When the email came through regarding a potential film shoot on top of Ben Vorlick I thought, damn that's a good catch innit. The part of my brain that understands I have a fear of heights must of been sleeping because I accepted immediately. The realisation I'd made a mistake came about 50m from the peak.
I was never in any real danger. The real danger in fact was my inexperience, my impending vertigo which made me feel like I wanted to throw myself off the edge and claim I slipped. It was truly harrowing. In the final push for the top I sped off ahead, I couldn't bear to wait for the others on the steep incline and I just powered through until I reached the summit half an hour before the rest of the team.
Scotland never fails to amaze. The model Sam gave me a few swigs of his Whisky to calm me down and we enjoyed the breath-taking views, a bit of lunch before cracking on with the shoot. However chilled I'd become, it was still awfully uncomfortable looking through the view finder of a camera, stumbling about at 1000m in the harsh wind, whilst a little wobbly from the Scotch. But we made it and the only thing left to do was climb down.
It was a gravelly climb and decent which I did mostly crouched down with both palms on the ground like I was a spider descending a drainpipe. The others pointed and laughed but my speed allowed me to roll up a nice spliff halfway down, where I sat, got high and waited for the others to catch up.
All the best,
Cotton.