It took him 13 years and six months – but a Strichen man can now lay claim to a great title.
Kevin Mutch, 39, is the first from the Aberdeenshire village to have bagged all the Munros.
It has been a labour of love for Mr Mutch, who during the time he has been climbing has fallen in love, got married to Nikki, got a dog, travelled and climbed all over the world and during lockdown started climbing Donalds, Grahams and Corbetts too.
‘That is where the love story started’
But his first climb at Lochnagar in 2008 – also known as Beinn Chiochan in Gaelic – is still his very favourite.
Mr Mutch said: “It has taken me 13-and-a-half years but it was worth every single step.
“When I was a boy in the Boys’ Brigade we had a captain that took us climbing all the time. It was great, and it has given me a life-long love of climbing all over Scotland.
“When I was 23 I became an officer in the 1st Strichen Boys Brigade and I asked when we would be going climbing. The current captain, Stevie Wilson said ‘We haven’t done that for years.’
“So we then got on with training to take the boys out on the hills. Our first climb was one close to home at Lochnagar in 2008. When I got to the top and we looked out we could see for a hundred miles, that is when the love story with Scotland’s mountains started.
Rio became Mr Mutch’s new companion
“The captain wasn’t able to get out to the hills as often as I could as he got married and had children. But, I found someone else who would climb with me, Mark Caldwell. In the six years we got a fair few of them under our belts. But he moved away to Ayrshire.”
However, in the last three years Mr Mutch got a dog, a Cockapoo named Rio who would climb with him.
Mr Mutch explained that in the last 13 years there have been a number of other things that have managed to get in the way.
He said: “I broke my ankle and that put me out for a year. I had a knee operation and that was another year. I spent three months in Australia travelling.
“I climbed Kilimanjaro, and I did the Tour of Mont Blanc in France, Switzerland and Italy.
“And six years ago I met the woman who is now my wife. So, let’s just say life gets in the way.”
Proposal at Lochnagar summit
It was at the top of Lochnagar that Mr Mutch proposed to his now wife. He said: “It would have been a long walk home if she had said ‘no’.
“My last hill was Beinn na Lap – you have to take the train from Fort William to Glasgow and get off at Corrour. The station is made famous by the film Trainspotting, and we met the hermit Ken Smith when we were there as the train was late.
“14 people came with me for the climb including my wife Nikki, my sister Carole and her children, my mum and dad, the BB captain, Mark and Peter Mathieson who I met while hill climbing and we have become friends.”
He added: “I think I can safely say I am the only person who has completed all the Munros from Strichen, so that is my claim to fame.”
