Scottish Winter: Why the Darkest Days Are Often The Best Days To Be Outside

Discover how the coldest, darkest days of the year can be the best season for outdoor adventures

January 2024 on the Cairngorms Plateau

Black hills are slashed white with this falling grace
Whose violence buckles space
To a sheet-iron thunder. This
Is noise made universe, whose still centre is
Where the cold adder sleeps in his small bed,
Curled neatly round his neat and evil head.

From Spate in Winter Midnight by Scottish Poet Norman MacCaig

Start as you mean to go on, they say. And so 2024 began with a trip to the Cairngorms National Park. It was only two years ago that I would have regarded these cold dark months off limits for hillwalking and any form of hiking at altitude. Winter walking seemed too hard, too extreme, too risky. How would I stay warm? How do I walk through snow? How do I keep my food from freezing? And what if I didn’t finish my hike before the sun set?!

But as time went on, the more I learned about outdoor safety and good gear, the more I started to think my mental block to winter walking was a knowledge gap more than anything else. I also became increasingly obsessed with enjoying Scotland nature all year around and reaping the mental and physical benefits of all it has to offer.

Feeling victorious last week on Ben Macdui

So last year I set myself a challenge to upskill on my winter hill skills. The pay off has been immense, enabling, and a total game changer for how I experience Scottish winter. Winter months are no longer a time for just hunkering, baking, reading, and writing (though there’s a fare bit of that!). It’s also a time for getting out in some of the most incredible landscapes, meeting like minded souls, and learning that there are some experiences you can ONLY have in winter.

So in this post I’m sharing three things

1. How I upped my skills for winter walking, including recommendations for excellent course providers throughout the UK

2. What extra kit you need for winter walking - newsflash: with the right kit, the cold is largely a non-issue

3. What there is to gain from embracing Scottish winter, and winter walking in general, including hikes you can ONLY do in winter months

4. Plans for the rest of winter, as January and February bring some of the best Scottish winter opportunities

Last year with Mark in the Ben Nevis range

I’ll also share a short story based in a Scotland winter mountain landscape of how I came to know of the aforementioned poet, Norman MacCraig.