Scotland will host the first UK screenings from this year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival tour. The tour kicks off in Edinburgh on 13 January, Glasgow on 14 January, Inverness on 31 January and 1 February, Stirling on 2 February and Pitlochry on 3 February. The Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling is a new venue for the tour this year. The tour’s films are chosen from hundreds of films entered into the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival, which takes place every year in the Canadian Rockies. With two different programmes of short adventure films to choose from, the tour features today’s…

An annual competition to find the best of Scottish mountain writing has once more shown the depth of talent to be found among those who love mountains. In Mountaineering Scotland’s 2016 Mountain Writing Competition, eight top class stories and poems were picked out by judges, with winners spread across the country from east to west. This year was also a first, in having one of the winning poems written in both Gaelic and English. Mountain bothies featured strongly in the prose entries, with three out of the four prize winners taking very different approaches to the same subject. First prize…

Following the success of its 2016 Outdoor Shorts competition in January, which saw a record number of entrants, the Peebles Outdoor Film Festival is once again inviting short film submissions for its 2017 festival competition. Ahead of the next festival (27-29 January 2017), film-makers of all ages are invited to submit outdoor-themed films, either documentary or fictional work, of no more than five minutes duration that demonstrate creativity, originality and story-telling skill. Films can detail a particular adventure, journey, sport, personal experience, or be a portrait of a particular person or place. All must capture the magic and natural beauty…

The excitement and intensity of mountaineering has always inspired great writing – and now the Mountaineering Council of Scotland is looking for authors to blend their writing skills with their mountain experience for its long running literary competition. Entries are now open for the MCofS annual Mountain Writing Competition, which seeks out the best writing – prose or poetry, fact or fiction – to emerge from the climbing and walking scene. And, with more and more people taking art in outdoor activities, there should be no shortage of climbers and walkers ready to put their experiences into words and share…

We have three 60 litre Mammut Cargons to win in this exclusive Walkhighlands competition. Simply answer the following question using the form below: How many sizes is the Mammut Cargon holdall available in? Mammut also have ten Baby Mammuts up for grabs, for a chance to win these go to their Facebook page. Product Details The Mammut Cargon is a heavy duty holdall perfect for expedition and travel use. Available in 5 sizes from a weekend-away 40 litres through to a whopping 140 litres, there is a Cargon for whatever trip you have planned. Anatomically shaped backpack straps make carrying…

Lower cost ferry fares are being rolled out today on the remaining routes in the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network. The road equivalent tariff (RET) was first introduced for non-commercial vehicles and passengers for routes to the Outer Hebrides, Coll and Tiree in 2008. The cheaper fares have since been expanded to include Islay, Colonsay and Gigha. Today (Mon 26 October) the remaining 14 routes in the Clyde and Hebrides network will join RET with the Scottish Government estimating that car fares reduce by an average of 55% and passenger fares by 44%. The reduced fares introduced today are on…

Writers with a taste for the high life are being sought by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland for its long running literary competition. The MCofS Mountain Writing Competition seeks out the best in mountain writing, whether fact or fiction, prose or poetry. Entries should have some connection with mountains and mountaineering, rock or ice climbing, walking or ski-mountaineering, and winners will receive a cash prize and the chance to see their entries in print in the Scottish Mountaineer, the quarterly MCofS magazine which goes out to its more than 12,000 members. The first placed winners in prose and poetry categories…