Interview with David Thompson about climbing the Munros (with BSL videos)

Scroll down the page for our interview with David!

David has also signed two BSL videos about his recent experiences of climbing, see them below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

When did you first start hiking/climbing?

When I was a kid, I did some hill walking with family, friends, and the Scouts. I always enjoyed the peace, the views and the walking.

Before I was 20 years old, there were no subtitles on TV and it was easy for me to get bored without them. I therefore pushed myself to do a number of sports and outdoor activities, and watch foreign films with English subtitles at the cinema to keep me busy.

Looking back, I can see it was not just to keep me fit, but to explore great routes, take on challenges, create memories, see the views and get fresh air!

What are your early memories of your hikes? Did you walk with other people?

Since I was 12 years old, I have visited and stayed with my Deaf school friend from Inverinate. We would sneak off on hill walks while his parents were at work and without them knowing.

His father was the gamekeeper and he knew the huge area like the back of his hand. When I found out through British Deaf News that the Deaf Mountaineering Club had booked two cottages in the next village of Dornie, my wife and I joined the club.

From there we enjoyed a number of hill walks in that week of May. For the next eight years the club walked in many places in the Highlands, the Isles, around Scotland, the Lake/Peak District, and over in Ireland.

What made you want to climb all the Munros?

As I was enjoying my hillwalks, people began to ask me, “How many Munros have you done?” At first, I didn’t know what a Munro was!

Later, I disliked the question because I felt it focused only on the number. I was more interested in telling tales of all the adventures I had as I walked and climbed.

There are lots of Munros I have done multiple times. However, they often take me to areas I have never been to before. It took me 37 years to complete them all.

Which was the hardest Munro and why?

That’s part of the challenge! I can only do them depending on my fitness and keenness.

Some Munros are so far from the road it takes me 14 hours to do 4 Munros – when the guidebook says they should take 2 days !

To make the most of going backpacking (with weight) in 2 or 3 days which I did 3 three times in Glen Affric, again they are all far from the car park, once I spent half a day in a roasting heatwave!!

Black Cuillin, Skye. It has 11 Munros on a ridge of Rocky Mountains with a number of steep slopes, and comes with a lot of scrambling, you need to read the guidebook well to be familiar with the routes, knowing the map for where to go next or any escape routes. These require me to be well prepared if there is rain or mist, which there was!

And which was the easiest?

That would be the Glenshee area (where ski slopes are used in winter). From the high pass of the car park it only takes 40 minutes to reach the Munro summit !

You then go on the ridge to the next two Munro, then return to the first Munro then go down to the car park. It’s a total of 5 miles and 579 metres!

From sea level, it  takes an average 3/4 hours to reach a summit of 914.4 meters or more.

What do your family think about what you’ve done?

Big brother Peter – thinks it’s an absolutely brilliant achievement very proud of him 👌

Little Sister Carol live in Kosovo – thinks it is typical of my brother- when he sets his mind to do something, he does it. So proud!

Big sister Heather live in Milian – You can tell them that all Heather’s English language students are also following me and love watching people speaking with their hands too (ie like the Italians do)

My son Ben – My dad will never be finished climbing mountains! If he finishes one list of mountains, he finds another one. Then when he finishes that, he’ll do them all twice! (My son cheeky, but nice one ☝️)

My son Sam – I’m proud of you dad, not many people have made that achievement so it’s very impressive

What’s your next challenge?

I’m down to eight Donalds left, these are the East Galloway Hill and Cairnsmore of Fleet.

After that I want to continue my passion for backpacking, I don’t even mind which mountains I’m in, I would love to go to Wales or Ireland again.

My sister is living in Kosovo till 2022. Like everyone else I’m unsure how much of this will be possible in the near future because of the pandemic, vaccines/passports seem to be very uncertain times now.