The Fort William Mountain Festival 2020 will be held from Wednesday 19th to Sunday 23rd February, headlined by 36-year-old Nepalese mountaineer and former Gurkha in the British Special Forces, Nirmal Purja MBE, who  summited all 14 ‘death zone’ mountains (over 8,000 metres) in a record obliterating six months with a truly inspirational talk highlighting this Herculean task. In its 16th year, organisers of the Fort William Mountain Festival will once again stage a stunning line-up packed full of inspiration, education and entertainment, action and adventure, at venues in and around the bustling Highland town of Fort William. The programme includes presentations from…

Snow on the hills in all six of the forecast areas heralded the start of this winter’s avalanche forecasting service. Forecasts are provided by the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) for the following areas: Lochaber, Glen Coe, Creag Meagaidh, Southern Cairngorms, Northern Cairngorms and Torridon from mid December to mid April. As well as providing detailed daily forecasts which hillwalkers can use in combination with weather reports to plan their routes, the SAIS builds up a record of avalanche activity across Scotland. Last winter was a mild one in the Scottish hills but there were still 144 recorded avalanches, 21…

Mountaineering Scotland’s regular series of winter mountain safety evenings start this week. Mountain Safety Advisor Ian Stewart will share photos, videos, personal anecdotes and adventures, and discussing essential skills for winter navigation, avalanche awareness, route choice, equipment, mountain weather and much more.  The events will be held in outdoor shops and cost £5 (except 21 November which is £8 including coffee and cake). All proceeds from these lectures will go to local mountain rescue teams or Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. Tickets can be booked at the website, dates and venues are: 21 November 2019, Edinburgh. Thursday evening at Craigdon, The…

Following news of the autumn/winter closure of An Cladach bothy including discussions on Walkhighlands, the Mountain Bothy Association have issued this statement: “Dunlossit Estate, the owners of An Cladach bothy on Islay, have asked us to clarify both the parking arrangements for visitors to the building and the arrangements for contacting the estate during the stalking season. We have agreed that the bothy will be closed from 1 September to 1 March each year commencing September 2020.” “The estate have emphasised that regardless of any advice that intending visitors might have been given in guide books or elsewhere, they should…