Edinburgh writers have almost swept the boards in an MCofS competition to find the best of mountain writing. Four out of the six winners in the Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s annual Mountain Writing Competition came from the capital. First in the prose category was Nancy Somerville, of Murieston Road, and the first second and third in the poetry category were Claire Askew, of Warriston Drive; Russell Jones, of Dalgety Street, and Marjorie Gill, of Lauder Road. The two non-Edinburgh winners were second equal in the prose section: Edward Shelley, from West Kilbride, and George Gall, from Gateside, near Cupar. The…

Mountain Aid are again organising a series of free winter talks this November entitled “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”. The speaker, Mick Tighe, is a qualified mountain guide of long standing and was for many years, the Training Officer for Scottish Mountain Rescue. The talks will be based in university venues but are open to all. The organisers say that these talks are aimed at those who are used to summer hill walking and want to continue to enjoy Scottish mountains in winter conditions. Mick’s talks have many illustrations of the splendours of the hills in winter, but also include…

As the clocks turn back this weekend, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is warning motorists that collisions between deer and vehicles peak at this time of year. With night falling earlier, the peak commuting time coincides with deer coming out to feed on grass verges near roadsides. Because of this, SNH, in conjunction with Transport Scotland and Traffic Scotland, are placing warning messages on electronic variable messaging signs. From the evening of Sunday, 25 October to Monday, 16 November, the signs will warn motorists at key locations on the main trunk roads across West and Northwest Scotland. These messages will be…

The founder of the Mountain Bothies Association, Bernard Heath and his wife Betty, also an early MBA member, led the Association’s 50th year celebrations at Newtonmore on Saturday by cutting an anniversary cake. Bernard and Betty commented:”We are both thrilled and greatly honoured to cut the cake, we can’t believe such an ocean of time has gone by since that so well remembered inaugural meeting in Dalmellington in 1965. We wondered then where the MBA would go and are so pleased that it has thrived. We hope that it goes on for ever.” The MBA is a charity and has…