TRAIL 100
RUSS MOORHOUSE is on a mission to camp out on every Trail 100 peak – achallenge that spans four countries, 100 of the UK’s finest hills and mountains, and a punishing 88,339m of ascent. This month Russ gets put in his place by an 83-year-old... and falls in love.
I’m smiling a Duchenne smile, lips curlingup and orbiting eye muscles causing wrinkles. A smile that can’t be faked, a unique expression of happiness. I’ve found my perfect mountain, if only I could remember its name.
Superpowers and summits
Ingleborough is not a name you forget. Setting off at 3pm we find ourselves mixed in with the hundreds of hikers completing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. We follow an 83-year-old lady up the steep slope onto the summit plateau. Paul Messner comments she is going at the same pace as us, then we realise she has already walked 20 miles and us just two. We set our tents on the west edge of Ingleborough’s huge flat summit, amazed at how close the sea is from here, and watch the hundreds of hikers reach the trig. It’s a beautiful, relaxing evening with cool sunshine, and by 7pm we have the place to ourselves. Paul interviews me for his YouTube channel sitting on the summit cross, where we chat about my Wainwright round, superpowers and all things wild camping.
Torridonian sandstone
Mountains don’t come any more impressive than An Teallach. Heading straight up from the car park I pass goats underneath a huge triangular summit in the sky. It’s a long way off I think, but that’s not even the top, just a lower peak out of the 10 summits on this massif. Too steep to climb direct, the path curves out and back over eroded Torridonian sandstone, in places making it seem like I’m walking through sand dunes. The highest summit requires a steep diagonal climb up a scree slope to reach a boulder field. There the surprise is that this is only the start of a magnificent scrambling curving ridge over pinnacles and buttresses. I pitch my tent before going off to explore.
What could have Beinn
Frogs are croaking and jumping out on me all the way up the big red mountain (Beinn Dearg Mor). Am I seeing things after the 7-hour hike in along an awesome track following Gruinard River before scrambling a magnificent ridge to reach the col? There is no-one else around, apart from a perfectly camouflaged ptarmigan matching the grey and white rocks to confirm if I’m delusional or not. From the top the view is breathtaking – sheer drops, jagged rocks, space all around. I can see islands in the sea, my next camp on the re
