Monthly Archives: January 2017

Hamish Brown scoops Mountain Culture honour

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Helen Webster

Renowned outdoors writer Hamish Brown has been declaed as the winner of the 10th Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. The award will be presented to the 82 year old at the Fort William Mountain Festival next month. Hamish was the first person to complete all the Munros in a single journey, and wrote his classic ‘Hamish’s Mountain Walk’ about the adventure. He is the author of many other mountain and walking books, and is regarded as a pioneer in outdoor education. As well as his beloved Scotland, Hamish has had a long-standing love of the mountains of Morocco.…

Posted in News

Conservation partnership calls on Highland Council to safeguard its Ranger Services

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Helen Webster

Four conservation charities in the Highlands have called upon Highland Council to maintain its Ranger Services which are believed to be under threat as a result of budget cuts. RSPB Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the John Muir Trust have joined forces to highlight the importance of the Ranger Service to Highland communities, schools and the region’s tourism businesses. The charities believe the Council’s Ranger Services play an important role in engaging people in the natural environment leading to substantial associated benefits in terms of the tourist spend in Highland and health and welfare…

Posted in Access issues, Nature

Trust welcomes SNH work to explain value of Scotland’s Wild Land Areas

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Helen Webster

The John Muir Trust welcomed the publication today by Scottish Natural Heritage of new detailed descriptions of Scotland’s 42 Wild Land Areas, and its draft guidance for developers. John Muir Trust Chief Executive Stuart Brooks said: “We applaud the work that SNH has carried out to create vivid and detailed descriptions of each individual wild land area, which examine landscape, ecology, geology, archaeology and current human activity. “They will help bring to life Scotland’s most beautiful, wild and remote places – turning lines on maps into real places. “We hope these descriptions will serve as much more than an aid…

Posted in Nature

Gear of the Year 2016 – Part Two

Posted on January 23, 2017 by David Lintern

David Lintern continues his round up of his favourites from an outdoors year in gear. You can see his pick from 2016s trailshoes and layers – including jackets, trousers and gloves – in the first part here. Pack Millet Prolighter MXP 60+20 £160.00 This is my other cheat on the timing front – I’ve actually used the Prolighter for about 20 months now and it’s become my go-to winter heavy lifter. I think it’s a good general purpose hauler, but comes into its own for winter backpacking and mountaineering, with a removable hip belt, zoned 1000d Cordura for extra durability…

Posted in Features, Gear reviews, Magazine

Mountaineering Scotland objects to Glen Etive phone mast

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Paul Webster

Mountaineers have called on Highland Council to reject a bid to site a phone mast right next to the road down Glen Etive, one of Scotland’s most famed and beautiful glens. Telecomms company EE has sought permission to site a 10m-high phone mast and ancillary structures at the roadside in the glen, at a prominent corner near the southern end of Buachaille Etive Mor. Mountaineering Scotland has objected to the planning application, arguing that the mast – and two others being considered for the glen – would be visually intrusive in a landscape that has featured in tourism publicity and…

Posted in Nature

Always a little further

Posted on January 19, 2017 by Cameron McNeish

IT’S something I learned from Hamish Brown. Never pass a second-hand bookshop. Hamish, of course, has interest in a huge variety of subjects, from the hills and mountains of this glorious country to poetry and literature and even ancient graveyards. To his eyes, a second-hand bookshop is a treasure trove to be reveled in. My own interests are possibly less widespread than Hamish’s but nevertheless I’ve spent many a sweet hour leisurely bumbling through rows of musty smelling books in search of one of those rare classics that make up the literature of our hill-going activities. I’ve found a few…

Posted in Access issues, Features, Magazine

Walkhighlands Navigation Courses – places bookable now

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Helen Webster

Following the success of the joint Walkhighlands/Mountaineering Scotland navigation courses over the last few years there will be a further 2 courses this summer. These single day courses will be held on 27 and 28 May at Arrochar and on 8 and 9 July in the Ochils. This is the chance to brush up on your navigation skills while meeting other Walkhighlands users on a fun and friendly day. Each course will begin with an hour of work indoors and then the rest of the day will be spent on practical navigation skills on the hill. The courses will be…

Posted in News

Bare hill of the hind

Posted on January 14, 2017 by David Lintern

Are deer eating us out of house and home? David Lintern weighs the evidence in the latest battle for the heart of the beast. Red Deer may be Scottish icons, but they represent much more than a shortbread tin version of our beautiful country. They are at the heart of an ongoing struggle over land use and ownership, symbolic of our nature both wild and tamed, and are emblematic of the often-ambiguous relationship with the ground under our feet. And lest we forget in a sea of tourist (card)board cutouts and political metaphors, they are also real, physical animals… over…

Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Getting to know the robin in my car

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Ben Dolphin

When I get back to the car safely after a long and tiring walk in the hills I remove my shoes, pour myself tea from my flask, and then I sit down in the open car boot. This is my quiet meditative moment before driving home when I reflect on the walk I’ve just had, breathe deeply and soak up the atmosphere one last time. And that’s when it appears. Sometimes it does so from the extremes of my peripheral vision, other times it seems to materialise from nowhere right in front of me. But wherever it comes from it…

Posted in Features, Magazine

Gear of the Year 2016 – Part One

Posted on January 4, 2017 by David Lintern

David Lintern begins his round up of some of his favourites from an outdoors year in gear. OK, so the easy rhyme of the title aside, this is not the definitive list… because no such thing exists. It’s just my definitive list of keepers. It may seem like a fairly random selection, but these bits n’ bobs were cherry picked for a combination of value, durability and design from much wider comparisons of similar items. It’s not all brand-new-for-this-season either, just new to me… it’s possible you might find some of these on the bargain rail come the new year.…

Posted in Features, Gear reviews, Magazine