Harvey Maps have just launched a map to the epic hillwalking challenge that is the Charlie Ramsay Round. Covering 24 Munros it is often tackled as a 24 hour challenge. Harvey Maps say, “In June 1964 Philip Tranter, son of the author Nigel Tranter, was the first to cover all of these mountains in a single trip, taking in the Mamores, the Grey Corries, the Aonachs, Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. Could Tranter’s round be extended to 24 Munros within 24 hours? At 12 noon on Saturday 8th July 1978, Charlie Ramsay left Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, travelling anticlockwise,…

The dates have been released for a series of free Winter Skills talks organised by Cotswold Outdoor and featuring Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Officer for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and mountain guide Mick Tighe. The “Skills for the Hills” talks will be held in Cotswold stores at 7:30pm (apart from the Peebles event which will be in the Eastgate Theatre) on the following dates: Aberdeen: 25th November Edinburgh: 27th November Glasgow: 28th November Peebles – EastGate Theatre: 29th November Fort William: 30th November Glasgow: 5th December The events are free but as places are limited you are asked to…

Footpath closures at Glen Nevis will be affecting a number of routes on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 November. This is to allow stones to be airlifted onto the path leading to Steall Falls as part of a major footpath repair being undertaken by the John Muir Trust. Walking routes affected include Steall Falls and the Nevis Gorge and the Mamores mountain route known as The Ring of Steall. Forestry Commission Scotland is warning walkers on the Great Glen Way that there is currently a a 1km diversion in place between Alt na Criche and Rudha Ban which is likely…

The discovery of cases of ash dieback disease in Scotland has promoted calls for walkers to take action not to spread the disease if they are visiting woods. Carol Evans, director of the Woodland Trust Scotland said: “It’s worrying that more confirmed and suspected cases of Chalara ash dieback have been identified in Scotland, although given the scale of the search that has been carried out we had expected to see some. “Hopefully we’ll continue to see prompt action where infected trees have been found to try and ensure that the disease doesn’t spread further from these locations. “It’s important…

With more snow forecast for this weekend we asked Heather Morning, Mountain Safey Officer for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) to impart some of her wisdowm on venturing out in winter conditions. Heather, who as well as working for the MCofS, is a keen climber and walker and member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, said: “Some folk would say there is no such thing as ‘winter hill walking’; only ‘winter mountaineering’. I think this is a good basis to start from; the hills in winter definitely hold challenges both technically and physically that just don’t exist in summer…