Top award for Kingussie author’s biography of a mountaineering great

Kingussie author Catherine Moorehead has returned from a triumphant trip to India - where she scaled the heights with her biography of mountaineer Doug Scott.

While in Mumbai, she received the Kekoo Naoroji Award for the Indian Himalayan Club's 'Best book of the year on the subject of the Himalayas'.

“It's good to be back,” she told the Strathy. “The temperature was 35C in the city and 43C up in the Western Ghats - even the locals were complaining!”

But they had nothing but praise for Ms Moorehead’s study of Scott.

At the ceremony, the Badenoch biographer was also given a special presentation of two important books about the Himalayas.

The award is one of the three premier annual global awards for writing relating to mountaineering.

For the occasion, she was given an all-expenses paid trip to Mumbai and the sum of 100,000 Indian rupees (about £1000 at current exchange rates).

After the ceremony, which was staged in a Mumbai Theatre, she and distinguished guests enjoyed a dinner at the very 'pukka' Bombay Royal Yacht Club in the famous Taj Hotel.

Kekjoo Naoroji was a distinctive Indian mountaineer of the mid-20th century.

The award, in his memory, is paid for by the Godrej family, led by the billionaire Nadir Godrej, one of India's richest men and a notably generous beneficiary to many charitable and social causes in Mumbai and India generally.

The day after, local mountaineer Rajesh Gadgil, drove the author up to the nearby hills, the Western Ghats, for a wine-tasting at Sula, India's largest winery, followed by a visit to the volcanic cliff known as Harihar Fort, where Doug Scott put up a particularly difficult climb in 1986.

“There was also time for lunch with Mr Harish Kapadia, the most famous mountaineer in Indian history,” Catherine added, “and I was able to present these gentlemen with bottles of Dalwhinnie's 'Winter Gold' whisky.”

On her return, she was greeted with the news that the Italian edition of her biography, 'Mountain Guru' has just appeared.

“It was a whirlwind trip - but it was the experience of a lifetime!” she confirmed.

She has come a long way from Nairn, her birthplace.

After her education there, she graduated to Gordonstoun and travelled as an exchange scholar to Schloss Salem in Germany.

She graduated Honours MA in English Language and Literature at Edinburgh University followed by PGCEs in English and in French from Moray House, Edinburgh, and a Diploma in Education from Edinburgh University.

After teaching in France, she went on to teach English for 35 years at a succession of state then private schools, before founding the RumDoodle Society, dedicated to hill-walking and conviviality.

Catherine now lives in happy ‘retirement’ in Kingussie but her main outside interest is mountaineering. She has led six expeditions to unexplored parts of Central Asia.

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