Our month: Mountaineering Scotland in May 2023

At the beginning of May, CEO Stuart Younie and President Brian Shackleton travelled to Dundonnell to meet with  campaign partners and It’s Up to Us supporters/ambassadors to shoot the campaign video on location around An Teallach. 

May was also the month for the Finance Advisory Group and the Board meetings, which happen on consecutive weeks. Mountaineering Scotland (like many other organisations) is facing financial challenges this year, relating to the pressure on operational costs due to the current financial climate. This means that there will be some difficult decisions to make, to try and deliver a break-even budget this year. 

The board had a very full agenda and, as well as the budget, the May meeting had a focus on access and the environment, with Davie Black in attendance to provide an overview of some of the projects he has been working on. This included the review of Respecting Scotland’s Mountains, a new position statement on the proposals for the installation of phone masts in wild land areas as part of the Shared Rural Network initiative, and an update on some of our higher profile access issues.

In between the FAG and Board, Stuart did manage to take a couple of days off to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary, and he and his wife Lindsay enjoyed a walk up Schiehallion to mark the occasion. This also gave Stuart the opportunity to see the excellent work done by the John Muir Trust to improve the path up the mountain.

Later in the month, Stuart attended a face to face meeting of the CEO Forum, which brings together the senior staff across the sports bodies in Scotland. There was little in the way of good news for the sports sector, with cuts to local authority and leisure trusts starting to bite, and its expected that a number of sports facilities across the country are going to be at risk of closure as reported in the media recently. However, there was some positive discussion about the potential to tap into the commercial sector to attract sponsorship and it was an opportunity to hear first-hand from Forbes Dunlop the new CEO of sportscotland. 

The month finished off on a high with the official launch of It's Up to Us -  our new partnership campaign with OATS to save Scotland's mountain paths - taking place at the Blackwatch Castle & Museum in Perth. The event, which was attended by members of the mountain-using community, also saw the premiere of the campaign video, as well as talks from four of our campaign ambassadors - Cameron McNeish, Keri Wallace, Sean Green and Ross Cunningham. We very much hope that our membership will get behind the campaign, and help us by stepping up to #savemountainpaths. You can find out more and donate by visiting: www.savemountainpaths.scot

The Mountain Safety Team delivered a range of courses in May, with the first six Going the Extra Mile courses taking place in fine weather and a great time had by all at the Mountain Skills weekend in Glen Clova. 

Mid-month, Ross, Ben and Kirsty were out in the Glen Coe hills together for the inaugural Understanding Steep Ground course. The weather was fantastic and just before the midge season allowing great learning by all the participants. Thanks to all the members who joined the course and for the great feedback - the team hope to deliver a similar course later in the year. 

Later in the month, the team then spent a day at Harvey Map Headquarters chatting about what makes the Harvey maps so good for hillwalkers and climbers. It was fantastic to learn about the how technology has changed the way photogrammetrists plot the raw information before the cartographers make it look pretty and usable!  Thanks to the Harvey team for showing us around, answering all our questions and making us feel so welcome.

There have been a few activities around climbing, with enquiries around ledge-nesting birds, new route development, cleaning up tat left behind, fence damage due to no gate being provided to cross it, and issues arising from quarry planning permissions and tree felling notices and fencing.

We received notification that Scottish Ministers had approved the construction of the Achany Extension windfarm, near Loch Shin, which Mountaineering Scotland objected to in 2021 because of the visual impact of a straggling turbine layout. This was a slightly amended proposal that had been rejected in 2015 due to visual impact on the Wild Land Area and nearby National Scenic Area. The significance of this is that the granting of permission in May last year for the Sallachy windfarm by the Highland Council, situated within the  Reay-Cassley Wild Land Area, paved the way to downgrade the integrity of the Wild land Area, removing any grounds for objection. Government policy now gives scant appreciation of the wild qualities of the landscape. 

A coalition of concern is coalescing around UK Government plans to site hundreds of 4G telecoms masts in remote areas of highland Scotland. Digital connectivity for rural residents and businesses is needed, as well as reinforcing the Emergency Services Network, however this Shared Rural Network (SRN) project gives rise to some of the following concerns:

• 95% geographical coverage of the UK means that masts are being proposed in wild and remote areas where there will be little to no benefit for rural communities.
• Extensive new access tracks are being proposed to site masts in wild and remote areas, which will significantly impact the landscape.
• Lack of detail in planning applications regarding construction and restoration methods and how masts will be maintained and powered. We are concerned about the capacity of the planning authorities to deal effectively with hundreds of new, poorly detailed planning applications.
• The time pressure to deliver the target of 95% coverage by 2025 has resulted in a lack of meaningful community consultation, with masts proposed that are not needed nor wanted by local communities.

Mountaineering Scotland, as part of the coalition of concerned parties, will be releasing a joint statement on the SRN project in the next few days. 

ClimbScotland’s Jamie Smith attended the Race & Racism in Scottish Sport Conference, held at the Emirates Arena. The conference aimed to address the challenges diverse communities face when watching sports and supporting them.

Also in May, Scotland Squad academy was held at Perth College Climbing Centre. The ClimbScotland Team delivered climbing coaching sessions for Scotland Development and Talent Squad athletes. An informal mock competition was held on the 20-21 May that mimicked the format of the upcoming Scottish Youth Climbing Championship.