Monty: Gavin Ballantine
Ben More (Mull), 3rd August 2024
Montmorency was never meant to be a mountain climbing dog. Indeed, I was never planning on climbing more than a handful of Munros; a few days here and there with friends was about all I aspired to. I wasn’t even really meant to get a dog – my wife turned up one day with a springer spaniel in a crate and that was it; I was the completely unprepared owner of, I believe, the biggest English Springer Spaniel in Scotland.
Built like a Russian Shot-putter, long legged and far too intelligent for his own good, he was simultaneously a complete nightmare and an absolute joy (as relationship I’m sure most puppy owners will understand).
The main issue we had, aside from the usual puppy related problems, was that we simply could not tire him out. We’d come in from a 3 hour walk and he’d look at me as if he’d been thoroughly short changed; sad spaniel eyes proclaiming that I was the worst human being on earth. In the absence of being able to report me to the RSPCA, he had the remarkable affectation of putting his head in plant pots for hours on end to show his abject disgust at our alleged short walks.
So one day, completely exasperated, I decided to see how he’d get on up a mountain. We jumped in the car and headed over to a snow-capped Ben Narnain in December 2018. And that was it; he shot up the mountain like a hairy express train and discovered his purpose in life. And in finding that we forged a bond that I don’t believe I’ll ever replicate again.
From this humble saunter in the Arrochar Alps, we started ticking off easily accessible Munros and gradually developed into quite a team.
Being a keen runner, we soon went on to tackle some of the biggest days in Scotland; the full Fannaich ridge, the Loch Monar 6, the North & South Glen Shiel Ridge loop, The Mamores 10, the Crainlarich 7 and a knee busting Mullardoch 12.
I invariably still got the sad spaniel eyes at the end of the bigger days. But they were only sad that our time together couldn’t have been longer, the mountains bigger and the treats more abundant.
Around halfway through our Munro round disaster struck and Montmorency was hospitalised with a life-threatening case of Pyothorax. A full sternotomy, a serious lung removal operation and a week in intensive care later, he emerged from hospital having lost half his body weight and looking a shell of his former, indestructible self.
Rather selfishly, and with more than a tinge of sadness, I assumed our mountain climbing days together were over. Thoughts that were sadly echoed by his veterinary surgeon. Incredibly, however, despite only having 3 lobes left in his lungs (compared to the normal 6), 2 weeks after leaving hospital he was completely unchanged, and ready to go again.
That was the first, and very last time, I ever underestimated my dog.
Skye and the Black Cuillins, on the other hand, are not to be underestimated. Aided by a false sense of our abilities, and a confidence borne of stupidity, we aimed for a 4-day crossing of the ridge. With hindsight this was rather a big ask, but despite some ferocious weather, horribly torn dog boots, a million twisted ropes and a truly unattractive 30m abseil from Sgur Nan Gillean we somehow managed it without putting Monty in a backpack.
He scrambled, climbed and scurried his way, paw after paw, up to the top of every summit. Despite the wholly justifiable fear that I’d be dragged off a cliff by a 2 tonne spaniel; looking back this may just have been our best time together in the mountains. The sheer disbelief in peoples’ eyes when they see a spaniel hotfooting it up the Inn Pinn is truly a sight to behold.
We finished our Munro round on Ben More on Mull on 03/08/2024. It was probably selfishness on my behalf, or perhaps sadness that our time in the mountains was coming to an end, but I chose to complete our round together without friends or family.
There is a pure simplicity surrounding the moments we’ve shared together in the mountains; marking the occasion with anything other than a ‘good boy’ and a treat would seem to signify the end to something I never actually wanted to finish.
But finish we did; sat alone, on top of a mountain staring out at all of the memories and moments we’d shared together over the last 5 years.
Nan Shepherd captured it beautifully when she wrote; ‘The perfect hill companion is one whose identity is for the time being merged in that of the mountains, as you feel your own to be.’ And Montmorency was undoubtedly the perfect hill companion. Some of the best moments of my life have been spent running through the mountains with nothing but fresh air, glorious views and an incorrigible spaniel beside me every single step along the way.
He’s getting older now, and although his mind is as sharp as ever, his body just can’t keep up. It breaks my heart every time I lace up my trainers knowing that he won’t be running along beside me. Just as I know it breaks his heart every time he has to watch me leave without him.
I would never have started, let alone completed, my Munro round without Monty. I truly cannot thank him enough for being my dog, but more importantly, for being my friend.
He is not the first, and will certainly not be the last dog, to complete this fantastic challenge. To all the adventurous dogs that have been before, and to all those that will surely come; good dogs.
