Congratulations are due to Stephen Pyke – or Spyke – who has completed his record-breaking run over all the Munros. Just thirty nine days and nine hours after heading up Ben More on Mull, Spyke has successfully climbed the final Munro, Ben Hope, to break the record for climbing all the Munros in the fastest time by nine days. The previous record – 48 days 12 hours – was held by Charlie Campbell, who arranged for a celebratory message and a bottle of whisky to be awaiting Spyke on the final summit. Stephen was running the round to raise funds…

Lothian and Borders Police investigating the murder of Suzanne Pilley have asked us to make an appeal for information, exactly four weeks since the Edinburgh woman disappeared. Members of the public are urged to come come forward with any potentially relevant information. DCI Flannigan said: “We have been carrying out searches in the Argyll area following an extensive scoping operation. “What people have to appreciate is that this is a vast area and it is important that we have our officers targeting the right areas in terms of the searches. “I am extremely grateful to the members of the public…

Stephen Pyke (better known as Spyke) is still well on track to finish his Munro challenge in 40 days, although there are still some supremely challenging days ahead. On Monday of this week Spyke completed the Cuillin ridge on Skye, starting at 6 in the morning from Glenbrittle campsite and finishing at Sligachan at 9.30pm. Since then Spyke has been tackling the north Glenshiel Munros with time for a brief and unexpected encounter with Hamish Brown, the first person to complete a continuous round. Spyke is covering all the ground under his own steam, using a bike to get between…

Fans of the ongoing BBC2 series Monty Halls’ Great Hebridean Escape have been enjoying great footage of the superb scenery, hills and beaches of the Outer Hebrides. In the program, Monty has been working as a voluntary ranger on North Uist, and has been helping to improve waymarking and information on walks from Berneray in the north to Barra in the south. Now Walkhighlands has added coverage of North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Berneray and Eriskay so you can check out Monty’s waymarker posts for yourselves – and discover many more walks! Begin exploring our new Outer Hebrides walks. The…

Stephen Pyke (better known as Spyke) is still well on track on his attempted record-breaking run over all the Munros, despite reporting a problem with his achilles a couple of days ago. Spyke is climbing all the peaks under his own steam, including using a bike between some mountains and kayaking to get to the islands. As of yesterday, day 19, he had completed 136 Munros and was today heading for a mammoth route over 13 summits from Ben Cruachan to Glen Etive before tackling Glencoe over the weekend. You can follow Spyke’s progress at his blog, sponsor him (the…

Only a few places remain on the first series of woman only GPS training courses to be run by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and Chicks Unleashed. The one day course will begin with a short (approx 1 hour) introduction session indoors for participants to familiarise themselves with the GPS units. This will be followed by practical sessions in the woods around Glenmore and later out on the hill. The courses are based at Glenmore Lodge, Aviemore and cost £25 for the day. Currently there is 1 place left on the course on the 15th May, 2 places left on…

Like others in Scotland, Kintail Mountain Rescue Team (KMRT) is a charity made up of a team of dedicated volunteers. They are currently based in Morvich in part of an old croft house and garage, but increasing demand for their services mean they are now trying to raise money to build a purpose built base. To raise funds, members of the team will attempt to cycle from Morvich to the four cardinal points of mainland Scotland. A continuous relay will make its way to Dunnet Head in the north, Peterhead to the east, the Mull of Galloway to the south…

BBC Scotland is planning to broadcast, live and in HD, the ascent of one of the hardest rock-faces in the world. Sron Ulladail – on Harris in the Outer Hebrides – is renowed for its massive overhang. Top Scots climber Dave Macleod will be joined by Tim Emmett to make the attempt which will be shown live for 6 hours on 28 August, on both BBC2 Scotland and BBC HD. Dougie Vipond will present. The plans follow in the wake of a previous planned live ascent, The Big Climb, which was abandoned in 2007 due to incessant rain in the…