Nick Gardner completed his mission to scale Scotland’s 282 Munros in tribute to his wife Janet. Gayle Ritchie was honoured to climb alongside the 82-year-old as he bagged his final peak, Cairn Gorm.
It’s barely 10am and already the temperature at Coire Cas has reached a sweat-inducing 26C.
I’m walking up Cairn Gorm with 82-year-old Nick Gardner, a man who made it his mission to climb all Scotland’s Munros after his beloved wife Janet went into care.
Devastated when she developed Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis, retired physics teacher Nick realised he needed to do something to keep himself focused.
The grandfather-of-four from Aultbea in Wester Ross hit the headlines after setting himself the mammoth challenge of scaling the country’s 282 highest peaks, starting in July 2020 at the age of 80.
Now, just over two years on, Nick is bagging his final Munro – 1,245m Cairn Gorm.
I’m among the 150-plus friends, family and supporters who’ve turned out in force to walk with Nick as he makes his concluding ascent, raising funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s Scotland and the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) in the process.
Before we’d set off, he declared, in his gentle, softly-spoken voice, that he felt “like a child on Christmas Eve” and suspected he might cry at the summit. Nobody would blame him.
Love of his life
Janet is the love of his life – but these days she doesn’t recognise him. It’s heartbreaking.
And yet Nick’s challenge has given him a sense of purpose, a reason to get up in the morning, to carry on.
With his lithe frame, wispy white hair and luxurious beard, he’s every bit the mountain warrior, or, as one friend puts it, he’s “a total mountain goat”.
His speed up the hill is incredible – plus he’s able to walk and talk without passing out (no mean feat in such oppressive heat).
He’s stoic and determined as he puts one foot in front of the other, never missing a beat, never tripping or stumbling.
His eyes are fixed to the pathway, deftly navigating steps, stones and loose scree. Nobody doubts he’ll make it to the summit.
And yet he is a modest, humble man, never boasting about his progress, shyly accepting the attention bestowed upon him.
Media glare
Today he’s in the media glare, being snapped relentlessly by professional photographers, fans wanting selfies, and interviewed by journalists.
The whole sense of becoming a celebrity seems to bemuse him, and he smiles at the surrealness of it all.
“I’m just an old man who loves wandering in the mountains,” he tells me. And that’s how he truly sees himself.
The bonus, of course, is that his high-profile challenge has meant awareness has been raised and cash has come pouring in for his two charities. That is exactly what he hoped would happen.
It doesn’t take long for Nick to approach the summit and he’s barely broken sweat. He’s not out of breath at all and he looks as if he could easily take on another 10 peaks.
I rush on ahead, keen to join the huge group of people gathered at the top waiting for him (they had set off in swathes well before him).
Milestone moment
They’ve formed an archway of walking poles through which Nick will walk and as a skirl of the pipes marks his arrival, he’s welcomed to loud cheers and roars of support: “Come on, Nick! Well done, sir! You’re almost there! You’ve done it! Hooray!”
The milestone moment – when he steps up and touches the cairn on the summit – is an emotional one. And yet he manages to hold back his tears.
Once he’s been handed a glass of prosecco, and been hugged and congratulated by well-wishers galore, I grab him for another chat.
“Oh that was an easy one for me,” he muses, munching on a flapjack.
“I felt very excited as I approached the summit and couldn’t believe the general public have responded so well to what I’ve been doing, and helping to raise awareness of these diseases.
“I thought £10,000 would be as much as we’d get but with the help of social media and all my friends, money’s come rolling in.
“We had £58,000 this morning but another £5,000 came in today, so we’re up to £58,000 which is amazing.” (This figure is now at more than £80,000 and keeps on rising).
“I thought I would shed a tear but I didn’t – I’m obviously able to control it a bit better. I still get very upset about my wife but it’s been going on for two years now so I obviously get used to it to some extent.
“The mountains are very powerful – they give me sustenance. I think about Janet but climbing Munros and being in the mountains enables me to cope.”
How would Janet feel about this challenge, I wonder. He doesn’t hesitate to answer: “I know she would be pleased I’m doing this. She would have loved it.
“Her diseases meant that our wonderful lifestyle had to come to an end, and I struggled greatly coming to terms with it.
“I was a mess. I felt completely lost. I didn’t know what to do.
“Janet and I were incredibly close as a couple. She was the most wonderful and caring wife, mother and grandmother, and now she doesn’t know who I am which is incredibly difficult.”
Mountain man
Nick has always been fascinated by mountains and remembers being enchanted by pictures of peaks he found in books as a young boy.
One image of the Matterhorn really stood out – he dreamed of climbing it one day.
“I eventually persuaded my parents to take me to a ‘mountain’ after seeing pictures of the Matterhorn,” he recalls.
“They took me to Bradgate Park in Leicestershire when I was about eight years old. To this day I remember the disappointment. I expected the Matterhorn but instead I got a local peak of about 70ft. That wasn’t big enough.”
It was when Nick was at St Andrews University that he joined his first mountaineering club and became hooked on climbing the Scottish hills.
“That was it,” he says. “My first Munro was Ben Vorlich near Lochearnhead and I’ve carried on climbing ever since.
“One trip with the university we went up to Torridon and I thought to myself, ‘I want to live here one day’.
“Coming from Middle England, I never knew those places existed. I’d seen pictures, but pictures can’t tell you what it’s like.”
As soon as Nick could afford it, he bought a cottage at Mellon Udrigle near Gairloch, later moving to another property six miles away in Aultbea.
