Interview: Woman with Altitude
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we chatted to Elise Wortley, a fearless adventurer who spent three weeks in the Cairngorms, retracing the footsteps of 1940s explorer, Nan Shepherd. Walking, eating and sleeping alone, she only used clothes and equipment Nan would have had 80 years ago – even down to the big cotton pants.
To explain why she did this, we have to go back in time to when she first read Alexandra David-Néel’s book My Journey to Lhasa. In it, Alexandra recounts the final six months of her epic 14-year journey through Asia, and her quest to reach the forbidden city of Lhasa.
Totally inspired, and still thinking of this book 14 years later, Elise decided to create ‘Woman With Altitude’ – a mission which sees Elise and her all-female team follow in the footsteps of history’s formidable female explorers, trying to gain an understanding of the journeys they made and shining a light on their incredible achievements.
"The most beautiful part of my journey was just wandering around, wherever I wanted, finding the places Nan mentioned in The Living Mountain."
Elise said: “I decided to act on that idea that had always been in the back of my mind – to recreate Alexandra’s journey in some way, and to experience life travelling as a woman as closely as she would have done. I realised that the only way to truly do this, and to truly do her journey justice would be to do exactly as she did, taking with me only what she had.”
After completing this first life-changing expedition, Elise set about celebrating the stories and achievements of other female explorers throughout history. Next up was Nan Shepherd, one of the UK’s best-known nature writers and mountain wanderers. Elise decided to retrace the solo journey Nan took in the 1940s and wrote about in The Living Mountain – described by The Guardian as 'the finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain'.
Elise scaled the six highest peaks of the Cairngorms in five days, before spending a further 12 days just living in the mountains as Nan would have. She lived without any modern comforts (no smartphone), carrying all her equipment in a wooden backpack, dressed in tweed clothing, eating war rations and sleeping in a canvas tent for three weeks. We chatted to her in March 2021, to see how she felt about her time in the Cairngorms National Park.
Walking, eating and sleeping alone, she only used clothes and equipment Nan would have had 80 years ago – even down to the big cotton pants.
You’ve had a year or so to reflect on your amazing journey up here in the Highlands. What three words would you use to describe The Cairngorms?
“Oooh – that’s a hard one! Stunning. Unpredictable. Immense.”
It must have been liberating at times, but also really difficult. What were the highs and lows of your solo journey?
“When I first got the Cairngorms it was bright sunshine in Aviemore. Naively (and I should have known better!) I thought that this would be the case when I went a little higher into the hills – how wrong I was. There was a storm for about 5 days, with constant sideways rain and wind so loud that I couldn't sleep at night and my tent kept blowing over. It really was a baptism of fire! But after that the weather did clear up and the most beautiful part of my journey for me was just wandering around, wherever I wanted, finding the places Nan mentioned in The Living Mountain, but really with no place to be, and no specific time to be there. It was really liberating.”
You climbed the six highest peaks of the Cairngorms, followed by a few weeks living in the mountains as Nan would have – are there any particular areas or moments that stick out in your mind?
“My favourite place that I think about all the time is Loch Avon. I'd heard about it before but actually seeing it in person was an amazing moment. You can't really see it until you get to the very edge of the steep rock cliff that leads deep down to the loch, and then it just appears below, shimmering an amazing blue colour. When the weather was warmer, I went back to Loch Avon, as I wanted to have a skinny dip like Nan writes about in her book. The water was crystal clear and there was no one around – just me and nature. It was absolutely freezing (!) but it was the best moment of my trip, I'll never forget it.”
2020 has been a strange ‘ol year – how have you found lockdown in London when you’re so used to exploring the world?
“There have definitely been some dark moments over the last year, like I'm sure there has been for everyone, and it's been especially hard in London for me without much green space! But I'm lucky I've been able to work on lots of future trip planning, as well as reading a pile of books on female adventurers I've had for years!”
Future trip planning sounds exciting! Can you tell us anything about the next female explorer you want to celebrate?
“There are so many female adventurers I would love to follow, all over the world. With the current situation, I'm hoping my next journey will be closer to home again, and take me to Ireland to follow in the footsteps of pirate queen Grace O'Malley. Not to give too much away, but think old wooden boats, stone castles and the wild west coast of Ireland!”
Sounds amazing – watch this space!