Thursday 29th October 2026, 11:33am
At the end of each month, we take a look back at the work the team has been carrying out on behalf of our members. Read on to hear the latest updates from Access & Conservation Officer Catriona Davies, Senior Mountain Safety Advisor Ross Cadie, ClimbScotland Development Manager Jamie Smith, and Member Services & Communications Manager, Helen Gestwicki.
Our CEO Stuart started October with interviews for a new Communications and Digital Content Officer following the departure of Megan Murray who has made a fantastic contribution to the organisation over the last couple of years. Stuart also supported our Chair Jo Dytch and President Anne Butler in the appointment of three new Directors to the board and the preferred candidates have now been proposed for election at the AGM on Saturday 14 November.
On 5 Oct Stuart also joined colleagues from across Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport and the Local Authority / Leisure Trust sector who have participated in the inclusive leadership programme funded by sportscotland. This was a valuable opportunity to discuss the importance of communication to help engage underrepresented communities.
After a weeks' holiday and some time off with his family during the school October break, Stuart returned to pick up a conversation with Ramblers Scotland and organisations from the Scottish Outdoor Recreation Alliance to discuss the next steps in the campaign to establish a Scottish Paths Fund and ensure the SNP government fulfils the commitment made in their election manifesto. Stuart finished of the month preparing for the Finance and Risk Advisory Group meeting on 26 Oct and the Mountaineering Scotland Board meeting due to take place on 5 November.
Catriona kicked off the month in Glen Brittle on Skye with a team of volunteers from Mountaineering Scotland, Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) and the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) doing some vital path maintenance. Over three days, we cleared over 140 drains on the paths leading up to Coire na Banachdich and Coire Laggan. A huge thank you to all the volunteers for their hard work and refusal to give up until the job was done!
Once back at her desk she submitted our objection to Forsinain Wind Farm, a proposal for 12 turbines of up to 219m blade tip height just north of Forsinard in Sutherland. Although the hills in this area are relatively modest, it is a unique landscape and the visual impact of the turbines on the hillwalking experience would be significant. You can view of full response here.
Catriona also represented Mountaineering Scotland at the National Access Forum (NAF) this month. The discussion included the Scottish Government’s recently announced plan to bring together four public environment bodies - SEPA, NatureScot, Zero Waste Scotland and Scottish Forestry - into a single environment body and the implications this might have for outdoor access.
The team have been busy this month supporting student clubs with membership updates, and organising bookings for the upcoming SMART weekend, a dedicated weekend for student club members to learn the key skills they need in the hills.
Mid month, we hosted a ‘Becoming a Mountain Leader’ webinar in partnership with Mountain Training and Glenmore Lodge, and aimed at encouraging more women to move into leadership roles. A recording is now available on our YouTube channel.
In preparation for our AGM in November, papers were emailed to members and club committees along with voting information. The AGM takes place online on Sat 14 November, and you can register here.
Our staff and board Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group met again this month to agree an action plan for 2027 and align with the Moving to Inclusion Framework developed by sportscotland. More on that soon!
And we said a fond farewell to Megan (pictured right), our Communications Officer, at the end of the month as she moves on to her next adventure south of the border. We want to say a huge thank you to Megan for all the creativity, enthusiasm and hard work she’s brought to the role, and for helping us tell the stories of Scotland’s mountaineering community.
We’re really sorry to see her go, she has been such a valued member of the Mountaineering Scotland team and we wish her all the very best for the future.
And speaking of Scottish Mountaineer magazine, Megan has done a brilliant job of her last issue as editor, and it will be with members any day now…
October has been a busy month for the ClimbScotland team.
Heather has been flat out with comps with the regional Scottish rounds for the Youth Climbing Series having just concluded with rounds 2, 3 and 4 all happening this month. Round 2 was held at Ayrshire Climbing Centre in Kilmarnock on Saturday 3 October with just shy of 120 competitors battling it out on the routes across the different age categories. There was real buzz to the centre and great to hear everyone cheering each other on throughout the day on the fantastic, yet challenging routes that had been set by the setting team. Moving to rounds 3 & 4, these took place for the first time on the same weekend (24-25 Oct) at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. A busy weekend with 120 competitors in attendance each day competing on both boulders and routes. Massive thanks to all the venues who have supported the YCS rounds along with our Competition Coordinators, setters and volunteer judges and belayers.
Jack and Jonny have had a busy month of attending comps, and prepping for the 2027 development program. They’ve had a great national squad session at Boulder UK and Big depot with a guest sport psychologist and will be hosting the BMC's squads at Ratho for a joint camp with the u13 and u15 Scottish squad athletes on the last weekend of the month.
Over the last year ClimbScotland launched a new Advanced Belaying programme which has proved more successful than we could have hoped for, so thank you to all of you who have attended a course and helped us develop the workshops. Following the success of the workshops, we have been working with the British Mountaineering Council, training some of their providers so they can start providing our Advanced Belaying workshops south of the border. In October, Robert MacKenzie, our Climbing Development Officer, travelled south to The Big Depot and delivered a training course for some BMC providers. Robert delivered a workshop to a local Manchester club, The Climbing Clan, as he was observed by BMC providers Esther Foster, Danielle Griffith, Stephen Skinner, Adam Desforges & Jay Jackson, BMC Senior Staff Cressida Allwood & Jon Garside, Mountain Training England’s Mark Walker and Technical Advisor Rob Pugh. We are proud and excited to be supporting the BMC in getting this workshop rolled out across the UK, and look forward to seeing the programme grow.
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Mountaineering Scotland is a registered trademark of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland Limited
