At first glance, one might think the title of this article refers to a nudist clan, the Munros, but in reality, munro is what they call mountains in Scotland. The nakeds are Stuart and Karla, a fun thirty-something couple whose mission is to climb every munro in Scotland whilst nude. They’re Scottish but currently live near London, although they hope to move back to the land of the munros. They agreed to be interviewed by Nudist Day. Here is the complete exchange, word for word…

Nudist Day - Do you consider yourselves nudists or is munro conquests the extent of it?
Stuart – I would consider myself a nudist/naturist. However, I’ve been climbing mountains since I was a teenager, this just seems like the perfect way to combine lifestyles!
Karla – I find defining yourself risks limiting what you feel you can do. I take my clothes off, I climb mountains and I do landscape photography. It’s just natural to do all three at once!

ND - When, where and how did this desire to stand naked on mountain tops start?
S - It started on the first munro we climbed together, Beinn Ghlas. We were climbing with two friends who were trailing behind us, so we had the fun idea of running on to the summit and taking nude photos of Karla before they arrived. The photos came out so well that when we next climbed a munro, Karla stripped-off again. By the end of our third climb, I was stripping nude too, and the idea to climb all the munros just evolved from that.
K - At the time I was becoming bored of landscape photography. I never thought I would say this but after a while it’s too easy to take gorgeous photographs of the highlands once you know a few simple rules of composition and exposure. Either I could spend all day trying to get the perfect photograph in the perfect location, trying to compete with the long standing professionals, or I could try and do something new and fresh. I always prefer the latter and seeing the results of using a cheap digital compact from Beinn Ghlas inspired me again.

ND - Did one of you first balk at the idea or was it a joint decision?
S - It was a joint decision. Neither of us are inhibited or ashamed about nudity or our bodies.
K - We were both really enthusiastic about the idea. Of course you have to take a step back and ask yourself whether there are serious implications to having your naked body viewed by a random selection of humanity but that only lasted a few seconds. But we’re proud of what we do and we can look after ourselves.

ND - How many munros have you conquered to date? How many to go?
S - There are 284 munros in total, and we’ve climbed 11 so far. It’s difficult getting up to Scotland to do the climbing, but when we’re back living up there, we’ll be climbing every weekend the weather’s good.
K - Stuart’s done far more than me from before we met up but at least I can say that every munro that I’ve climbed has involved nudity! I was mainly concentrating on paragliding before nakedmunros.

ND - What’s the highest munro? How has weather been a factor?
S - The highest munro is Ben Nevis, at 1344 meters (about 4200 feet). Weather has never stopped us stripping for summit photos, but it has meant we sometimes climb with our clothes on! We find that descending nude is usually easy as long as the weather isn’t really bad as our bodies and muscles are nice and warm from the climb. The biggest weather factor was the thunderstorm we walked into on Ben Hope. On our page you can see the severe weather we were in – watch out for the photo of Karla’s hair standing on because a lightning strike was imminent! (see photo below)
K - Ben Hope showed me that getting wet, cold to the core and having to get dressed again is the worst thing that can happen - apart from a lightning strike that is. I’ve bought a travel towel since then and also have a lightweight tent to get changed in if there is ever an issue of getting into difficulty. Walking down from Ben More though in mild temperatures and rain made me realize that it’s the clothes that makes you feel wet as they stick against your skin. If it’s mild enough and you’re active then hiking in the rain could be amazing.

ND - Were you inspired by Stephen Gough?
S - A bit, yes. He’s certainly proved that naked hiking can be done in most weather if you’re just brave enough to give it a go.
K - I was particularly inspired by his principles and how he has put himself out in standing up for what he believes in. It always takes one person to push the envelope and to inspire others to follow before it eventually becomes commonplace. If people ignore what he has achieved then any progress will be lost.

ND - Have you run afoul of the law in conquering munros?
S - No, the mountains of Scotland are usually quiet and remote places.
K - I’d be nervous of the law naked in Princes Street Edinburgh on a Saturday afternoon. In the highlands I’m more nervous of ticks.

