A Fife hiker has conquered every Munro in Scotland after taking up hillwalking to tackle his depression.
Mental health advocate Ross Cunningham has summited all 282 of the Munros, five years after taking on his first climb.
Ross reached the summit of Moruisg on Sunday afternoon, surrounded by friends, family and his trusty dog, Dex the Westie.
His passion for ‘Munro bagging’ began when he was persuaded to take to the Perthshire hills with a friend, while he was suffering with severe depression.
The 36-year-old said: “Once I started I realised it was something I really enjoyed doing, and I was experiencing the mental health benefits from doing it. I found myself each week wanting to get out on to the hills.
“It was a huge challenge but I think the more Munros I completed the more confident I became.
“They start to become more difficult as you travel north, with some more remote and technically trickier.
“At the start where it may have been unimaginable for me to bag the harder Munros but I managed to build myself up and by getting more experience climbing them the more confident I became.”
Ross Cunningham not stopping at Munros
Ross, a communications and policy manager, has been sharing his adventures on his website, Mountains Mend Minds, as well as raising money for mental health charity SAMH.
But he shows no signs of stopping now he has completed his Munro challenge.
He said: “I have raised money for SAMH on a number of occasions and would like to keep doing challenges in order to help their cause.
“There’s plenty of mountains in Scotland that aren’t classified as Munros I’d like to climb.
“As well as those there are plenty of hills in England and Wales that I would be interested in visiting.”
Man’s best friend
Pet Dex took on 64 Munros with Ross and while he is getting older, Ross hopes he will be able to join him on some of his future adventures.
Ross said: “At the start of the year I wanted to finish as soon as I could in good weather so my family and Dex could come too.
“I had him in my bag at the summit just so he was there with me.
He added: “When I first got into hillwalking it was just me and him.
“The two of us would take off to some of the highest mountains in Scotland.
“He’s getting a bit older now so I’ve left him at home the past couple of years but I really wanted him to be at the last one.
“He was such a big part of me starting to bag Munros.”
Despite his determination, Ross faced a number of challenges along the way – including his fear of heights.
He shared one particular climb he initially thought he would not have been able to complete.
He said: “There’s one Munro in Skye called the Inaccessible Pinnacle that most baggers will agree is the most challenging.
“It’s the hardest one as you need to climb a very narrow wedge of rock with huge drops on both sides.
“It’s very intimidating for some people, including myself, but I did it.
“I was abseiling down the side of it not believing that I managed to do it. It was a huge barrier to overcome my fear of heights but after completing the hardest one I knew I could do them all.”
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