Erin joins gruelling West Highland Way relay challenge
Erin Stoll from Scottish Woodlands has taken part in a gruelling relay running challenge along the full length of the West Highland Way to raise money for Scottish Mountain Rescue.
The company’s Peatland Project Manager ran three legs of the relay - battling snow and ice in the later stages - to help Clyde Mountaineering Club complete the challenge in just over 19 hours.
The 155km (96-mile) route from Milngavie to Fort William reaches elevations of more than 1800 feet and has a total elevation gain of 10,000ft. It normally takes walkers around 5 days to complete.
The club set out to raise £2000 to support the lifesaving work of volunteer mountain rescue teams working across Scotland - but have already smashed their target and raised more than £3000.
Erin said: “Like many members of Scottish Woodlands staff, I spend lots of time in remote and mountainous areas for both work and leisure time - so I'm very thankful for the work that the Scottish Mountain Rescue teams do in responding to emergencies on the hills."
“They have faced an increasing number of callouts in recent years due to the growing popularity of hillwalking and outdoor activities. In 2023 alone, Scottish Mountain Rescue teams across the country attended more than 500 incidents.”
Erin was scheduled to run two sections of the route, from the Drovers’ Inn (top of Loch Lomond) to Crainlarich and the Lagangarbh hut to Kinlochleven but ended up doing both those - and the leg from Crainlarich to Kirkton as a fellow club member was unwell and had to be pushed back to later in the challenge. Her second section included the famous Devil’s Staircase in Glencoe.
“Doing three legs was a real challenge, especially with snow and ice later on - but also very satisfying,” said Erin, who has been running in the hills for four years.
She was accompanied on the three legs by a fellow club member - at least two runners complete every section to ensure their safety.
“There is a lot of running up steep paths and there was plenty of ice and snow around,” said Erin. “The main concern beforehand was definitely the weather. Between early January snow and Storm Eowyn, we were lucky with our weather window. In the end, we did need to adjust the planned route to avoid windblown trees, and we also encountered some ice and snow in the later sections but thankfully we were well-prepared with microspikes!"
“The main challenge we faced was quite unexpected, as two of our support vehicles required mechanical attention before the day was over.”
Erin has not been put off by the tough challenge and said Clyde Mountaineering Club is already thinking about its next charity fundraiser.
Mark Waddoups, lead organiser of the challenge, said: “We caught a few weird looks from people on a Saturday night out as we went down the high street in Fort William at the end!"
“This was amazing work from everyone - it was a huge logistical and physical challenge, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day or better people."
"We hit our target the night before we started, which was excellent timing. We’re very happy to be supporting Scottish Mountain Rescue and thanks everyone for a great day.”
If you would like to support the fundraising effort, click here