The remote community of Glenelg is planning an amibitious day of space-themed events to mark the arrival of the Curiosity Rover at Glenelg on Mars. Special guest speakers include the Director of NASA’s Mars Space Exploration Programme, a female astronaut with five space flights under her belt, and Scotland’s Astronomer Royal. Also included in the days activities is a Geo-cache navigation game, the chance to try out your bushcraft and natural navigation skills, panetarium shows in the village hall, the opportunity to drive the Mars Rover over simulated Martian landscape and of course star gazing in the evening. The event…

The 10th annual Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival ventures back into the capital from 26 to 28 October 2012. From its humble beginnings in 2003, the festival has grown to be one of the most popular and dynamic events in Scotland's outdoor adventure calendar and will attract in excess of 3,000 outdoor enthusiasts over the weekend in 2012. The three-day festival is staged at George Square Lecture Theatre in Edinburgh. Tickets for the popular festival are on sale now at the festival website. This year the festival organisers say they are promising, “A weekend packed full of inspiration and entertainment, with…

Chris Bonington will be talking about his 60 year mountaineering career in Inverness on 4th November as part of a six date British tour. Chris Britain's best known mountaineer and one of the most successful expedition leaders in history. He started climbing at the age of 16 and has been on 19 Himalayan expeditions, including 4 to Everest. He is renowned for having made many first ascents in the Alps and all the greater ranges of the world. This autumn Chris will be appearing at just six venues presenting a brand new ‘life and times’ talk, covering his sixty years…

The 10th annual Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival ventures back into the capital from 26-28 October 2012. From its humble beginnings in 2003, it's grown to be one of the most popular snd dynamic events in Scotland's outdoor adventure calendar, attracting in excess of 3,000 outdoor enthusiasts. The 3-day festival is staged at George Square Lecture Theatre in Edinburgh. As always, the festival promises to be a weekend packed full of inspiration and entertainment, with an impressive diversity of speakers and a selection of films delivering lots of high drama and painful wipeouts! The EMFF has built a reputation as a…

The deadline is fast approaching for entries to this year’s mountain writing and photography competitions. This year, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival (EMFF) and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) have joined forces this year to expand their popular and long running competitions. The Mountain Article competition has categories for prose and poetry with 1st prizes of £150, plus a free EMFF weekend pass for the prose category and £100, plus EMFF pass for the poetry class with substantial 2nd and 3rd prizes on offer too. For the Photography competition there are two categories this year entitled; Focus, and Mountains…

Events for this year's Torridon Walking Festival will include full days tackling a number of Torridon peaks, as well as a scrambling course, a boat trip to Rona, and lower level walks. The Festival takes place between 8 and 10 September, is sponsored by Tiso and run by Torridon Activities based at the Torridon Hotel and Torridon Inn. Bookings are now being taken for the events, see the Festival website for further details.

The deadline is fast approaching for Scottish Natural Heritage's (SNH) free photo contest, which aims to find Scotland's best nature photos. SNH is encouraging Scots to enjoy nature by capturing their favourite natural places and wildlife by July 31. The sixth annual Nature Photography Competition is open to both amateur and professional photographers. First prize is a one-to-one tutorial with one of Scotland’s leading professional nature photographers, Lorne Gill; second prize is a Nikon D5100 Digital SLR camera with a tripod; and third prize is a Panasonic Lumix LX5 Digital Camera and a tripod. See the SNH website for details…

The 25th Glamaig Hill Race took place on Saturday and saw Finlay Wild win by more than 6 minutes, smashing the long-standing record which had been held by Mark Rigby since 1997. Brian Marshall – winner of the race for the last 9 years – this time had to settle for second. The race route – which crosses a bog before heading up and down an extremely steep and punishing scree-slope – is held each year on the Isle of Skye. The original record for the run was set more than 100 years ago when a Ghurka named Thapa, one…

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and lots of events are happening in the park to commemorate the occasion. As part of the celebrations, the National Park has launched its Shot in the Park photography competition. The winning entries will be used by the National Park in promotional activities. Photographs taken anywhere in the national park between 26th May and 23rd September can be uploaded for judging on the National Park photo competition website. The Park is asking people to submit photographs of any aspect of the national park. There are four…