I’ve lived in the Scottish Highlands for 20 years now, a refugee from London and the near insanity caused by the daily view of a gray urban sky set against grim concrete.

Knowing I’m a skier, most people figured I moved here to be closer to Britain’s only ski slopes. They were wrong — in those two decades I’ve only skied locally about 10 days. I moved because the Highlands themselves are something special year-round. The snow is just a bonus.

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