February 2026 – wingsofvalor.org

Gear

Overtrousers You Can Get on Without Sitting Down

I once spent six hours huddled under a limestone overhang in the Cairngorms, watching a group of well-meaning walkers try to navigate a descent in …

Wildlife

I spent three years as a ranger watching people stare at a patch of disturbed mud, clutching expensive field guides like they were holy relics, …

Hiking

I remember standing on a featureless plateau in the Cairngorms, watching a group of hikers stare in panicked silence at a frozen handheld unit. The …

Camping

I remember sitting in a damp tent in the Cairngorms back in 2012, listening to the wind whip against the flysheet and realizing that my …

Guides

I remember standing on a ridge in the Cairngorms three years ago, watching a group of hikers freeze because they’d bought into the marketing hype …

Gear

I remember standing on a ridge in the Cairngorms three years ago, watching a group of hikers huddle under what they thought were high-end shells, …

Wildlife

I was standing on a sodden ridge in the Cairngorms last November, the kind of damp cold that settles into your marrow and stays there, …

Guides

I’ve spent twenty-two years watching people make the same mistake: they walk into a shop, see a shiny, high-tech boot with enough Gore-Tex to wrap …

Gear

I was halfway up a scramble in the Cairngorms last October, caught in a sudden, sideways sleet that turned the granite into a skating rink, …

Camping

I remember waking up on a ridge in the Cairngorms three years ago, shivering not because of the temperature, but because my sleeping bag felt …