Irvine Butterfield
Irvine Butterfield’s enthusiasm for mountain country and wild land in Scotland dates back to the inception of the John Muir Trust in the early 1980s when he signed up as the Trust’s fifth member (the membership now stands at 10,000). He is a long-term and assiduous supporter of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and has been instrumental in setting up the Mountain Bothies Association and more recently the Munro Society.
“Irvine’s commitment has always been underpinned by his extraordinarily detailed knowledge of our mountain country, and by his profound, understated and yet transparent passion for its wild landscapes and its history,” commented Nigel Hawkins, Chief Executive of the John Muir Trust. “His books on our high mountains, enriched by hundreds of his own superb photographs, have been a mighty inspiration to walkers and climbers, leading them on to share Irvine’s passion.”
Irvine joins three other recipients of the John Muir Trust Lifetime Achievement Award. The first was the writer, broadcaster and mountaineer Tom Weir. He was followed by Dr Adam Watson, ecologist, writer and mountaineer, and “guru” of the Cairngorms. The third went to Doug Scott, Everest mountaineer and campaigner for communities living in remote mountain regions of the world.
All of these individuals have followed in the footsteps of the conservationist John Muir by highlighting the importance of the wild places and encouraging people to take positive action to safeguard and conserve them for the future. “Irvine has brought back from his explorations a love of wild places that he has communicated with consummate skill and conviction,” concluded Hawkins. “Like John Muir, his influence and his inspiration have brought many of us to share his commitment to Britain’s mountains. He is a very worthy recipient of our John Muir Trust Lifetime Achievement Award.”