Walkhighlands today launched its new intelligent search feature, Find-a-walk. Want to search for walks which visit lighthouses? Looking for easier (Grade 3) walks up Munros and want to know which of these are rated as the best? Interested in coastal walks with a link to the Highland Clearances? Perhaps you want to find forest routes between 5 and 7 kilometres long with a maximum of 300 metres of ascent and no bad bogs? How about island walks which visit sandy beaches? Find-a-walk lets you search our database of over 900 routes in all these ways and many more. You can…

Following on from the success of the last three writing competitions at the Fort William Mountain Festival, the John Muir Trust is running another competition for aspiring writers. With the broad theme of ‘experiences in wild places’, entries could incorporate a journey, a place, an expedition, a mountain or river, a walk, climb, sail or kayak. The John Muir Trust aims to celebrate the landscape and wild places by encouraging new and upcoming writers to write about their experiences and share their stories. Entries can be submitted in English or Gaelic with one entry only per person. The deadline for…

In a very heavily trailed announcement, the Glen Carron hill Sgurr nan Ceannaichean has lost its Munro Status. The hill was resurveyed by John Barnard and Graham Jackson for the Munro Society, and was found to be only 913m. In the next edition of Munro’s Tables, the Scottish Mountaineering Club will confirm that the hill will once again become a Corbett. The mountain formerly graced the Ordnance Survey maps at 915m, just beating the metric munro equivalent of 914.4m. But, following scrutiny by amateur hill sleuths John Barnard and Graham Jackson, it will be demoted to the ranks of the…

The Rannoch community has re-acted with shock, disbelief and anger at the huge scale and unacceptable character of a massive proposed exclusive Golf, Hotel and Cosmetic Surgery complex at Dall on Loch Rannoch in Perthshire, overlooked by Schiehallion. This luxury development for the ‘super rich’ will lie along two miles of the shoreline of the loch. Malcolm James, the owner of Dall Estate (formerly Rannoch School), has applied to Perth & Kinross Council (PKC) to turn Dall Estate (48 hectares) and 380 hectares of public land currently owned by the Forestry Commission into a private and exclusive resort.He paints a…

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland have fought back today against calls for Scotland’s mountains to have continental style waymarking. The debate began an article in the Herald newspaper where journalist Iain MacWhirter called for the routes on the Munros and other peaks to be waymarked. In interviews on BBC Radio Scotland and Reporting Scotland on BBC1, MCofS Chief Officer David Gibson rejected the suggestion, asking; “Why is MCofS against waymarking of routes up Scottish mountains? Let’s make it clear from the outset, MCofS aims to encourage and support folk who wish to enjoy the mountains, be they hill walkers or…

The BBC reports that two RAF airmen were killed when their Tornado jet crashed in the Arrochar Alps. The plane, which eyewitnesses saw flying low over the Ardgartan campsite, continued over the Rest and Be Thankful pass before striking the hillside beyond at 11.45am. It is understood that the plane hit the flanks of Beinn an Lochain. The plane was based at RAF Leuchars; next of kin have been informed according to the MOD.

Leading figures in Ramblers Scotland have joined forces to raise £200,000 to save the Ramblers office and staff in Scotland from massive cutbacks. Dick Balharry, President of Ramblers Scotland, who joined with Dennis Canavan and Cameron McNeish to launch the appeal, said, “My colleagues and I are determined to secure the future for Ramblers Scotland. The Ramblers have made a massive contribution to the protection of Scotland’s natural heritage, helping to safeguard our magnificent scenery from endless threats, from superquarries and bulldozed roads to powerlines and blanket afforestation. The Ramblers are needed for today and tomorrow. When government energy policies…

Blyth Wright, co-ordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, and enthusiastic mountaineer, has passed away, UK Climbing reports today. An expert on avalanches, Blyth Wright co-authored the book, Chance in a Million? with Bob Barton, as well as working at Glenmore Lodge and the Loch Eil Centre. A keen mountaineer in Scotland, in the mid 60’s he supported Philip Tranter’s epic round of 19 Munros near Ben Nevis which became known as the Tranter Round and set the standard for faster and longer alternatives. His later work forecasting avalanches and providing a reliable information service for walkers and climbers has…

The Ski Club of Great Britain is looking for people to help pick litter and other rubbish this weekend. The Big Spring Clean returns for its second year at Cairngorm Mountain and Nevis Range on Sunday 31st May 2009 and is this year offering tea and cakes to all volunteers. The event which attracted over 100 participants in 2008 is a chance for mountain users to do their bit by picking up litter left by a season’s worth of visitors. The event raises awareness about responsible tourism and the seriousness of dropping litter. Caroline Stuart Taylor, Chief Executive of the…

Irvine Butterfield, known to most walkers for his fine book ‘The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland’, died on 12 May. As well as being the author of a book that drew so many to hill-walking, Irvine was a man who always tried to give something back to the mountains. He was the second secretary of the Mountain Bothies Association, was member number five and a director of the John Muir Trust, helped set up the Munro Society, and was a volunteer for the Mounteering Council of Scotland and campaigner for the Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms. In 2008…