The Scottish Avalanche Information service has begun its forecasts for the 2014-15 winter season. The forecasts began on Thursday, covering North and South Cairngorms, Glencoe, Lochaber and Creag Meagaidh; the Torridon service will begin on the 24th Dec 2014, this will cover holiday periods and weekends throughout the season. With considerable snowfalls this last week, the forecast for all the regions includes areas of ‘considerable’ avalanche risk for this weekend, so be sure to check the detailed forecasts on the Scottish Avalanche Information Service website. Link: SAIS
St Kilda wind reaches 144mph
The UK’s windiest place has today recorded a wind speed of 144 miles per hour, one of the highest ever recorded. St Kilda, which is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, experiences gales on 75 days of the year, however, conditions today are even tougher than ‘normal’. As the whole country is battered by gales, a wind speed at the top of the hill on Hirta, the largest of St Kilda’s islands, approached 150 miles per hour. The highest wind ever recorded in the UK was 173mph on the summit of Cairngorm back in 1986. St Kilda…
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Posted in Walkhighlands news
John Muir Trust appoints new chair
The wild land charity, the John Muir Trust has just appointed a new Chair, Peter Pearson, to replace the outgoing John Hutchison. Peter, who lives in the shadows of the Ochils, has for decades explored Scotland’s hills and mountains. He has also travelled further afield to the Himalayas, Karakorum, Greenland and Spitsbergen – where anyone travelling outside the island’s settlements is required to carry a rifle as a last line of defence against polar bear attacks. Peter rose to national prominence in the mid-2000s as a pivotal figure in Stirling Before Pylons, the campaigning group which helped spearhead the fight…
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Posted in Nature
Scottish Avalanche forecasts begin for winter season
The Scottish Avalanche Information Service will begin producing daily avalanche forecasts for the 2014-2015 winter season from this Thursay, 11th December. Separate forecasts cover the main five operational areas – Lochaber, Glencoe, Creag Meagaidh, the Southern Cairngorms and the Northern Cairngorms. The forecast for Torridon will begin on the 24th Decemeber 2014; this will cover holiday periods and weekends throughout the rest of the season. The Scottish Avalanche Information Service is funded by SportScotland; it began operating as the Scottish Avalanche Project in 1988 when it covered two areas, the Northern Cairngorms and Glencoe. As well as the daily forecasts,…
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Posted in News
Walkers advised over emergency calls in the mountains
With winter weather really starting to bite now in Scotland’s mountains, climbers and walkers are being advised of the best way to get help in the event of an accident. Because mountains and remote areas are beyond the road network and the reach of the ambulance service, any emergency call must be to Mountain Rescue. Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Advisor for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland said: “No-one likes to think it will be them who gets into difficulties in the mountains, but sadly people do, for all sorts of reasons, and on average each year Scottish Mountain Rescue Teams…
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Posted in News
Landscape Photographer of the Year won by Glencoe image
A photograph of a small, transient stream created by heavy rain and dwarfed by the might of Glencoe’s mountains wins top prize in this year’s search for the UK’s ‘Landscape Photographer of the Year’. Cumbrian-based photographer, Mark Littlejohn becomes the eighth person to win the overall title and the £10,000 prize. His picture was chosen, by the judges, from the thousands of entries that showcase the richly diverse landscape of the UK. From the evening sun slanting across the greenest of fields to ruined castles and starry skies, the winning photographs in the ‘Take a view – Landscape Photographer of…
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Posted in News
Our Pick – 10 of Scotland’s stunning castles
Scotland is renowned for its magnificent castles, with some authorities having counted more than 1,200 of them. They offer tremendous variety, ranging from romantic, craggy ruins to luxurious stately homes for the wealthiest landowners, here’s our personal pick of 10 of the best – including both some of the most celebrated, and some very little known. We’ve included the walks from which they can be seen. Edinburgh Castle Where else to start but with what must be the most famous of them all? Sitting atop its magnificent rock at the heart of Scotland’s capital, the site has been occupied since the…
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Steall Falls path closed following landslip
The John Muir Trust has advised at the extremely popular footpath through the Nevis Gorge at the head of Glen Nevis has been temporarily closed. The path – used as the approach to Steall Falls as well as the start of many popular mountain routes including the classic Ring of Steall – is blocked where it emerges from the gorge onto Steall Meadows. UPDATE: A temporary repair has been carried out and the path is now passable.
Posted in Access issues, Walkhighlands news
Strathan Bridge destroyed by floods in Sutherland
The Mountain Bothies Association is reporting that the footbridge over the Lon Mor in Strath Shinary, near Kinlochbervie, has been washed away in the heavy rains sweeping northwestern Scotland. The suspension-style footbridge – at NC244611 – is commonly used to give access to the bothy at Strathan. The bridge had been repaired in 2012 following previous damage. The loss of the bridge means that the bothy may not be possible to reach in spate conditions. The Mountain Bothies Association is a charity that organises volunteers to oversee the maintenance of around 100 unlocked shelters in the UK – mostly in…
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Posted in Access issues, News
Has Drum Castle’s ghost been captured on camera?
Staff at the National Trust for Scotland’s 700 year-old Drum Castle have been left scratching their heads at a mysterious image captured by a webcam. The conservation charity’s wildlife team had set up cameras in the castle’s stables over the summer as part of a project to observe a nesting family of swallows. However, staff based at the Aberdeenshire castle discovered that they had captured more than they bargained for when checking photographs taken overnight. A strange mist can be seen in one of the images. The webcam is motion-activated, so something with a physical presence must have triggered the…
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