Sunday 31st December 2023, 9:00am
As the year draws to a close, take a look back at just a few of the highlights of 2023, and the work the Mountaineering Scotland team carried out on behalf of our members.
The year got off to a busy start, with members of the team attending a parliamentary reception hosted by Ramblers Scotland on the 18th of January to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
Later in the month, a meeting was held to start planning the new It’s Up to Us campaign, working in partnership with the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland (OATS) and supported by the Scottish Mountaineering Trust Diamond Grant.
Elsewhere, the Mountain Safety team were busy delivering courses, including the Student Winter Skills Weekend at Glenmore Lodge, with around 60 students from various University Mountaineering Clubs coming together to learn and develop winter skills and decision-making strategies.
January also saw the launch of our new #SmartNav guidance and infographic, following result of a survey carried out in 2022, with 87% of people saying they used an electronic device for navigating at some point on their walk.
Meanwhile, the ClimbScotland team kicked off the FUN Climbing Competition (CSFC) on the 21st of the month, and also started the process for recruiting a number of talent coaches to help Scotland work towards becoming one of the leading climbing nations.
In February, members of the team travelled to north for the Fort William Mountain Festival. With an interactive stand in the Exhibition Zone, and the chance to meet both current and potential members face-to-face for the first time since before the pandemic, the weekend was a huge success.
Access and Conservation Officer Davie Black attended the National Access Forum working group on Upland Deer Management and Access, representing Mountaineering Scotland and the interests of walkers and climbers. In planning news, the initial proposal for a pumped storage hydro dam at Lochan na h-Earba on the Ardverikie Estate prompted concern amongst climbers and hillwalkers, with a consultation following later in the year.
The Mountain Safety also had a busy February delivering courses, with the first-ever Winter Skills for Women course taking place in Glencoe - led by Mountaineering Scotland Mountain Safety Advisor Kirsty Pallas and climber Libby Peter - selling out in record time.
After interviews took place at the end of January, ClimbScotland also welcomed four new fantastic Talent Coaches - Hannah Smith, Michael Bleazard, Mike Mullins and Pete Langlands - to assist with the delivery and development of the Talen Squad Programme. ClimbScotland also worked with Able 2 Adventure to deliver Inclusive Climbing Workshops at Perth College Climbing Centre.
In March, CEO Stuart Younie travelled to Glenshee with Access and Conservation Officer Davie Black and Alistair Todd, Director for Snowsports Touring, to meet with representatives from Glenshee Ski Centre to discuss concerns relating to access for ski tourers.
March also saw the release of our new calendar of courses on the Mountaineering Scotland website, including the introduction of a new Understanding Steeper Ground course.
The Mountain Safety team delivered courses for the Scottish Dry Tooling Club and the Braes of Fife Mountaineering Club, with Mountain Safety Advisor Kirsty Pallas also gaining her Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (WMCI) qualification in March.
Later in the month, the ClimbScotland Fun Comp Finals took place at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena, with 71 young climbers in attendance. A total of 207 climbers took part in the qualifying rounds across Scotland, at 12 host walls.
A UK Government initiative – the Shared Rural Network (SRN) – also came to light, raising significant landscape concerns about intrusion of 25m tall 4G telecoms masts into remote areas, and would go on to become a key focus area for Access and Conservation Officer, Davie Black, throughout the year.
CEO Stuart Younie, Access & Conservation Officer, Davie Black, and President Brian Shackleton travelled to meet with the Braulen estate staff to discuss winter access for Strathfarrar, in the first face to face meeting since the pandemic. It was a positive and constructive meeting, which led to a new special arrangement for members coming into place later in the year.
The Mountain Safety Team were busy delivering courses in April, including first of the new Navigation Courses which took place Arrochar, led by Senior Mountain Safety Advisor, Ross Cadie, and Mountain Safety Advisor, Kirsty Pallas, followed by courses in the Moffat Hills at the end of the month with Mountain Safety Advisor Ben Gibson.
April was a packed month for the ClimbScotland team, with RealRock sessions taking place alongside the final of the Scottish National Bouldering League (SNBL) at Eden Rock in Edinburgh. April also saw the ScotRock Podcast turn three, with 35 episodes of climbing stories and mountain tales, and almost 15,000k downloads.
