walkhighlands

Entries open for Mountain Writing Competition

Writers with a taste for the high life are being sought by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland for its long running literary competition. The MCofS Mountain Writing Competition seeks out the best in mountain writing, whether fact or fiction, prose or poetry. Entries should have some connection with mountains and mountaineering, rock or ice climbing, walking or ski-mountaineering, and winners will receive a cash prize and the chance to see their entries in print in the Scottish Mountaineer, the quarterly MCofS magazine which goes out to its more than 12,000 members. The first placed winners in prose and poetry categories

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Posted in Uncategorized

Ben Nevis walkers warned of winter conditions this weekend

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland is urging caution to the thousands of hillwalkers planning to climb Ben Nevis this Bank Holiday weekend and in coming weeks. Winter conditions and snows in excess of two metres deep are making navigation in poor visibility particularly challenging above the 900 metre contour line on Scotland’s highest peak. Some of the navigation cairns, relied on by many walkers traversing the summit plateau, are completely buried under snow, heightening the risk of accidents on The Ben’s renowned cliffs. Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Adviser for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, said: “For most of Britain, spring

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Posted in News

Trust launches campaign to save North West Highlands Wild Land Area

The John Muir Trust has launched a campaign to save Wild Land Area 34 in Sutherland, which has been targeted by three separate energy companies for large scale onshore wind farms. Together, the three applications potentially threaten the Reay-Cassley Wild Land Area with a total of 65 turbines, each three times the height of the Skye Bridge, along with tens of miles of access roads and other infrastructure. The Trust fears that if these developments are given the go-ahead, the entire Wild Land Areas map, agreed by the Scottish Government in June 2014, could be undermined. Two of the applications

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Posted in Nature, News

Ordnance Survey set to ‘give away’ digital mapping

The Ordnance Survey is set to shake-up the mapping world by giving away digital map downloads and software with its paper maps. Over the next 12 months Ordnance Survey is to replace all 607 of its current paper map titles (OS Explorer, OS Landranger and OS Tour series) with a new design and an additional mobile download of the map that can be accessed for no extra cost. Starting from 10 June when the OS Explorer Outdoor Leisure (OL) paper maps begin hitting retailers’ shelves. The move to give away the Ordnance Survey’s own digital mapping solution with paper maps

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Posted in News

MCofS Navigation Courses near Inverness

The MCofS has places available on its navigation courses at Contin near Inverness over the weekend of 13 and 14 June. These one-day courses are available to MCofS members for £35 and non-members for £45 which includes a year’s membership and subscription to the Scottish Mountaineer magazine. The courses are designed for hillwalkers who want to brush up on navigation, increase confidence on the hill, and pick up handy hints and techniques to locate yourself on the hill in poor visibility. Each course starts with a gentle introduction to the theory followed by a practical session on the hill. Ratios

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Posted in News

Conservation, land and the Clearances

A series of recent newspaper articles have claimed conservation designations are a modern day Highland Clearances. Using the shameful past to divide people and place is no answer to Scotland’s present challenges, says David Lintern. We need to talk about an elephant in the room. It can be a difficult subject to broach, so please forgive the length of what follows. The Highland Clearances won’t need an introduction for everyone. From about 1743 to 1881, at least 170,000 smallholders were forcibly evicted from their homes by landowners. It’s likely to have been many thousands more. The beginning of the Clearances

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Posted in Features, Magazine, Nature

Trees for Life backs beaver reintroduction

The potential reintroduction of beavers to Scotland after almost 500 years is a historic opportunity that could bring major environmental and economic benefits to Scotland – including by generating millions of pounds through eco-tourism, conservation charity Trees for Life said today. The charity is so confident of the benefits of beavers, both to the eco-system and economy, that it has been establishing areas of aspen, a favourite of the beaver, in preparation for spread of the mammal to areas of the Highlands. This week or next, Scottish Natural Heritage is due to report to the Scottish Government on the Scottish

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Posted in Nature

Roadworks will hamper access to Sgurr an Utha

Hill walkers heading for the Glenfinnan area are being warned by the MCofS about access difficulties due to a bridge replacement scheme on the A830 to Mallaig, affecting the normal route up the Corbett Sgurr an Utha. Work is due to begin to replace Utha Bridge, about 2 ½ km west of Glenfinnan village, this month and is likely to take about nine months until well into 2016. The project will involve closing the existing carriageway and diverting traffic over a temporary bridge while demolition and construction takes place – a traffic light system will be put in place. Unfortunately

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Posted in Access issues, News

Walkers asked to submit shots from Cairngorms photo posts

A photography project with a difference was launched during the weekend at the Cairngorms Nature Festival and walkers are being asked to help. Cairngorms Scenic Photo Posts have popped up all over the Cairngorms National Park and anyone with a camera, tablet or smartphone can get involved in this new project to look at how our landscape changes over time. The wooden posts are at 14 stunning locations across the Cairngorms National Park and set up so that the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CPNA) can monitor woodland regeneration, land use change, settlement change, the pattern of snow lie, the processes

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Posted in Nature, News

Breadalbane Explorer Bus running again this summer

The Ring of Breadalbane Explorer mini bus service has started running for the 2015 summer season. It will operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays until Sunday 18th October and is a useful service for walkers and cyclists wanting to do linear routes or those without their own transport. The “hop-on hop-off” service connects Crieff, Comrie, St Fillans, Lochearnhead, Killin, Kenmore, Acharn and Aberfeldy on a circular route, providing easy access to the area’s top tourist attractions including the Birks Cinema, Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre, Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery, the Scottish Crannog Centre and Highland Safaris. Running both clockwise and anti-clockwise four-times daily

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Posted in Access issues, News


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You should always carry a backup means of navigation and not rely on a single phone, app or map. Walking can be dangerous and is done entirely at your own risk. Information is provided free of charge; it is every walker's responsibility to check it and to navigate safely.