The Met Office is running a survey asking walkers how they use weather forecasts as part of a review of the Public Weather Service. The aim of the consultation is to better understand and prioritise the needs of people who spend time in the hills and mountains of Scotland. There will be similar consultation in Wales, Northern Ireland and England. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland is cooperating with the research and the survey can be found at their website. Anyone filling in the survey can enter a raffle to win a VIP tour of the Met Office’s headquarters in Exeter…

Researchers from Aberdeen University are at the stage of testing a new stick-on patch which could help Mountain Rescue Teams monitor the health of casualties during rescues. The new patch would be placed on the casualty and would monitor vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate. This information could then be transmitted by the patch to hospital doctors. At the moment rescue teams monitor the health of each casualty, but during long or difficult evacuations this can mean stopping the stretcher and opening up covers and clothing to check the heart rate for example. The University of Aberdeen…

Northern Constabulary police report that they were called about a fall on Slioch at 6pm on Sunday 3 August. The Torridon Mountain Rescue Team and helicopters from Stornoway coastguard and RAF Lossiemouth were also called to the scene. A 42 year old male climber had apparently fallen 40 metres on Slioch near Kinlochewe in Wester Ross. The man was airlifted to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An evaluation study of the Southern Upland Way, the 212 mile coast to coast route in the southern Scotland has called for the name to be changed to attract more walkers. The £136,000 initiative, run since 2006, to boost numbers on the Southern Upland Way (SUV), was evaluated by Dr Donald Macleod, lecturer in tourism at Glasgow University. Dr Macleod’s report states that in 2007, 87,503 walkers were counted on the route. Based on the estimated spend of these visitors, more than £2.7million was generated for the south of Scotland economy. Walker numbers are set to increase by 6% in…

After a series of rescues in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs areas, Central Scotland Police urged hill walkers to make sure they are properly equipped and can navigate. Central Scotland Police said rescuers’ lives were being put at risk because walkers were often unprepared and ill-equipped for the terrain they faced. Some of the recent incidents had resulted from people being unable to navigate once bad weather with poor visibility set in. One of the rescues involved walkers lost on Conic Hill, a small peak on the West Highland Way with a clear path and surrounded by farmland, lochside and…