The team were also busy planning the launch event for the It’s Up to Us campaign, which would take place the following month (see more below).
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. The video premiered at the official launch event, which took place at the Blackwatch Castle & Museum in Perth at the end of May. The event was attended by members of the mountain-using community, as well as four of our campaign ambassadors - Cameron McNeish, Keri Wallace, Sean Green and Ross Cunningham.
Alongside delivering Going the Extra Mile courses, the Mountain Safety Team managed to squeeze in a visit to Harvey Maps Headquarters in Doune, to find out what makes their maps so good for hillwalkers and climbers.
A coalition of concern was created in response to the UK Government’s Shared Rural Network plans to site hundreds of 4G telecoms masts in remote areas of highland Scotland, with Mountaineering Scotland joining others including the John Muir Trust to release a joint statement.
Also in May, ClimbScotland's Scotland Squad academy was held at Perth College Climbing Centre. An informal mock competition was held on the 20-21 May that mimicked the format of the upcoming Scottish Youth Climbing Championship.
After the successful launch of It’s Up to Us at the end of May, we were delighted to announce the main corporate sponsor of the campaign as Cotswold Outdoor in June, as well as fundraising reaching the first major milestone of £10,000.
We also new digital membership cards for individual members, helping us to reduce our use of paper products and make cost savings, meaning that more of your membership subscription will go into supporting the work we do on behalf of all our members.
Meanwhile, Senior Mountain Safety Advisor Ross Cadie joined Mhor Outdoor for one of their first How 2 The Hills walks, helping introduce a group from the LGBTQI+ community to the joys of walking in the Scottish hills. June also saw Mountain Safety Advisor Ben Gibson meet up with SARDA Scotland to film a video on how to keep our four-legged friends safe in the hills.
The 2023 Scottish Youth Climbing Championships also took place at Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA) on Saturday 3rd June. This was a great day of competition climbing including, top rope, lead and speed climbing.
Finally, the Mountaineering Scotland team said goodbye to Denise Logan after 16 years, and hello to new Office Administrator, Fiona Kerr.
July was another incredibly busy month for Mountaineering Scotland Access & Conservation Officer, Davie Black. Following on from the joint statement released in June expressing concerns about the UK Government’s rural digital connectivity initiative, the meetings we requested took place, providing an opportunity to express the main points from the Statement of Concern, and discuss possible solutions. There were also six large windfarm proposals in July, including one on the slopes of Little Wyvis, below Ben Wyvis, and another on the moorland directly south of Cruachan.
Senior Mountain Safety Advisor, Ross Cadie, joined Mhor Outdoor on one of their How 2 the Hills walks with the Maryhill Integration Network Group from Glasgow. Ross and Mountain Safety Advisor, Kirsty Pallas, also spent time with the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club (LSCC) supporting four of its members with the skills and confidence to climb multi-pitch mountain routes.
The It’s Up to Us campaign to #SaveMountainPaths reached almost £40,000, with new sponsors coming onboard and several generous donations from clubs and other supporters.
ClimbScotland's newest competition kicked off in July. The ClimbScotland Fun Boulder Competition (CSFBC) is Scotland's entry-level bouldering competition, the CSFBC focus is on young climbers who are just starting out in competitions.
CEO Stuart Younie worked with Senior Mountain Safety Advisor, Ross Cadie, and Angus Lowden from St John Scotland, to hold interviews to find a replacement for Ali Rose, with Malcolm Airey taking up the position.
ClimbScotland’s first-ever Fun Boulder Competition (CSFBC) was held between 24- 27th August, taking place at 10 host walls across Scotland, from Kilmarnock to Orkney. ClimbScotland Development Manager, Jamie Smith and ClimbScotland Talent and Pathways Officer, Jack Davis were also busy with the consultation and work on the 2024 Development and National Squad Selection Policies, while ClimbScotland Sport Development Officer, Kevin Howett, was been busy with Fundamental Coaching workshops and preparation for the Youth Climbing Series and Scottish National Bouldering League.
