At just 18 years old, Joel Davey stood on the summit of Ben Lomond with the drone of his bagpipes echoing across the ridge.
He had just completed a challenge to climb every single one of Scotland’s Munros – 282 in total – bringing with him grit, a battered van, a leaky tent, and a scar that ran from his collarbone to his stomach.
For Joel is no ordinary teenager.
A survivor of open-heart surgery at 18 months – and a fractured spine at 16 years old – he has defied the limits set by his body, the weather, and circumstance to accomplish his goal.
He wanted to play the bagpipes at the summits of all Scotland’s Munros. And he has not only accomplished that, but also raised £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in honour of the medical professionals who saved his life.
Joel tells me: “No one had played the pipes on all of them. I thought, well, I can do that, I’ve been playing the bagpipes since I was nine.”
A rocky beginning
Joel was born with a congenital heart defect that required full open-heart surgery when he was just 18 months old.
He has no memory of the operation, but a long scar down his chest reminds him daily of the battles his body has fought.
Born in Yorkshire, Joel and his family moved frequently during his youth. They have been settled in Fife for the last seven years.
He and his brothers grew up immersed in sport, rugby, cross-country running, and every game in between.
While preparing for the Munro challenge, a serious injury nearly stopped him before he had even got started.
At 16, a rugby stress fracture left him with a broken vertebrae in his back.
“It was terrifying,” he recalls. “There was one day I just couldn’t walk. I thought, this could be it and it just kept getting worse.
“My deepest fear is being incapacitated, stuck in a hospital bed.
“Patience and the training I was doing before definitely helped me recover.
“You’ve got to push yourself in life. There’s only one life. If there’s no risk, there’s no reward.”
Seeking a great challenge
The seed for the 282 Munro challenge took root in Joel’s fifth year of high school.
Have secured a spot at university, he saw no point in finishing sixth year.
Instead, he set his sights on something far bigger.
Inspired by family friend Hugh Symonds – the first man to run all the Munros – Joel mixed his own passion for mountaineering, fundraising – and the pipes.
“It just felt so Scottish, coming from someone born in Yorkshire, ” he says.
“I knew I wasn’t smart enough to be a surgeon, but I wanted to give back to the BHF.
“I wanted to do something exciting and try and raise money for them.”
Accompanied by his favourite tune
Before starting the challenge, Joel trained relentlessly, running local hills daily, sometimes twice. He climbed 33 Munros in preparation.
His original plan was to finish all 282 in 100 days.
“Three days of sun in June killed that dream,” he laughs.
Equipped with £5,000 from savings and generous family support, Joel lived out of a car fitted with a leaky tent box.
He ate out of tins and a lot of junk food to keep his body fuelled, courtesy of a £150 Co-op voucher.
At every summit, he brought out the pipes and played the same tune.
“It was always Highland Cathedral. I grew up hearing my dad play it, it’s my favourite.
“The bagpipes weren’t exactly portable. They had their own bag, practically a suitcase.
“I was still a novice mountaineer; I learned most things on the go.
“I lived out of that tent box from June to August. It was awful. It leaked constantly.”
Exposed to the elements
Joel’s biggest enemy wasn’t altitude; it was the rain. The monotony and misery built until his motivation collapsed.
“That’s when I’d call my dad. And twice, he dropped everything and just showed up.”
Injury lurked throughout. He twisted his ankle, fought chronic back pain, and once forgot his waterproof jacket entirely.
His girlfriend joined him for the first half of the journey. But, by April, they had split. So Joel completed the final stretch alone.
“It was hard waking up soaked and knowing you’ll be soaked all day.
“It rained for weeks. Your sleeping bag’s wet. Your clothes are wet. You put them back on. You walk into more wet.
“At times the motivation left me. My back would occasionally flare up, that made me nervous.
“Some days I’d look at myself and think, this just isn’t safe.”
Peaks of joy and pits of misery
Joel’s favourite mountains?
“Liathach in the Torridon Hills. Or the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye. They felt like the Alps, not Scotland.”
His least favourite mountains?
“Geal-Chàrn in the Grampian Mountains. The weather was just terrible. Rain. Wind. Mud. I was swearing on camera. That mountain almost broke me.”
The most dangerous was the Inaccessible Pinnacle, Sgùrr Dearg on the Cuilin Ridge, a roped climb with dizzying drops.
“I played the pipes up there in the wind. Complete madness. But the adrenaline afterwards was incredible.”
What the hills taught him
He speaks with clarity about a lesson few 18-year-olds learn. Solitude is not a weakness; it is a forge.
“There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely,” he says. “You don’t need people to validate what you do. You’re capable on your own.
“That confidence is what the Munros gave me.”
Now back at university in Aberdeen, Joel’s quest for adventure is far from dampened.
He is already thinking of new challenges.
“I want to play the pipes at the North or South Pole. That’s a lifetime goal.
“But first I am going to live like a teenager for a bit.”
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