A dad has become the first black man to climb all 282 Munros in Scotland – and hopes his efforts will inspire other black people to take up the sport.
David Solomon set off to climb Ben Nevis when he was looking for an escape during lockdown and overcoming a ‘dark time’ mentally. The Inverness man was grieving the death of his sister alongside the breakdown of his relationship – and wanted to find some space in his head, so he decided to take up hill walking.
Over the next four years, cyber security analyst David then set out to take on all 282 Munros, which are mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet high. And it is now believed that he is the first black man to complete all of the mountains.
He said: “I felt this euphoria on top of Ben Nevis and I just decided that at that time if one mountain could do this I would challenge myself to hike up the rest of them. That helped me step out of my comfort zone and do things that I had never done before.”
His dog JJ and some friends have joined him on the treks – but climbing them by himself has given him some ‘clarity’ and ‘peace of mind’. He said that out of all the mountains, the toughest Munros were in Skye.
“The mountains in Skye are a different league. Any mistakes – especially in winter – it can be very fatal. But I am still here and it didn’t discourage me.
“In Skye if you are not confident of what you are doing it is advised that you hire a professional guide, but over the years I built confidence and experience and I thought it was something I could do.
“Me and my friends had done a very easy mountain and then after on Cuillin ridge there are 11 Munros. At that time I had three left – it was very scary and sketchy but I got it done.”
In 2022 he decided to contact the Scottish Mountaineering Club – as they keep records of those who completes the Munros. And after some research he found out that no other black man had been reported to climb all the peaks.
He said: “There was a point where I wanted to give up because I felt like I was losing interest in doing it and I needed some sort of encouragement and I wanted to know another black man who had done it before so I could speak to them.
“The club replied to me saying that none of the people who had previously completed it said they were black. There was one person who mentioned their race – it was a Chinese woman.
“And they said if I complete it and register that I would be the first person. I heard of somebody from Glasgow that he completed in September of this year and I completed in August and I would really like to meet him – we are two black people who completed the Munros in Scotland which is quite significant.”
He said that he was ‘not surprised’ when he found out he was going to be the first black man to do it.
David added: “When I went around the Munros I have come across so many people and families and I never came across black people doing it. I am proud of my achievement. Bagging the Munros was a personal decision I made at the time at a challenging time of my life just to keep me going.
“I represented myself and my culture. Now we can proudly say that one of us has done it. In the future when black kids are going up and thinking ‘oh mountaineering is not for me’ and they hear that there was a black man who did it before that will inspire and motivate them.”
When he reached his last day his friends joined him to complete his last peak. Speaking about the moment he said it was ’emotional’.
He said: “The day was a typical Scottish weather – all the elements were against us, the wind the rain. It wasn’t a day you want to be on the mountains. I wanted my brother and my best friend to be there and my close friends wanted to come – it was about finding a day that would work for everyone and we chose August the 17th.
“There were over 30 of us and 10 of them had never been on a mountain before – so it was going to be a challenge. My other mountain friends were there to support them, and it was emotional. There is this tradition where the last person to get to the top would be the person that was completing the Munros and I was walking and I just started feeling very emotional just thinking that it was something that looked unattainable 4 years ago and everyone was there in front of me – it was one of the most wonderful days.”
Since completing the Munros, David is now focused on tackling all the Wainwrights in England. And he has so far done 14 of them.
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