ND- Have others joined you on these treks or is it exclusively the two of you?
S - A non-naturist photographer friend of ours has joined us on one occasion, and took some photos of us together. We plan to climb with other naturists this year.

ND - Do you think that naked mountain climbing could become the new rage? …a new extreme sport?! Should only healthy folks attempt this?
S - Climbing on most of the munros can be an extreme sport in itself! It’s also only for the fit, healthy and experienced. There are many quiet walks between the mountains that most naturists could enjoy though. However, some of the munros have good paths up them and are good for the inexperienced, but they are often busy, and could be unsuitable for naturism, especially at weekends. If anyone wanted to try it, I’d suggest they get a good book on the subject (there are several) try some of the popular ones, then try nude walking on the quiet ones.
K - On the other hand, what better way to get healthy than by starting off on the easy munros, corbetts or small hills in nice weather and building up? As with anything it’s just about finding your comfort zone and then widening it responsibly, slowly and carefully. Perhaps it’s because the manufacturers want us to believe it to be so, but there’s this idea that unless you’re dressed for the Himalayas all the time then you shouldn’t even take a walk in the park. Be prepared yes, but don’t be cowed by fear. I’m very serious about the outdoor equipment that I use but I also don’t want to be dependent upon it.

ND - Have you received much press coverage? How have they treated you?
S - We haven’t really had much press coverage, other than an article we wrote for Naturist Life and a positive and light hearted mention in the Scottish climbing magazine The Angry Corrie. We’ve appeared online in a lot of people’s articles and blogs, the reaction has always been positive.
K - I’m particularly thrilled by all the positive emails and guestbook entries that we’ve had. They are always a delight to read. It’s very satisfying to see people respond to it positively. Humans have become too far removed from their natural environment and I for one feel like an animal in a zoo when I’m in a city. For me, the naked body in a completely natural environment embodies what I feel is missing from modern-day life.

ND - Tell us about a funny or peculiar incident or two that relates to munro conquering.
K – Ben Alder … one of those events that are traumatic at the time and later you learn to laugh about it all, albeit laughter tinged with hysteria and sweaty palms when you start to think about the black clouds of blood-sucking insects.
S - Ben Alder was the first munro I ever took Karla to. It is a very remote munro that requires wild camping, and we cycled to the base of it along a track. We had been delayed by problems with the bike and so when we got to the end of the track it was getting dark and we needed to set up the tents. As soon as we started, dense clouds of Scottish midges, which are probably the most aggressive biting insect in the world, descended on us. It should of taken us five minutes to set the camp up, but it took us over an hour. The cloud was so dense we were actually choking on them and the only way to endure them was to spend 30 seconds setting up the tent, walk away for 5 minutes and then come back. We’d then do another 30 seconds, by which point the cloud had arrived and we were off again! By the time the tents were set up it was pitch dark and we were bitten from head to toe. Knowing how itchy and painful just a few of the bites can be, we decided to abandon the mountain and head straight back in the morning to get some cream for the bites which were some of the worst I’ve had in a decade of climbing in Scotland. It’s not listed on the web site as it was before we decided to climb them nude. Ben Alder haunts us – we have to go back and climb it soon to exorcise that demon!

ND - We know you say you do this for fun, but are you also enjoying your newly found notoriety?
S - We have notoriety? Tell us more!
K – Notoriety?

ND - Okay, so you stand on top of every munro naked. Once you’ve done so on every mountain top in Scotland, is there a part two?
S - The munros are all the Scottish peaks over 3000 feet. Corbetts are Scottish mountains between 2500-3000 feet and there’s a similar number of them. Some consider them a greater challenge than the munros because they’re spread over more of the country. We may try and climb them once we complete the munros.
K - I want to do some paragliding whilst naked, but that really is a fair weather activity, even more so than naked hill-walking because of the altitude. It felt good when I did it once in a sports bra and shorts in the borders of Scotland. Naked scuba diving also sounds good but not in this country as the waters are too cold. Kite surfing, kayaking and rock climbing would also be fun to do naked.

Related Links:

• Naked Munros web site

Photos nakedmunros.com. Copyright Naked Munros