Happy New Year everyone! It’s also time to look back at the end of 2023 and pick the winning walk reports for the Highlander monthly competition. Loads of great reports were posted on the Walkhighlands forum in December, some from wonderful hot sunny summer days and others shorter winter rambles as well as a few epic winter high level camps. One of those awesome summit camps wins the £100 Highlander prize voucher. Congratulations to Jaxter for The incredible power of awe – Sgor Gaoith winter summit camp – that dip must have been beyond chilly! The £50 runner up is Milo12 for Neist…

Organisers of The Fort William Mountain Festival have announced that Lee Craigie, the mountain bike adventurer and cross country mountain bike racer, nomadic storyteller, author, outdoor therapist, award winning film maker, campaigner for active travel, and champion for women in the outdoors, is the 17th recipient of the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture, sponsored by JAHAMA Highland Estates. Born in Glasgow to a sporting family, Lee Craigie has always had a passion for exploration and adventure in the outdoors and for promoting its physical and mental health benefits. It was the driving force behind her outdoor education degree and a three year Post Graduate Training in…

The first beavers to be translocated to the Cairngorms are settling into their new home after arriving in the National Park earlier this week. A pair of Eurasian beavers have been released on Rothiemurchus, with Lorna Slater MSP – Scottish Government Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity – there to offer a helping hand. A further pair were released the same day on land owned by Wildland Cairngorms Ltd. The Cairngorms National Park Authority, working with local land managers and the Beaver Trust oversaw the operation, which took place on Monday 18 December. This follows the Park Authority…

The results are in for November’s Highlander trip report of the month competition: “The first proper winter snows provided some fabulous trip reports and we’ve also been enjoying the last of the autumn colours on some of your lower level outings. For November the £100 Highlander prize voucher goes to johnbythell for Spectacular day above Glencoe Mountain Resort – a fab wee taster of winter to come with just a dusting of snow to set off the mountains. The £50 runner up is Collaciotach for An Cù. Tha na laithean a’ dol Seachad… the days flash past – a wonderful photo tribute to a…

To celebrate its 40th year, conservation charity, the John Muir Trust (JMT) is inviting writers, photographers, sculptors, videographers, podcasters, and outdoor enthusiasts to share their creative vision of freedom for wild places. The best entries will have their work featured in an exhibition at the Wild Space visitor centre in Pitlochry during spring 2024. The overall winner will receive a week-long artist in residence opportunity at a JMT site, working on a project in collaboration with the Trust for a future exhibition. Speaking about the exhibition, wildlife photographer and judge Andy Howard said: “As someone that spends so much time…