area of the Trossachs in which to really explore and discover the outdoor environment.

View of my "back garden"

After leaving school I had more and more encounters with the outdoors and wild environments while also working outside as a green keeper for 3 years then a building site labourer. Walking, running, cycling were routine while hill walking was a once in a blue moon day out that was tempting but testing logistically  Until the first munro and the seed was planted.
 
I am living in Fort William and have been since march 2011. Fort William in the west highlands of Scotland and is the hub of Lochaber, also known as the Outdoor Capital of the UK. I have been studying at West Highland College UHI since September 11' and I am part of the School of Adventure Studies in my 1st year of the Adventure Tourism Managment degree. Also I'm doing a trainee scheme with The Ice Factor Ltd. the National ice climbing centre and I work there as an instructor for rock climbing,ice climbing and run sessions on the high ropes course

In the 4 years since "the first munro" (now on 89 for any baggers wanting to compare sac's)  I have walked, climbed, canoed, cycled, explored and been on all kinds expeditions in the Scottish mountains, the Lake District, Peak District, the Carpathian mountains, High Tatra's and the Hinterland of Portugal. Every step of the way to now November 2012 has been a learning curve towards becoming experienced and working towards NGB's and I have just completed a 6 day Mountain Leader training course. I am not going to back date all my adventures and experiences until now but i am going to keep up as to date from now on of all the activities, adventures, epics(if any) and other related topics or things of interest.

One of may many adventures so far(No.2 gully, Ben Nevis)

Having just completed ML training I am in a confident mood and planning when and where to book my assessment. While also looking forward to getting out in the mountains this winter. So there will be many blogs to follow.

Enjoy
James