A man aged 82 said that he is “ready and very excited” to scale the final peak in his mission to climb all of Scotland’s Munros.
Nick Gardner has made headlines for setting himself the challenge to scale the country’s 282 highest peaks since his wife Janet, 84, was moved into a care home after developing Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis.
To begin his incredible feat, the grandfather of four, Gairloch, north-western Scotland Highlands, set off in July 2020.
Now, just over two years later, he is about to embark on a bid to bag his final Munro – Cairn Gorm.
Nick Gardner will be meeting other climbers to reach Cairn Gorm’s final peak on Saturday (Scott Jackson/Nick Gardner Collection/PA).PA Media – Scott Jackson/Nick Gardner Collection
In an interview with the PA news agency, Gardner stated that he was about to climb Saturday. “I really am absolutely ready and very excited about finishing the final Munro.
“I honestly feel like a child on Christmas eve.
“There will be a lot of my friends and some of my family joining me, so it’s going to be a big day.”
Having never climbed a Munro before – a Scottish mountain that reaches a minimum of 3,000ft (914.4m) – the former physics teacher, by the end of his challenge, will have climbed more than 500,000ft (152,000m), the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest (8,848m) about 17 times, and walked an incredible 2,000 miles (3,218 km), a distance similar to hiking from Edinburgh to Greece.
Spreading the word about his mission along the way, the experienced climber has raised more than £50,000 for Alzheimer’s Scotland and the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
Both staff and volunteers of both charities will join him on the final climb. Along with his two daughters, and four grandchildren, friends will also be there.
A piper was arranged to play on the summit.
It will be very emotional to climb the final mountain, as I imagine.
Nick Gardner
Sally McKenzie (one of his daughters) has nominated him for Guinness World Records as the oldest person to climb The Munros.
After completing seven Munros in just 10 days, Gardner stated that he was looking forward to taking a break from his knees after reaching the final summit.
“The last three in Knoydart that I did were really tough,”He stated.
“We unfortunately had bad weather for Ladhar Bheinn, so it was a bit more challenging.
“Because I had already organised this final day, and for people to join me, I just had to push on through, and I made it.
“I’ve had no injuries, but my knees are certainly tired. It will be good to give them a rest.”
He spoke about the feeling he has when he is still hours away from conquering the epic challenge and added: “It will probably be an anti-climax at the end of all of it.
“Doing this final climb, I imagine, is going to be very emotional.”
Gardner claimed that he was “knocked for six”Janet, his wife had to be moved into a nursing home.
He felt like he was about to fall apart and said that he needed to find a challenge in order to keep going.
Having always felt at home on the mountain side, he set off to bag all of Scotland’s Munros.
To donate to Mr Gardner’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/team/nicks-munro-challenge.