Our Month: Mountaineering Scotland in July 2026

It was a short month for our CEO Stuart Younie as he took a couple of weeks off to spend some downtime on holiday with his family. At the start of July, he met with Mike Robinson the CEO of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) to discuss planning of a joint event due to take place in early December celebrating mountaineering past, present and future.  Due to take place at the Concert Hall in Perth and with some fantastic speakers already confirmed its going to be an exciting evening so watch this space, more details to follow. 

Stuart also responded to a very kind invitation from the Collinet family who own the Glenure estate near Appin to attend an event they hosted on the 24^th July as a thank you to everyone who was involved in the campaign against the Shared Rural Network masts. The family have owned the estate for 47 years and one of the masts had been proposed in a prominent location in Glen Ure near a nesting location for Golden Eagles and would have been visible from the two Munros Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Beinn Sgulaird. It was great to meet the family who clearly care deeply about the estate and have a strong connection to Scotland and also provide a rare opportunity for Stuart and his wife Lindsay to get up a hill together the following day.  

There has been a significant rock fall Wolfcrag, a popular crag at Bridge of Allan, near Stirling. This has left a very unstable block at the top of the rock face, that could come down at any moment. The area has been cordoned off and we advise everyone to keep clear for the time being. Catriona has been in touch with the Access Officer at Stirling Council, who own the land. She has confirmed that, at the request of their Engineering Team, the site will remain cordoned off for safety reasons until their Senior Engineer has assessed the site and made a longer term plan. Catriona has asked that we’re kept updated and that the climbing community as well as the local community is included in their consideration and in any community consultation that takes place.

This month we opened applications for volunteers to join our Skye Path Maintenance week in Glen Brittle in September. Following the success of last years’ event, when a team of volunteers from Mountaineering Scotland, British Mountaineering Council and Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland worked together over three days to clear 122 cross drains, improve 4kms of mountain paths and plant 200 native trees, we’re returning to the glen in September to see what more we can do. Find out more here.

Catriona continues to represent hillwalkers and climbers heading to Buachaille Etive Mòr on the Altnafeadh Parking Working Group. This group is working together to find a solution to the increasingly dangerous parking situation by the A82 at Altnafeadh, close to Lagangarbh. At our meeting on 8^th July, we were joined by the landscape architects we have commissioned to consider the feasibility and likely costs of the various options that have been proposed, who presented the first draft of their report. It’s great to be making a small step towards a sustainable, long term solution for this issue.

July has been a month of staff holidays and getting plans for events later in the year off the ground. Work has also begun on the next issue of Scottish Mountaineer, due out at the end of October.

Membership & Club Development Officer Christina has been busy working with CEO Stuart on applications for funding through the sportscotland Club Support Programme and Growth and Innovation Fund, both of which are part of the package of additional funding provided for sport by the Scottish Government earlier in the year.

With the outbreak of the wildfire near Glenmore in the Cairngorms, Mountaineering Scotland have been involved with the response communications group to keep hill walkers and climbers up to date with the situation, which is still ongoing at time of writing. Our heartfelt thanks go to all those involved in the firefighting response and the many people that have provided food, shelter and other support to those involved, it has been a truly devastating event and will have long lasting effects on the local community, wildlife and the mountains that we all love. We will continue our support throughout the recovery effort.

And finally, congratulations to Megan who managed to pull both Argentina and Spain in our office World Cup sweepstake and was guaranteed victory in the final!

July has been a slightly quieter month for the ClimbScotland team, with many of us enjoying some well-earned annual leave and making the most of the summer. Even so, there’s still been plenty happening across the country!

Robert has been on the road delivering our RealRock sessions at a fantastic range of venues, including Neilston, Kingussie, Auchinstarry and Benny Beg. Alongside this, he’s continued supporting our friends at Urban Uprising and Common Wheel, delivering outdoor climbing sessions with their groups and helping more people experience climbing in Scotland's great outdoors.

Fresh from route setting at the IFSC Lead World Cup in Innsbruck, Euan brought some world-class inspiration back to Scotland, setting a series of challenging 8b–8c routes at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. These have been keeping the Scottish Squad, GB Climbing athletes and Scotland's strongest climbers thoroughly tested!

Behind the scenes, Jack and Jonny have been hard at work planning for an exciting second half of the year, working closely with coaches and host walls to prepare for upcoming squad activities. Heather has balanced a well-deserved holiday with a busy schedule, overseeing the ClimbScotland Fun Boulder Competition qualifiers, confirming host venues for YCS, and launching bookings for the 2026 Scottish Regional Rounds.

Jamie returned refreshed after some time off at the beginning of the month and has jumped straight back into development work alongside Jack and Lesley on the Performance Pathway Project. July also gave us the chance to bring the whole team together at our Perth office for a team meeting. With everyone spread across Scotland and often working in different locations, it's always a real highlight to get together, catch up, share ideas and plan for the months ahead.