Winter Boots

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Phil Turner

While most other outdoor gear can be improvised, begged, borrowed or stolen until funds or inclination are favourable, your shoes need a bit more thought. Many people complete epic feats (feets?) in their favourite trainers all year round, but in this review I’m going to look at something a bit more suitable for the rigours of winter mountain walking. Assuming winter walking rather than mountaineering or climbing, a hillwalking boot needs to be stiff enough to cut through snow to form a stable platform, accept some form of crampon and have a tread pattern designed to shift snow. I find…

Posted in Footwear, Gear reviews

Winter Mountain Lecture series dates

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Helen Webster

With the first serious snow of the winter now hitting the Scottish hills, the dates have been announced for this year’s Mountain Safety Lectures. This year’s line up of speakers for the popular evenings include 7-summit mountaineer Di Gilbert, Mountain Rescue veteran David ‘Heavy’ Whalley, and MCoS Mountain Safety Officer Heather Morning among others. The evenings are free and will be running at each of the following locations with the first kicking off on 28 December. The Clachaig Inn, Glencoe (Tuesday evenings) The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore (Wednesday evenings) Various Tiso Stores (Wednesday/Thursday evenings) A spokesperson for the Mountaineering Council of…

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Into the Wild series on BBC Alba

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Helen Webster

BBC Alba’s outdoors series, Into the Wild, will feature Walkhighlands’ Gear Editor Phil Turner next week. The Gaelic language programme (shown with English subtitles) followed Phil as he researched walks on Arran for Walkhighlands and Pocket Mountains guidebooks. The series explores the benefits of getting back in touch with the natural landscape and the lure of these wild remote places. In addition to going wild camping and walking with Phil, the programme will also meet a young family who spend each summer on the isolated island of Mingulay; an aspiring wildlife photographer and travel writer in remote Knoydart; and two…

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New bothy for Eskdalemuir Forest

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Helen Webster

The Mountain Bothy Association (MBA) has opened a new bothy at Greensykes in Eskdalemuir Forest in Dumfries and Galloway. The building will provide shelter for walkers tackling the hills and through routes around Langholm and Eskdalemuir. An MBA spokesman said, “The building has been used as an open shelter for a number of years and its owner was keen that it should continue to be available for use by walkers and cyclists. Its adoption by the MBA will ensure that this continues to be the case. We are grateful to the owner for agreeing that the MBA should assume responsibility…

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Cheaper island ferry fares here to stay

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Helen Webster

A scheme to reduce the cost of Scottish ferry travel is to be extended, the Scottish government has announced. The road equivalent tariff (RET) has been operating on a pilot basis and is now to become permanent on services to the Western Isles and Coll and Tiree and will also be extended to Sounds of Barra and Harris routes. The RET scheme pegs ferry fares at the rate it would cost to travel the same distance by road. The Scottish Government also plans to extend the scheme to to cover the Colonsay, Islay and Gigha ferries from October 2012 and…

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New attempt to topple The Mannie on Ben Bhraggie

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Helen Webster

Police are appealing for information after a second attempt was made to topple the Duke of Sutherland’s statue near Golspie. The huge statue, known locally as The Mannie, stands on Ben Bhraggie and commemorates the duke who was responsible for some of the most notorious and cruel Highland Clearances in Sutherland. Police say that stone on the plinth has recently been damaged and removed in places and they are appealing for further information. A Police spokesperson said that tools had been used, implying that the vandalism was planned. An earlier attempt was made to dynamite the controversial statue in 1994.…

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Campaigners say Monadhliath windfarm will hurt tourism

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Helen Webster

Rural tourism is the lifeblood of the Highlands economy and there are significant concerns that the local tourism economy stands to be severely damaged by the Allt Duine wind farm if the go ahead for the site is granted, warns the “Save the Monadhliath Mountains” (SMM) campaign. The Allt Duine site is one of 11 wind farms being developed in-and-around the Cairngorms National Park. The SMM campaign believes there is a line in the sand and this is it, and that this windfarm is a step too far. A spokesman for the campaign said, “Landscapes and wildlife are one of…

Posted in Access issues, Nature

A82 closure planned for December weekend

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Helen Webster

The A82, south of Fort William, will be closed over the weekend of 9 – 12 December to remove a potentially hazardous rock mass. Walkers and climbers hoping to use this main route to Fort William and further north need to be aware that the road will be closed from 10pm on Friday 9 until 6am on Monday 12 December. The closure affects the road just south of Fort William, between the Corran ferry junction and Fort William. Forestry Commission Scotland has advised that there will be signage on all main routes into the area in the weeks leading up…

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Dundee Mountain Film Festival this weekend

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Helen Webster

This year’s Dundee Mountain Film Festival boasts a glittering array of varied films covering caving, climbing, kayaking, mountaineering, running and cycling. In addition there will be talks by round the world cyclist, Mark Beaumont, hillwalking writer Ian Mitchell, and Peter Habeler, who climbed Everest without oxygen with Reinhold Messner in 1978. Art work and photographs will be on display during the Festival as well as stalls, a raffle, and the chance to vote for the People’s Choice Film. The 29th Festival will run from the evening of Friday 25 and all day on Saturday 26 November at Bonar Hall in…

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Harris Mountain Festival becomes annual event

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Helen Webster

Following the success of the first Isle of Harris Mountain Festival, dates have been fixed for next year’s event and it looks set to become an annual fixture in the walking festival calendar. The new event ran across seven days from Saturday 24 September to Saturday 1 October. Ann-Marie Hewitt from the North Harris Trust reported: “The main crowds were drawn on Wednesday 28 September when Cameron McNeish gave an evening presentation titled ‘Mountains: Earth’s Enduring Monuments’. Cameron took his audience on a tour of the world’s famous mountain ranges, beginning and ending in the famous, Scottish, Nevis range. “On…

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