OL-Q&A: Finding your mountain with Scott Hutchinson
In an online world that often feels like we’re watching a never-ending slide show of appalling people with each trying to outdo other when it comes to being devoid of any humanity. So meeting Scott Hutchinson (albeit via Zoom) last week provided a refreshing antidote to the usual onslaught of social media sociopaths. Just like everyone at Outdoor Licence Scott owns far too many coats, has impeccable taste in music and is in his element when several hundred metres above sea-level. So inspired by our fascinating chat I decided to dive deeper into Scott’s world with our very first Outdoor Licence Q&A or ‘OLQANDA’ as I might start calling it in a semi-ironic, accidental Partridge type manner.
Scott, you’re from one of our favourite places on the planet, the Lake District. Tell us all about growing up there and give us some inside knowledge that only locals would know about your manor.
Eskdale in the seventies and eighties was definitely an interesting place to grow up. It was cut off from the rest of the world both physically and metaphorically. People broke into norse dialect in the shop. No internet, no mobiles, only two channels on telly (the fells blocked the signal until about 1986). In winter it got dark about 3pm and it snowed a lot back then, so you’d get power cuts. I’d go out gathering wood with my Da in a storm. It was like living in a Brueghel painting, but I have nothing but fond memories. Out of the dark and cold came creativity – I immersed myself in books and read the NME back to front every week. One of my mates became a bestselling author off the back of this incredible winter boredom. Don’t knock being bored, we were designed to live in a cave and eat berries, not sit on a screen all day. In terms of inside knowledge: Get a map and find the paths. Then find the places furthest from those paths. These are the places nobody goes to, these are the magical places. Make your own routes and follow your own paths. I realise I sound like Bilbo Baggins here, but you get what I’m saying.
What was growing up in a mountain school like? Did you have to clean out the boot room?
My dad worked for Outward Bound Eskdale for over 20 years, during a golden era spanning the 70s, 80s and 90s. It was a fantastic place to grow up – full of eccentrics and outdoor types who were committed to adventure. My dad had this mate called Mick Hoff and one morning he got up and canoed to the Isle of Man. That sort of thing happened all the time. You’d be wandering about outside and someone would be in climbing shoes 100ft up the side of the building. The centre was housed in this old stately home, like a castle and me and my elder brother had the literal run of the place. In summer we’d just go and get in a boat and mess about on the tarn or play in the ropes-course which was a precursor to Go Ape, but with none of the safety features. I have no idea how we survived tbh. Outward Bound was founded by Kurth Hahn after he fled Nazi Germany. He believed that your spirit was built in experiential learning and that you got lifelong learning from outdoor challenges and adventure. So we grew up with that ethos. All of the buildings were named after explorers – Shackleton, Hillary, Scott, Slingsby, Nansen etc. A constant reminder of what is possible.
Was growing up in that environment the ideal training ground for joining the military? Tell us all about that side of your career…
I need to play this down or I’ll get dog’s abuse – I was in for seven years and I was only a reservist, like Gareth from The Office, but not quite as switched on. But yeah, that background probably helped. I was up a mountain one day and this bloke appeared out of the mist and gave me a card (which I still have) and on it were written the words “there are few good challenges left in the world…this is one of them”. I was forty at the time and told him I was too old, but he said “we’ll take you up to 45 if you’re fit enough” I pinned it up on my board and forgot all about it. A few years later I was sat in a very spartan flat contemplating my existence. I’d got divorced, put everything I owned into a van, moved to a new place, given up drinking, become a recluse. I was very close to being a real-life country and western song. I didn’t have any money for adventures but I remembered what that bloke had said and ended up doing Basic Training two days before my 45th birthday. Not going to lie, it wasn’t easy doing the leopard crawling and weighted runs at that age, but I just kept telling myself “only you can fail you”. Along the way I learned a lot about myself and what I could put up with, it built some more layers of resilience. It was one of the best experiences of my life – I found the whole thing part fascinating, part adventure, part hilarious. I was always getting pulled up – not shaving, not saluting, calling stuff the wrong name etc. In 2019 they sent me to Bavaria to do some adventure training then in February 2020 I went back to the same Alps and they taught me how to ski. Almost as soon as I returned I was mobilised full time for the military response to covid. After seven years I left because I am a firm believer in leaving the party when it’s in full flow, not when everyone is talking shit in the kitchen. I actually got a medal, which I gave to my Ma for putting up with me.
You’re now someone who uses the power of the mountains to help dramatically change peoples lives. Tell us all about the training you provide and how important the environment is to the work you do?
I’m building on the work of Kurt Hahn, who lived by the code “Plus est en vous” There is more in you. I want to use my experience to help people change their lives and to enable them to become the very best version of themselves. Like Hahn, I believe that the magic happens outside your comfort zone. Another quote I am fond of is “the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek”. Learning that takes place in the outdoors forges memories that you don’t get in a classroom or online. It creates experiences that stay with you forever.
