The elderly female walker, missing over night on Schiehallion has been found safe and well after walking into a medical centre in Kinloch Rannoch this morning. It is understood that the 73 year old from Ayrshire had been on the mountain with her son to scatter the ashes of her late husband when they became separated. Despite an extensive rescue search she was not located on the hill before the search had to be called off at 3am. The weather in the area last night was windy with drizzly rain on the tops.

Speaking to the BBC, Sgt Colin MacDougall, from Tayside Police’s search and rescue unit, said, ”Thankfully this has not been a tragic outcome and remarkably the woman is none the worse for her experience.

“However, it still demonstrates the utter complacency with which people often take to the Scottish hills. Here we have two inexperienced walkers with no maps, no torches, and no navigational equipment whatsoever.

“Even on a simple hill walk, people should be prepared for all eventualities and weather conditions. I hope this incident serves as a timely reminder to anyone considering taking to the hills that being properly prepared is vital.”

Tayside Police have resumed searching for a woman missing on Schiehallion in Perthshire since Sunday. The woman, who is in her 70s, had been walking with her son when they became separated, and she was reported missing. It is understood that she was not equipped to spend a night out. Rescue teams from RAF Leuchars and Lossiemouth are involved in the search.

Walkhighlands often receives requests asking us about or offering opinions on the use of GPS devices as a navigation aid, so we’ve put together a series of brief articles covering the most basic points.

The article Using a GPS outlines our basic tips on some of the ways in which you can use a GPS to help with your navigation when out in the hills.

Many walkers simply carry a device so that they can always find their current position, and working from the OS grid reference given they can use their map and compass skills to work out which way to go. But if you take the time to put either individual waypoint or indeed complete route data into your GPS then it becomes even more useful – we outline how.

There is also some confusion about whether you’ll also need to buy digital mapping software to go with your GPS. The answer depends on how you plan to use it. If you want to simply find your position, or download and follow pre-prepared routes from Walkhighlands on your GPS (see how to do this) then the answer is no. But if you want to see OS maps on your home computer and plan and load your own routes onto your GPS then this is when you will need mapping software. After you’ve done your walk, this software will also let you load back up to your computer and review the actual route you took out on the hill.

Finally we outline why no amount of GPS wizardly removes the need for hillwalkers to understand how to read a map and traditional navigation techniques.

If you are ready to take the plunge into GPS and/or digital mapping software, you might want to check out these links:
GPS online shop
Mapyx Quo for the best value digital mapping software

Police have found a man’s body which may have been lying in a tent in the Cairngorms for a number of weeks. A local gamekeeper had spotted the tent at the south end of Loch Einich below Sgor Gaoith about a month ago. On Tuesday 9 September, Aviemore police received a further report saying the tent was still in the same location.

Members of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, together with Police officers searched the tent and found the body. A police statement said: “The remains will be taken to Inverness for post mortem and enquiries will be ongoing to trace next of kin and to identify the male.”

Hugh Fullerton-Smith – the general manager of the controversial Alladale Estate – gave a talk and took questions from Mountaineering Council of Scotland members on Saturday night following their AGM at Glenmore Lodge.

Hugh began by outlining his own experience, which includes work with deer in New Zealand (producing velvet), project management for both the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota and for the Metis Settlements on the Canadian prairies and assisting nomadic organisations with the setting up of mobile abattoirs in Mongolia.

He also gave some background on Paul Lister, the owner of Alladale and the mastermind behind the plans to introduce predators together with the contruction of electric fences enclosing the estate. He explained that Lister owned forestry plantations in Stirlingshire for their tax benefits and had discovered Alladale and the Highlands through deer stalking. Lister had become interested in the regeneration of Highland habitats and, according to Hugh, had specifically bought the 23,000 acre Alladale Estate because it had no Munros and only a single access road. Hugh said the Alladale plans were intended to be philanthropic and were being done both to regenerate the degraded Highland habitat and to bring prosperity to the area. Viewers of the BBC TV series on the estate – which is currently being repeated in Scotland and shown for the first time in the rest of the UK – may however remember Paul Lister himself specifically saying at one point that the plans were not philanthropic and were commercial.

With regards to introducing predators, Hugh explained that 23,000 acres was not a large enough area to support bears and wolves. Lister intends either to actively buy up neighbouring estates or persuade them to join the scheme until the ‘reserve’ reaches 56,000 acres. Currently the only enclosure covers about 500 acres housing elk and wild boar. This fence has been kept below two metres, which means it does not need planning permission; cross-bred boar were chosen in an attempt to avoid the need for a dangerous animals licence, although it has turned out that the licence was still needed. Hugh said that three stiles had been provided to allow walkers free access to the enclosure, though very few people excercised this right.