“Living up there I intended climbing all the Munros but when the best mountains in Britain are on your doorstep – the Torridon hills, the Fisherfield Forest, An Teallach – and Sutherland isn’t far away, you climb those repeatedly,” he says, “rather than heading south to climb hills that are not as interesting. So that’s what I did. Most of them time.
“I think I’d climbed about quarter of the Munros over the years prior to this challenge.
“But when Janet went into care, I knew I had to do something to stay focused. So I started as an 80 year old climbing all the Munros.”
Idyllic lifestyle
The couple had met in 1972 through mutual friends and lived an idyllic lifestyle in the north-west Highlands for 32 years.
They had both been married before and had four children between them. They both dreamed of a similar rural lifestyle, so when their children left home, they moved from suburbia to a 10-acre croft where they grew fruit and veg and tried to be self-sufficient.
“It was our dream. I knew we were making a wonderful choice moving here,” reflects Nick.
Mission
Luckily, Nick – who has climbed many mountain ranges, including the Alps, and in Spain and Norway – didn’t suffer any injuries or broken bones on his epic mission.
He’s had a few muscular problems and his knees are tired, but he sees that as par for the course.
He rarely climbs alone, preferring to be “responsible” by going into the hills with friends.
“There’s a nucleus group of about 20 people who climb with me, many of whom I’d never have met had it not been for this challenge,” he reveals.
“Some of us go bivvying together. We climb and then camp outside in our sleeping bags.
“Wild camping’s lovely but bivvying is better still. You’re more immersed in the landscape. It’s like communicating with the mountain.”
“I’m just an old man who loves wandering in the mountains.”
NICK GARDNER
He’s well aware that the weather can be fickle in the Scottish mountains and quotes Billy Connolly: “If you don’t like the weather, wait 20 minutes!”
Difficulties
Nick’s challenge hasn’t come without its difficulties, however, with bad weather and conditions taking their toll at times.
“If the weather is bad, the mountains can kill you,” he frowns. “The last few weekends of climbing have been incredibly hard.
“We had terrible rain and wind at Knoydart which made the experience quite tough. I was on the mountain for 14 hours walking.
“One of my favourites would have been at Bla Bheinn in the Cuillins but it poured with rain.”
There have been a few times where Nick has scaled seven Munros in a single day – impressive stuff by anyone’s standards.
But there’s no rest for the wicked and even though his challenge is over, he isn’t about to stop walking.
“It might sound strange coming from an 82-year-old but I feel fitter now than I’ve ever felt. I don’t want to lose that fitness.
“I’ll probably do An Teallach again quite soon, and then maybe the coastal mountains of Devon and Cornwall.
“The benefits of walking for physical and mental health cannot be underestimated, especially with diseases like osteoporosis and preventing it by keeping your bones strong.
“Walking is very therapeutic. If instead of doctors dishing out pills they told you to go on a walk, a lot of problems could be prevented.”
Nick’s tips for staying fit and healthy include regular walking – no surprise there – and a balanced diet with plenty of fibre, fruit and veg, some fat, but not too much.
“Alcohol is a poison but I’m not going to say no alcohol,” he says, eyebrows raised. “I like one pint. I don’t like two pints. I’ll have a glass of wine or whisky but only one.”
Family affair
One of Nick’s two daughters, Sally McKenzie, helped him set up the challenge fundraiser and social media presence, and thanks to her he now has almost 15,000 followers on Instagram.
“Dad has always been passionate about mountains, and he took my sister Maria and I out hiking from a young age,” says Sally.
“I knew he would throw himself into the challenge but the passion and dedication with which he has done it has been incredible.
“The support for him on social media is overwhelming. A common theme is how inspiring he is to so many people.”
Sally says she’s “hugely proud” of her dad and how he’s taken on the challenge to cope with a difficult situation.
She’s nominated him to Guinness World Records as the oldest person to climb the Munros.
She adds: “It’s been good for his wellbeing but the support he has generated for charity has been amazing.”
Emotional
The completion of Nick’s challenge was marked with a reception at the Badaguish Outdoor Centre near Glenmore.
The venue was packed with family and friends, including his two daughters and four grandchildren, as well as staff and volunteers from Alzheimer’s Scotland and ROS.
“You’re a role model for raising awareness of a condition that doesn’t get as much attention as it should,” said Craig Jones, chief executive of the ROS.
“This will be something we remember for many years to come. You are a hero, and we’ll be reflecting on what you’ve achieved for a long time.
“There’ll be a ripple effect. You’ve shown we can do anything if we turn our minds to it.”
Nick himself spoke, revealing he was “very emotional” but that he would try not to show it.
“As you all know I’m an old man, and I love mountains,” he said. “But mountains are dangerous places. I did make a rule that I would not climb mountains alone.”
However, he revealed , tongue-in-cheek, that he had broken this rule “a couple of times”, to much laughter.
Again he reiterated the reason he took on the challenge: “I was in a mess when I couldn’t look after my wife. I wanted to keep myself busy and knew I was never happier than when in the mountains.
“That’s when I decided I’d climb all the Munros, for me. Not for anyone else. That’s what’s kept me sane the last few years.
“The more I climb the more I realise the mountains do have a lot to answer for.
“They’ve helped me immeasurably. I like to think of the challenge as a tribute to the mountains and their therapeutic qualities.
“A weight-bearing exercise like walking, to keep bones strong, is a small price to pay to prevent osteoporosis.”
Nick, who stressed that he is “not a religious man”, concluded with a quote from the Bible: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”
And at that point, he broke down in tears. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
- You can donate to Nick’s Munro Challenge at: justgiving.com/team/nicks-munro-challenge
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