The Executors of the estate of Irvine Butterfield, in collaboration with the Mountain Bothies Association, have re-published Dibidil- A Hebridean Adventure. The book tells the remarkable story of the restoration in 1970 of the ruins of Dibidil cottage, on the Isle of Rum, for use as an open shelter.
The book was originally written in 1972 and published as a limited edition of 500 copies. It quickly sold out. Copies which do now become available sell for considerably more than the original cover price. The book describes the story of the restoration project from its original conception in 1968 through the planning and organisation to the landings of material in near-gale force winds at Easter 1970 to the final successful work party of July 1970 accompanied by midges, clegs, and, inevitably for one of the wettest places in Britain, rain.
The re-published version contains the original text and line drawings. It also includes some new, supplementary text including material by Irvine himself following a 1975 re-visit to the bothy. The black and white pictures in the 1972 version have been reproduced in colour from their original slides.
Irvine Butterfield (1936-2009) was well-known and highly regarded as a writer, photographer and campaigner on wild-land issues. His best known works are “The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland” (still unofficially known as “The Hillwalker’s Bible”) and the photographic books “The Magic of the Munros” and “The Call of the Corbetts”. The first President of the Munro Society and Life President of The Crochallan Mountaineering Club, he was also an early and active member of the MBA, the John Muir Trust, The Mountaineering Council of Scotland and the Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms (PARC).
All profits from the sale of the re-published book will be donated to the MBA and used to help their ongoing work in restoring and maintaining almost 100 open shelters.
The book is available from the MBA for £8 including postage and packing – to order it see the MBA website, where there are also a selection of photos from the original 1970 workparty.