The estate has renovated Deanich Lodge – eight miles from Alladale House – but another £800,000 extension and renovation is planned for 2009 to provide further accommodation, as the estate is currently losing £100,000 a year and needs further accommodation to be able to break even.

Hugh said that, coming from New Zealand, he had not initially realised how contentious it would be to fence off a much larger area. He appealed for people to support the plans as an attempt to regenerate the environment of the Highlands. He said access would only be lost from less than 1% of the Highlands and said, finally, that people needed to be kept out to ‘give science a chance’, before inviting questions from the floor.

The President of the MCofS, Chris Townsend, said that the issue of regeneration was separate to that of access. He pointed out that other estates were also carrying out regeneration work – such as the spectacular recovery of the pinewoods on the SNH-managed reserve at Creag Meagaidh – and that this had been done without any restrictions on access.

John Mackenzie, the Earl of Cromartie and a past president of the MCofS, explained that he was an estate owner himself. He said that restricting access was simply not an option. The new access legislation was only introduced very recently and had very broad public support. He said Alladale estate’s managers should realise this is a democratic country and they must obey the law.

There were several angry rebuttals from other members of the audience about the plans to restrict access, though general support for the estate’s tree planting activities and regeneration plans. Matt Dent, the local Access Officer from Highland Council, was at the meeting and pointed out that they were not happy with the three stiles to access the existing enclosure, and that they had written to the estate several times requesting the construction of twelve stiles but had not received any response.

Hugh avoided direct answers to many of the questions either by making a different point or by asking another question back. He said that they had to get the environment right before reintroducing animals but it was pointed out that elk and boars had been reintroduced already and the estate was trying to do something that would take a hundred years in just a year or two. Hugh admitted that the land could not support the animals introduced and that they had to be fed. When answering another question, he said that the estate only wanted to fence 14,000 acres, not the whole area, which seemed to contradict his earlier points about the size needed to support predators. One questioner had been to the reserves in Africa and Romania that have inspired Lister’s plans and said that these were very exclusive places and beyond the reach of the general public; in response Hugh said that Alladale had plans to provide some low cost accommodation, though there was some laughter when he said it could cost as little as £50 a night. Paul Webster from Walkhighlands asked why the government should allow access to be curtailed at Alladale but not on any other estates, as although most estates are supportive of walkers and access there would be others that no doubt prefer restrictions. Hugh tried to defuse anger in the room by saying he was the outsider and the questioners were the experts on the Highlands, and seemed to accept that from what he was being told, that there was little likelihood of being allowed to restrict access. He also appeared to conceed at one point that the reintroduction of predators was not particularly likely to succeed but still said that the fence was part of Paul Lister’s plan.

Chris Townsend stated that, in the light of the concerns in the room and the access situation, Alladale Estate should abandon the plans to build the fence.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland have published a statement on their position regarding Alladale. In conclusion, it states that

The derogation of access is totally unacceptable in such a large area. It is also unacceptable that the impacts on local communities have not been taken into account. The member organisations of this group find this unofficial, but well-publicised project, as unacceptable as stated. We call for a recognition that the unnatural density, probable artificial feeding and commercial nature shows that this project is a safari park, which would require a zoo licence, and hence is completely different from what it is promoted as which is a re-wilding project. A full project study should be undertaken, followed by an environmental statement stating the legal basis on which this project will be based.

The full official MCofS statement can be acessed via this link.

You can also follow the ongoing debate on Walkhighlands’ Forum.

The Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland has released figures showing that the number of rescues is rising but the number of fatalities on the hills has fallen since 2006. In 2007 there were 20 deaths on Scotland’s mountains and 491 rescues. Just over half of all Scottish rescues were initiated by mobile phone calls.

The figures were published as more than 300 members of the UK’s Mountain Rescue Service gathered in Stirling to mark the organisation’s 75th anniversary. The Scottish Government said £300,000 would be spent on Scotland’s 28 teams.

The figures show that 139 people were injured while hill walking with falls causing 21% of rescues and people being lost accounting for 15%. Overdue walkers made up 14% of incidents. The teams have also seen the number of callouts to non-walkers, self harm/suicide risks, and charity event participants rise.

Search and Rescue helicopters assisted in 38% of incidents, with Search and Rescue Dogs involved in 27% of incidents.

Fergus Ewing, the minister for community safety and former member of Loch Lomond Mountain Rescue team, will address the meeting at the University of Stirling this weekend. Speaking to the BBC Mr Ewing said, “I am well aware of the vital role Scotland’s mountain rescue teams play in aiding those who end up in difficulty.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting these dedicated, highly professional teams of volunteers and that is why we are giving them £300,000 to ensure that there is a continuing, effective resource for all those who use our hills and mountains.”