Solo climbing or hillwalking is said by many to be foolhardy and resulting fatalities nothing less than suicide. Mountaineering training courses emphasize the safety of numbers with three being the minimum size recommended for any group.
In addition to providing good company competent partners can help improve one's experience - and survive one's mistakes. It is difficult nevertheless to find those that go at exactly the same pace or have identical ambitions. Although it was only thanks to the greater ability of my friend ( Dr. ) Gordon Jefferies that I got to the top of Observatory Ridge on Ben Nevis - a very tight rope was necessary to negotiate the Bad Step - on some outings I have been abandoned to fend for myself and on others been frustratingly held back by slowcoaches - I might as well have been on my own.
Problems finding company for my increasingly frequent Munro bagging excursions eventually lead to my first solo foray into the Scottish Highlands - a gentle walk up the well-rounded Ben Chonzie - but once the taboo was broken many more followed. The unfettered freedom of solo exploration and challenge of looking after oneself has much to commend it. Rheinhold Messner with his solo ascents of all 14 of the world's "eight-thousanders" ( mountains over 8000metres ) has established an uncontestable and irrevocable precedent that is a hard act to follow.
Unguided alpine mountaineering with its high accident rate is another activity that attracts much adverse comment. My first venture with Colin and Duncan Watson followed high-level, two-day climbs with the Swiss guide Hans Hari on the biennial visits of the renowned 24th Glasgow ( Bearsden ) Scouts to the International Chalet at Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland. Our initial attempts on three routes on Mont Blanc were all unsuccessful but they paved the way for some 30 subsequent ascents including the Eiger ( by its normal route on the South West Flank - not the North Face ) and the Jungfrau.
To complete the trinity, on a solo visit to Switzerland I hired a guide to climb the Monch - the return trip from Grindelwald was my most expensive one-day outing ever. A detailed route description from a good guide-book is a much cheaper alternative but offers no protection from crevasses. Professional Swiss guides also provide invaluable demonstrations of correct safety techniques and an impressive ability for handling less skilful clients - like the one I witnessed on the Hornli Ridge of the Matterhorn being dangled helplessly on the end of a rope. Over-ambition and over-confidence are sure recipes for disaster.
Commercial climbing groups in the Nepal Himalaya came in for considerable criticism after the multiple-death tragedy on Everest but similar events have happened in the European Alps - on Mont Blanc there have been several incidents with many fatalities.
One of the earliest alpine tragedies was that of Whymper's party on the Matterhorn. The response of my German friend Horst to the outcry in the British press to the disaster on Everest was very matter of fact and hard-hearted: " they paid their money they took their chances ". Demand still exists for the ever increasing number of places on offer for Everest and other 8000metre summits.
Joining a commercial group eliminates the hassles of applying for climbing and trekking permits, organizing support staff and attendant logistics. Subsequent to my first visit to Nepal the experience gained from enlisting on a commercial trek with Ramblers enabled following treks to be organized independently with Highland Sherpa and privately with Ang Jangbu, the sirdar on my original journey round the Annapurna Himal.
Engaging the services of an agency also ensures that all support staff and porters are covered by insurance - a mandatory requirement in Nepal for registered trekking and mountaineering companies but not for free-lance, self-employed guides. Agencies in Kathmandu can also arrange emergency helicopter evacuations - increasingly used to airlift out those suffering from altitude sickness.
Whichever style you choose, solo or group, guided or unguided, commercial or independent there is a wealth of routes for all standards in the Scottish Highlands, the Alps, the Himalaya or the rest of an ever-more-accessible World.
Take care however not to be misguided by the claims of others. A route described by Messner as an easy walk ( Parchoma in the Rolwaling Himal ) stretched my abilities to the limit while a description in "First Across the Roof of the World" by Peter Hillary ( son of Sir Edmund ) led me to seriously underestimate the difficulties in crossing Tilman's Pass in the Jugal Himal. On the other hand do not be discouraged by the scaremongering of faint-hearted doom-merchants - those who have failed in their objectives tend to exaggerate the problems they met. It all depends on your own ability and experience.
( The Commentator, The (Glasgow) HERALD, Saturday 31st July 1999 )
