Steve House’s book, Beyond the Mountain, has been awarded this year’s Boardman Tasker Prize at the Kendal Mountain Festival. The £3,000 prize commemorates the lives of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker and is given to the author of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. On 17 May 1982 Pete and Joe were last seen on Mount Everest attempting to traverse The Pinnacles on the unclimbed North East Ridge at around 8250 metres. Their deaths marked the end of a remarkable era in British mountaineering and the two men left a long-lasting legacy of quality…

The Prime Minister and Communities Secretary John Denham has announced that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from 2010, as part of a Government drive to open up data to improve transparency. Speaking at a seminar on Smarter Government in Downing Street today, attended by internet inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Gordon Brown set out how the Government and Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will open up its data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mid scale mapping information. The proposals, which are being consulted upon, will…

The first beaver lodge to be constructed in the wild for over 400 years has now been built in Scotland, it has been revealed by the Scottish Beaver Trial, following the release of three beaver families which were released into Knapdale Forest, Mid-Argyll, in May. Project Manager Simon Jones, who discovered the lodge, said: “We are thrilled to see that one of our beaver families has now constructed their own lodge., marking the first-ever formal reintroduction of a native mammal in the UK. This is a fantastic sign that these beavers have settled into the area. They are following their…

A team of green-fingered volunteers from Moray-based conservation charity Trees for Life braved the elements to plant over 1,500 native trees on the Dundreggan Estate, Glen Moriston on Sunday November 1st, 2009. The sponsored tree planting event marked the beginning of Trees for Life’s programme of forest restoration on Dundreggan, which lies to the west of Loch Ness. Alan Watson Featherstone, Executive Director of Trees for Life, said: “I’d like to thank everyone who turned out for this special event despite the very wet weather. The team were fantastic, smiling and even singing in the rain as they worked. “It…

With the clocks having gone back this past weekend we will soon have winter upon us. Hillwalkers and climbers will be looking out their ice axe, crampons and headtorches, but it takes much more than just these to be ready for winter. To help hill walkers and climbers prepare for winter the MCofS (Mountaineering Council of Scotland) is providing a free Winter Safety programme. The programme includes free Winter Safety Lectures and a range of webpages with comprehensive guidance on mountain safety in winter. In addition to this specific winter programme, the MCofS also funds the Mountain Weather Information Service,…