Hardly comparable, but one of my fondest memories in Japan was a sudden trip to climb Mt Fuji with 2 other crazy gaijin.. Totally unprepared, massive storm, absolutely no knowledge of how cold it would be (about 20 degrees Centigrade difference bottom and top..). We weathered it out outside with rain in our face all night, wearing only 500 yen convinience store rain jackets, ate a massively overpriced cup noodle once the small mountain huts opened up. Was it terrible? Pretty. Was it worth it? https://farm1.staticflickr.com/144/320147593_cc5c8e82ed_z.jp... yes.
I love the story, but as you found out, conditions can be surprisingly different up there. If you have some bad luck (twist an ankle or take an unwise short cut), you will be customers for mountain rescue, which is kind of embarrassing.
You need to be aware of local climate as well - its fairly common for people to look at mountains in Scotland, think they are quite low (they are) and conclude that they can't be risky or difficult. A 1000m mountain in Scotland can kill you at any time of year if you aren't prepared or don't take weather into account - you'd be insane to try it in winter conditions without preparation and appropriate skills (winter conditions being possible anywhere from October to May).
To me anything involving mountains or boats needs a fairly level headed evaluation of risks (NB that's just based on my experience and interests).
All true - biked from Aberdeen to Skye over summer. We took no sleeping bags but did get a tent. Hell, it was summer, how cold could it get?
Very. I think we nearly died. It gets cold in Scotland in summer as it turns out.
Fantastic trip.
