In theory, it was doable: fly into Inverness in Scotland’s northeast, drive a car to the most northern point of the country, hike through rugged mountains and woodlands, stay overnight at a bothy (shelter hut) and spend all day riding beautiful, unspoiled waves without a care in the world. But this was November – brass monkeys weather, even for Scotland – and nobody had accounted for Storm Bert. Within hours heavy snow, blizzards and ice caused havoc. Our man in search of surf, Alex Libby, along with his videographer-photographer, Fabio Kraniotis, were house bound for three days. Then, as soon as they attempted to drive, the 4WD got bogged (‘summer tyes’, apparently) and had to get rescued by a local farmer with “hands the size of shovels.” Making it to the east coast of Aberdeenshire, Alex crunched through snow to get to some brisk breaks. “It was so, so cold,” he winces. “I was in a 5/4mm (wetsuit) with boots and hood and gloves and it was so painful putting my hands in the water. Like, legitimately painful.”

Alex ended up meeting a local who who gave him gloves hidden in a salt box. But after surfing for a few more hours, the storm regathered its fury, sending Alex and Fabio back to the car and onwards to whisky distilleries and, finally, the famed town of St Andrews, northeast of Edinburgh. Would he do the same trip again? “Absolutely,” says Alex. “It was magical. Even though it was manic, we found this amazing calm and bliss. And the people are really warm and lovely. They’ve got tough outer shells, but they want to look after you, and you can see that they want to look after another. The hard weather creates this real community of togetherness. I’ve always said, and it keeps reappearing in my life time and time again, that everything good in life is on the other side of that uncomfortable feeling in your gut. Everything. You just have to push past that feeling and there is something incredible on the other side of that.” All Alex’s garments - save for wetsuit, boots, hood and gloves – are from M.J. Bale’s Winter 2025 collection and ‘Winter Escapist’ capsule.