So if we were to take up one of your courses, what could we expect to get up to and what would we get out of it?
A mixture of motivation, performance coaching and adventure training where you will learn the disciplines needed to become the best version of yourself. You will discover the mountains and discover yourself. You can expect some wild swimming, camping under the stars and an adventure. I have three key principles to change your life.
Find your mountain – how to find your goals and your dreams. Finding your purpose in life, finding your motivation. Climb your mountain – beginning your journey, articulating your goals, stepping out of your comfort zone. Overcoming obstacles and worry, embracing discipline, building habits. Conquer your mountain. Learn to love who you are, building a growth mindset, striving to always become the best version of yourself.
Continuous Growth. All set against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful and hidden valleys of the Lake District.
I’ve noticed many, many, many times that once you’re out in the hills or up a mountain people tend to open up loads more and are more inclined to discuss stuff they perhaps wouldn’t usually do in a ‘normal’ man made type of environment. Are mountains the new therapist’s couch?
Yeah, I do it myself all the time, just unload the lot and encourage others to do the same. My assessor on my Mountain Leader course was a mountaineering legend called Chris Ensoll. I always remember being way up a mountain and him saying “some of us only ever feel who we really are up here”. I totally get that. I definitely think that there is something about the environment that makes us feel more alive, more “in the moment” and more willing to share our burden with others. There is actual scientific proof that nature works, by the way. A recent scheme (the Green Social Prescribing Program) found that helping people in England connect with nature led to better mental health outcomes. It might not work for some people and that is OK – but for others it is a great way of improving mental health.
OK so let’s talk about gear, what have been your favourite outdoor brands over the years and why?
One of the brands I have an emotional attachment to is the Sheffield based Buffalo and especially their iconic Mountain Shirt which has been a constant in my life for 20 odd years. I once did this long tribute on Instagram which started with the words “If I could shag this shirt I would” which is probably why I never ever get any stuff given to me. In the 80s there was this guy called Ken Ledward who tested outdoor gear for loads of the brands. He would come to Outward Bound and just lay all this stuff on the lawn for sale and it was like a huge event everyone got excited about: KEN LEDWARD IS COMING blowing a big trumpet in the village etc. I was fourteen when I bought a Helly Hansen Fleece off him for a fiver. It was absolutely massive on me but I wore it everywhere – wore it up a mountain, cycled to Munich in it, went raving in it, wore it at the football, took it round Europe inter-railing, the lot. I am delighted to say I still have it forty years on and occasionally wear it. I love their stuff to this day, I think they do “cold” really well.
Currently on big winter mountain days I’m wearing a Keela Pinnacle as my hardshell waterproof – again what I love about Keela is that they are authentic – their stuff is made in Scotland and it is absolutely bombproof gear. Keela remind me of those other Scottish icons – Teenage Fanclub or the Beta Band. Should be massive, should be household names but just happy to do their own beautiful thing. Not interested in being Coldplay. On my feet I wear AKU. It took me 30 years find a brand that didn’t give me blisters and I got into them by accident – I got issued a pair in the military and thought “ooo where you been hiding”? Their roots are in old school Italian shoemaking. I sound like a hipster, but I am not gatekeeping them or being a twat, they are genuinely amazing boots. I love Paramo or as my friend said once I am a Param-Hoe. Again (a theme develops) they are really not interested in being fashionable (although I did seen them occasionally in Oi Polloi). I did my entire mountain leader qualification wearing a Paramo Velez and it tipped down every single day for five days. Páramo production is based at the Miquelina Foundation in Colombia, which helps socially disadvantaged women build better lives for themselves and their families. There is still kindness in consumerism, if you look. I’d like to give a shout out to Needle Sports in Keswick. My da shopped there and it is a beautiful place, full of gear and it is about the same price as the internet, so support them please. I’ve been buying stuff out of there for about 20 years. When I go in I try and start conversations about the last stuff I bought there so they know I am a regular but they just totally blank me – Alan Partridge vibes.
And finally, can you describe your ideal day outdoors for us please?
Last May, Zahra and I went to Eskdale. We got the miniature train up to Boot then walked to the Boot Inn and had dinner. After dinner, we hiked up the hill, watched the sun go down and camped in a secluded nook overlooking the valley. When we woke up it was a beautiful sunny spring morning. We sat on huge flat rock with a coffee and just listened to the valley – the birdsong was deafening. The sunlight warming us and the smell of the grass and earth was amazing. In that moment I felt nothing but love. We walked back along the river, pausing to swim. That is my ideal day outdoors. I always think about that quote from Into the Wild: “happiness is only real, when shared”.
