Anna Wells is 'proud' after being the first woman to tackle all 282 Munros this winter

Highland News & Media

An Inverness woman has scaled all 282 Munros in Scotland this astronomical winter.

Transcript

00:00 My name's Anna Wells and I'm 34 years old. I'm a keen climber and mountaineer living in the Highlands

00:06 and as of yesterday I managed to complete a winter Munro round. So I climbed all 282

00:15 Munros in a single winter season and in the end I managed to do it in 83 days.

00:20 [Sound of a helicopter]

00:46 [Sound of a helicopter]

00:52 I'm really finding it hard to like find words to explain how I feel because I don't really know

00:56 how I feel. Like I don't think, I know it sounds cheesy but I don't think it quite feels real

01:01 and I'm also not sure it ever felt real like right from the beginning. I just loved it like

01:07 it's it feels very strange to not be planning what I'm doing today or tomorrow. Like I think

01:14 subconsciously I probably think I'm just having another rest day and then every time I remember

01:18 I've not got another list of hills to go and do tomorrow. It's a very strange feeling.

01:23 It was forecast to be 50 mile an hour winds but the weather station at the top clocked 87 mile

01:28 an hour winds so it was incredibly bustery. So when I was inviting people to join I was

01:34 quite careful to you know be clear that it would be winter conditions because like we were all in

01:39 crampons and you know you needed to be mountain confident. But it was absolutely amazing to have

01:44 so many people there and it was so many people who'd like helped and supported me throughout

01:49 the journey as well. Whether it was you know giving me lifts or putting me up for the night

01:54 and even just people who were always on hand to offer advice about conditions and you know snow

02:01 conditions and route choices. Yeah just so many people have played a part in so many different

02:07 ways and it was amazing to get to share that with a lot of them. But it kind of overwhelmed me

02:14 just as much if not more. It was some people who'd like driven across the country just to meet in a

02:18 car park or just to come for a drink after. Like that touched me so much. Yeah and when people

02:26 were talking about it as a moment of making history you know it felt very surreal because

02:31 I guess I just feel like I've just had a really fun three months doing what I love in the hills.

02:37 It feels really special to be the first woman to do it. I've had so many messages from women in

02:43 the outdoors saying that it's really you know inspired them and you know maybe the idea of being

02:48 a role model to other people is really nice. So yeah I love that if it encourages other people

02:55 to get out. And I was also delighted that I managed to do it in the 83 days which

03:00 matched the fastest winter time which was set exactly 39 years ago by Martin Moran.

03:07 Totally feel sad because it's all I thought about for three months and it's been

03:14 you know in many ways it's been it's life has been so easy for three months because all I've

03:20 had to think about is what hills I'm going up the next day. And I've just loved every part of

03:25 the journey so I think I'm just gonna keep super busy to avoid feeling any sort of void.

03:31 But yeah it's been so encouraging to like my phone has just exploded with messages and it's

03:40 it's quite overwhelming just seeing all this kindness because often you know the internet can

03:46 be a place with some negativity too but it's literally just been so many lovely messages of

03:54 encouragement and support all the way through and particularly now so that's that's keeping

03:59 my spirits up. So I almost feel like I had two last mountains because when I did those

04:06 Ben the ones overnight near Ullapool when we made it to the third one of that that was when I you

04:12 know absolutely knew it was in the bag and I was going to manage it in the in the 83 days as well

04:17 because that had still felt a bit uncertain because it was really bad conditions and it was overnight

04:23 and I wasn't totally sure if we were gonna if I was gonna manage it. So that kind of felt like

04:30 the the end of the uncertainty that and so in one way that felt like the last mountain and then

04:37 going up Cairngorm was almost like already part of the celebration if that makes sense. But yeah I

04:44 I've had a moment of emotion at the top for sure so it's quite a classic thing at the end of a

04:50 Munro round that anyone who's joined you holds up their poles to make a tunnel for you to walk

04:56 through to the last summit and so kind of walking them through the tunnel with everyone cheering

05:01 it was a really really special moment yeah almost making me tear up thinking about it now.

05:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended