We’ve all seen the Insta vs Reality posts. A supposedly secluded beauty spot is revealed as a ticketed tourist attraction with queues for miles. An all-smiles family camping portrait is followed by a video of the kids complaining that they’ve not had a shower in days. A summit celebration makes way for the documented drudgery of a steep, endless, heather-bashing descent. But, nothing puts me in mind of the Insta vs Reality phenomenon like wild camping on a summit.
Let’s face it, wild camping content plays well on Instagram, even better if the camper in question has been adventurous enough to haul their camping equipment up to a mountain summit. Videos taken through a windblown tent flap of the sun rising above distant peaks, as steam rises from the camping stove, are nothing short of idyllic. Images of a lonely tent pitched on the apex of a great mountain are sure to stir the soul of any buccaneering outdoorsy type.
