After many years of mountaineering in his native Scotland, Stuart Montgomery worked as a leader of overseas walking and cross-country skiing groups for a company called Waymark Holidays. In 1990 he accepted the offer of an "office job" with Waymark and eventually became its Managing Director. From 2005 to 2014 he was a director of XCuk, a travel company that organised holidays for cross-country skiers. Other entries in his CV include social researcher and university lecturer (in Scotland), furnace operator (in Norway), fitness instructor and postman. He has held instructor qualifications in Nordic skiing, Nordic walking and mountain navigation and is a qualified personal trainer. He has also written (with Paddy Field) Stride and Glide: A Manual of Cross-Country Skiing and Nordic Walking. In 2015 he published The Red Mitten, a novel based on ski-touring and set mainly in Norway.