A few posts inspired by scanning some old printed photos

I’ve really enjoyed posts by Heavy Whalley (link to his blog) and Ken Crockett that have featured their photos from the days before digital and cameras still weighed a lot. They both use scanned photos to enhance their Twitter feeds @heavywhalley and @KenCrocket and their tales and photos help me imagine what it was like for my dad and his brother when they were mountaineering in Scotland in the days before I started myself.

I too have spanned the film to digital transition myself but have never been a very diligent photographer of hill trips. Conversely, I have a helluva a lot of photos of ammonoids and rocks but that is the science stuff. 

However, I do have some old photos that I’ve scanned and will use them to tell a few tales of my own. Some are to do with the work I did as an upland footpath builder with Scottish Conservation Projects Pathcraft unit in Team 06. Others are from hill trips around 1995-1996. I have other stories but those lack photographic records.

The first image is from a trip across the Liathach ridge with Geezer in Team 06 after we’d been at work on the path round in Allt a’Choire a Dhuibh Mhoir.

Geezer having a rest in some blocky terrain.

A fine evening and you can see my shadow with the sun to the south. We made our way up via the path that starts close to Allt an Doire Ghairbh that was worked on by another of our teams and then had a sunlit traverse to end up above our accommodation at the Torridon Youth Hostel and then come down all those rocky terraces.

View north from Liathach ridge

More in a few days.

About Al McGowan

I am a palaeobiologist in my early 40's carrying out research work. I am based in Scotland.