When I touched the sky
By Martyna Borisenkova
October 2024
What is the ultimate superpower? Telekinesis? Invisibility? What about flying?
There has been at least one time that you’ve thought about what it would feel like to fly and clip the clouds with feathery wings. Birds soar like little bullets in the sky, scanning a world that looks like tiny Lego bricks of greens, greys and browns from the blue skies that encapsulate all in its blue blanket. It’s a superpower many wish for, and I am not surprised as to why – I have managed to experience what touching the sky may have really been like, and it’s a lot better than you think.
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Ascension into the haze:
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One thing that Biodiversity Literacy VIP has solidified for me is that exploration and paying attention to what may seem like an insignificant natural item is a lot more interesting than expected. Opening my eyes to the small things around me has allowed me to experience a sort of magic – connecting with the world at your feet and above you awakens an adoration in you that combats other feelings; it’s like an instant antidepressant. Mother nature kisses your cheek like a nurturing mother as soon as you open your eyes to the life around you.
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And so… I became a lot more curious.
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‘The hoary place’, tucked away in the Torridon Hills of Northwest Highlands of Scotland, looming at an astounding 1,055 metres at its highest peak - Munro of Spidean a’ Choire Leith (‘peak of the grey corrie’); it was Liathach.
Ironically, that’s the massive natural item that caught my attention. A Torridonian sandstone mountain was the ‘wet dream’ for the hiker community [1]. Such a looming presence in the horizon, it presented itself to me like a sweet to a small child, mouthwatering and irresistible. Without hesitation, the walking boots were thrown on, backpacks secured, and the compass was set to lead the expedition. A camping trip dedicated to climbing Liathach was confirmed.
View of Liathach from our campsite, the peaks obscured by a slowly descending fog that added to the adrenaline filled excitement of finally being able to step foot on Liathach.
Well-trodden but very steep terrain throughout, Liathach wasn’t as kind to us as we thought, presenting a mild rock scrambling enroute to the ridge, bouldery terrain making us work our tiny limbs on its vast face. The abundance of micro-waterfalls framed the path and the summit, shrubbery casting a stubble of green. Although still far away at this stage, there stood the effigy of the finish line surrounded by natural phenomena. After the second summit along the quartzite lined paths, there is a short descent before the main ascent to that effigy begins. It was teasing us with such vigour we did not once stop to take a breath.
Reaching the half-way point, our worries for a fog hidden summit began to fade – we were halfway there, and nothing was going to stop us now.
Our climb did not stop, but neither did the fog despite our previous assumptions. The higher we went, the more the fog shielded us away from life, placing its misty sunglasses on our eyes; the sensational viewpoint should have set pulses racing as it would’ve also pointed us to its Am Fasarinen pinnacles, an area requiring copious amounts of scrambling with a slip meaning a fatal end. It was even worse with the misty lenses on, we didn’t know where we were. Adrenaline junkies folded at such path with such limited view, and sadly, so did we…
…right at the top [2].
The view from the highest summit
My camping groups faces dropped in awe when we realised that our visionless scramble for an early way out gave us the perfect route to the very peak. Maps were thought to be lying to us then, but we did it, out of sheer blinded adrenaline. Despite the conditions, it was spectacular. I stretched my hand out, touching the mist, it returning the handshake. The coolest thing was being able to feel it in my palm like a real hand, the touching of what looked like the never-ending sky at 1,055m up, all that work it took to get up re-paid with a piece of the welkin. Liathcach - an enemy no more. A green trail to remember: Despite the walking and scrambling, there was another phenomenon that caught my surprise – the abundance of flora on the mountain surface was not ignorable. Having joined the Biodiversity VIP project, I started to understand the importance of what the flowerage and brush that was dotted along the rocky surface meant.
Plants like these make or break an ecosystem. The fact that the rare bog asphodel was thriving in this environment was highly surprising to me as it is listed on the Red List for Threatened Species, and the ability to have found it and identified it made me love the beauty of nature more; it offers so much to those upon it, allowing the whole world to rely on their power, whether in healing or nutrition. Foraging presented itself as a hobby on the way up too as lingonberries, blackcurrants and wild blueberries dotted themselves around the base of the mountain, attracting birds like ravens, curlews and buzzards of which many were spotted, interacting with the richness of the mountain grasses.
Climbing Liathach became a double feature – a movie where we were the main characters in a nature-induced action sequence and a group of happy hikers experiencing the true beauty of friendship that climbing and foraging offers. It felt surreal.
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Touching the sky:
Experiencing an expedition like this gives you a sense of oneness with the area around you. It’s like becoming one with the mountain and the birds, all the things happening around you fit you right in like a puzzle piece as you also become a scavenger of the natural items, enjoying their limitless uses.
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Liathach…
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…at 1,055 metres in the air gave me a piece of the sky.
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What is the ultimate superpower?
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To us, it may just have to be the chance to encompass and save nature.
References: [1] ‘Wildlife on the Ben Damph Estate’, BEN DAMPH ESTATE, https://www.bendamph.com/bendamph-estate/wildlife [DATE ACESSED: 09/10/24] [2] ‘Liathach, Glen Torridon’, walkthehighlands, https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/torridon/Liathach.shtml [DATE ACESSED: 08/10/24]