Dave joined the Board of what was then the Mountaineering Council of Scotland in 2012, a few years after retiring from a career in public health statistics and intelligence. With an MA(hons) and PhD in Geography, and at that time about 40 years of experience of walking a wide range of Scottish (and other) hills, his interest was naturally inclined to the landscape impact of developments, especially wind farms and gravel roads. When his time on the Board was up in 2016, he continued as a volunteer, leading on Mountaineering Scotland's practical work on wind farms in conjunction with the Access and Conservation Officer.

From 2013 to date, he has taken forward 42 objections to wind farms regarded as inappropriately located: 32 to schemes determined nationally (out of 189 submitted in that time by developers, all of which were 'screened' for mountaineering interest) and 10 to schemes determined locally. He has also represented Mountaineering Scotland in person at 11 Public Local Inquiries into national schemes or appeals against refusal of local schemes. Of the 36 schemes where a decision has been made, 19 were refused or withdrawn and 17 (47%) consented, compared with a consent rate for all applications of c.75%. Over time consent rates have gone up as planning policy has been adjusted to be more and more favourable to wind farms. Most recently he has been involved in shaping Mountaineering Scotland's strategic and tactical response to the most recent planning policy which is almost wholly biased towards consent for onshore wind farms.

He completed a Full House in 2023 and has completed or is working on numerous other hill lists, including being three quarters of the way through a second (retirement) round of Munros. He has been a member of the Ochils Mountaineering Club for over 25 years and was its Treasurer for 14 years.