AUTHOR Caroline

Ralph Storer tells Lindsay why his latest guidebook is close to his heart

It was as an 18-year-old student at Dundee University in 1965 (then a college of St Andrews), Dundee, that Ralph Storer succumbed to what he calls “the siren attraction of the Scottish Highlands – the landscape, the history, the romance, the adventure, even the winter storms through which we battled our way up steep snow and ice to cornice-bound summits; and the convivial evenings that followed in local hostelries,” he recalls.

But little did he know then that he would guidebooks to these mountains.

After graduating in psychology, Ralph took a job in the burgeoning IT industry, and this eventually led him to lecturing in software development at Napier University in Edinburgh, where he now lives.

“I’ve been writing guidebooks since 1987,” he says. “Inspired by Gaston Rébuffat’s 100 Best Routes books on the Alps, I wrote 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains.

“This was the first English-language book of its kind, although the format is now commonplace. Since then I’ve written many books, including the Ultimate Guide series to all the Munros, the accompanying Baffies Guide series to the easy ones and a series of books of personal adventures.”

Ralph’s latest title is Corrour Bothy: A Refuge in the Wilderness, a place close to Ralph’s heart.

“Corrour Bothy in the Cairngorms has been offering shelter from the elements to walkers and climbers since the 1920s and, now renovated, remains as popular as ever,” he says.

“Using visitors’ books and extracts from newspapers such as The Courier, the book is both an ode to Corrour and a celebration of a century of hillwalking and mountaineering in the Cairngorms.

“I’ve been visiting the bothy for over 50 years and once, in a winter blizzard that shredded my tent, it probably saved my life. In terms of writing guidebooks and the Corrour book, I aspire to inform and entertain, write

avoiding stilted prose and banal guidebookese such as ‘spectacular views’ and ‘stunning scenery’. More generally, I’ve always loved to tell stories.”

During travel restrictions, Ralph is taking a break from visiting the Highlands to write his next novel, and catching up on reading including his favourite outdoors writer Tim Cahill, “for his idiosyncratic perspective on every adventure he undertakes.

“My favourite novel, which never palls no matter how many times I read it, is James Michener’s South Pacific.”

Recalling his happy days at Dundee University, Ralph reflects: “Dundee was the making of me. I arrived a shy teenager and an ignorant sassenach.

“I learned some useful Doric from my Angus girlfriend. I loved The Courier and Advertiser for its idiosyncratic front page. I had to leave after university to find work, but a part of me still regards the city as my ‘home town’.

“I have collected all the old Corrour Bothy visitors’ books to add to the archive now held at the university.”

Corrour Bothy: A Refuge in the Wilderness by Ralph Storer is published by Luath, £10.99.

Ralph has been writing guidebooks since 1987.