Our Month: Mountaineering Scotland in August 2025

As we near the end of the 2025 bird nesting season, don’t forget that whilst many young birds will have left their nests by now, some species remain dependent on their parents and therefore vulnerable to disturbance for longer. On the coast, Fulmars are among the latest seabirds to leave, with chicks finally fledging in late August and early September, whilst in the mountains, Golden Eagle chicks can remain on or near their nest, with their parents bringing them food, until mid-September. As a responsible climber, you should be aware that it is a criminal offence to interfere with the nest of any wild bird, or obstruct a bird from using it, whether you mean to or not, so check before you go and have an alternative route or venue in mind in case you find nesting birds at your intended destination. We’ll be refreshing and extending our guidance for the 2026 season so keep an eye out for that in the Spring. You can find our nesting bird updates on our website.

This month we responded to two new energy proposals. We submitted an objection to a proposed wind farm in the Ochils, on the grounds of visual impact, and commented on a proposed pump storage hydro scheme near Loch Ness. We also reviewed and commented on an interesting plan to re-establish native woodland through natural regeneration, without deer fences, on the Jahama Highland Estate, which includes the north face of Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor, the Grey Corries and the Mamores. You can read all our responses here.

The Mountain Safety team have been busy delivering navigation courses in both Braemar and the Ochils, with the final mountain skills weekend being held in Glencoe. This leaves only the Arrochar navigation course in October as the last chance for some new or polishing of skills before we move into autumn night nav courses. Mountain Safety Advisors, Kirsty and Max have certainly been enjoying the dry calm conditions on the mountain for these courses, and we hope you have too.

Director of Mountain Safety, Brendan Hughes and Senior Mountain Safety Advisor, Ross Cadie attended the Club Call which had a focus on safety. From this, Ross and Brendan have been working on new updated advice which will include a package of example documents for clubs to use, including risk assessments and late back procedures. It is hoped that this will be available on our website in the next few weeks.

The Mountain Safety Group (MSG) met online for the second (of three) of their meetings. This is a great opportunity for all organisations with an interest in mountain safety to come together to share ideas, successes and challenges from the spring and summer so far. A particular focus was on how the changing climate brings a change in some of the mountain hazards people are facing, with an increase in callouts for mountain rescue linked to hotter, drier weather, as well as an increase in wild fires.  The MSG next meet, in person, 3^rd November in preparation of what we hope will be a great winter season.

Speaking of winter, Kirsty, Max and Ross have been busy in front of the laptops too, getting all the dates and paperwork sorted for the winter courses. Hopefully you can find a course and date that interests you on our website. We do have a few extra courses lined up that are not yet available – final details just need confirming. These are Microspikes v’s Crampons; Winter Skills for Ski tourers; and Avalanche companion rescue.

August began with the quarterly clubs zoom meeting, an opportunity for clubs to connect and discuss relevant topics. This month’s call focussed on safety within clubs and the support available from Mountaineering Scotland through training and guidance. Notes from the meeting have been circulated to club secretaries and further guidance and documentation will be available soon.

Recruitment for the new post of Membership & Club Development Officer continued, with a large number of application submitted in advance of the deadline on 4 August. Interviews took place on 12 August and a preferred candidate chosen from a very strong pool of applicants. More details coming soon!

The team have been working on a final draft of the 2024-25 Annual report which was signed off by the board when they met on 14 August and is now available on the Mountaineering Scotland website, along with the financial statements for 2024-25.

Looking ahead to winter, we hosted colleagues from our Mountain Safety Group partners Glenmore Lodge, Scottish Mountain Rescue, Police Scotland, Mountain Training Scotland and Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland to develop ideas for this year’s ThinkWINTER mountain safety campaign, now in it’s 8^th season, in preparation for the launch later in the year.

ClimbScotland hosted the Fun Boulder Competition Final at Block 10 in Dundee on 9th August. Young climbers from across Scotland were invited to take part following qualification rounds, which ran between 14th June and 19th July across seven indoor bouldering venues. A huge thank you to our Competition Officer, Heather, for leading on the planning and organisation of the competition—including the qualifiers. We’re also very grateful to everyone who attended, the volunteers, the route setters, and to Block 10 for hosting us.

On 13th August, we held the first Climbing Advisory Group (CAG) meeting, chaired by our ClimbScotland Director, Hugo Allan. The CAG exists to provide strategic advice to the Mountaineering Scotland staff and board on how climbing in all its forms is developing across the country, and how we can best support and grow the community. It was fantastic to see so many people join the call, bringing not only a shared passion for climbing but also a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be invaluable as the group moves forward.

This month, Robert has been busy delivering RealRock alongside our brilliant providers: Kirsty Pallas (Mountain RealRock), Jim Miller (Trad Taster), and Andy Thorely (Roped Taster). He also ran the final competition belaying workshop at EICA on 20th August with three enthusiastic volunteers keen to build their lead belaying skills. Looking ahead, we’re excited to launch an advanced belaying workshop in the new year—so keep an eye out!

Meanwhile, Jack has been focused on developing the 2026 selection policies and finalising this year’s squad programme. The Squad Summer Meet was held at EICA on 17th August, where squad members enjoyed testing themselves on a set of excellent new routes from Jess and Robin.

We’re now looking ahead to September, which promises to be another busy month with RealRock wrapping up and the Youth Climbing Series kicking off!