In the office, a delivery of #TakItHame bags arrived with a brand-new look for 2023! Designed to be kept in your rucksack, these bags are ideal for taking your own litter home, and any other rubbish you find in the hills, so you can help keep the mountains litter free.
Later in the month, Mountaineering Scotland staff took part in a social media training day to learn about how we can make use our social media channels and content to engage with our members.
September started with the first face-to-face meeting of the Mountain Safety Group since the pandemic, hosted at Mountaineering Scotland’s office in Perth. This was the last meeting chaired by Nigel Clark, our Director for Mountain Safety. before he stepped down at the AGM in November, handing over to his successor Brendan Hughes.
The Mountain Safety team delivered the last of the Skills
Weekends in September, with Senior Mountain Safety Advisor Ross Cadie and Mountain
Safety Advisor Kirsty Pallas running the course in Glencoe for the first
time, while Mountain Safety Advisor Ben Gibson worked on the first
instalment of our Summer Mountain Leader training course, run
by Richard Bentley of Mountain Motion.
ClimbScotland Regional Development Officers, Robert
MacKenzie and Calum McBain, delivered Mountain Training Climbing Wall Instructor training for
the first time at the Climbing Academy Glasgow and Glasgow Climbing
Centre. The training was delivered to staff and volunteers from Urban Uprising and Common Wheel, as well
as some staff from the two host venues.
Meanwhile, fundraising for It’s Up to Us continued, with
just over £50,000 raised through public giving, including generous donations
from some of our clubs and corporate/trust donors.
In October, Mountain Safety Advisors Ben Gibson and Kirsty Pallas delivered a navigation course for the RMT Union, along with navigation courses based out of Arrochar Mountain Rescue base and the final three days of the Summer Mountain Leader course. The month also saw the start of 2023’s Night Navigation courses.
Mountaineering Scotland continued to support Mhor Outdoors, who work with groups to access an outdoor lifestyle for a healthy, more equal society.
ClimbScotland celebrated Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week 2023 at the start of the month, highlighting that there were 212 women and girls competing across competitions this year, and 21 girls join our RealRock programme.
The Scottish National Bouldering League (SNBL) kicked off at the end of October, while Talent and Pathways Officer Jack Davis lead on the organisation of Round 3 of the Youth Climbing Series at The Ledge in Inverness.
It was also a busy month for surveys, with our 2023 member survey and consultations on the Earba Pumped Hydro Scheme proposal on Ardverikie estate and a plan to clean up the Old Man Of Hoy gaining a fair amount of media attention and receiving over 1000 responses in total.
The 2023 AGM and Members Gathering was held on the 11th of November at the Birnam Arts near Dunkeld. Highlights included the adoption of the revised Equality Diversity and Inclusion policy and the appointment of Mountaineering Scotland’s first female president, Anne Butler. We also welcomed new Director for Mountain Safety Brendan Hughes and Hugo Allan for ClimbScotland, with Nigel Clark and Lucy Fraser stepping down, along with President Brian Shackleton.
The agreement for winter vehicle access to Glen Strathfarrar for members of Mountaineering Scotland also resumed on 1st November, with a new process in place for those wishing to visit the glen.
One of the biggest events of the student mountaineering club calendar – The SMART Weekend took place in November at Glenmore Lodge, with over 60 students from affiliated university clubs.
November also saw the launch of the Mountain Incident Survey, which is looking for people to share their experiences and stories of being rescued in the mountains.
The Communications Team had a busy November, getting ready for the launch of the #ThinkWINTER campaign, attending the Dundee Mountain Film Festival and finally, releasing the long-awaited 100th issue of Scottish Mountaineer!
Now in its sixth year, the annual #ThinkWINTER campaign launched at the start of December. A joint project from Scotland’s top mountain safety organisations, including Mountaineering Scotland, Scottish Mountain Rescue, Mountain Training, Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre Glenmore Lodge, Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, Snowsport Scotland, Police Scotland and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service. A new #ThinkWINTER landing page has been added this year which signposts users to each of Scotland’s mountain safety organisations and their top #ThinkWINTER resources.
December also saw the announcement of a new Climbing Development Group (CDG) for 2024, with the aim to have the new group focus on supporting Scotland’s climbing community by providing a national forum for discussion and debate which will support and influence the work of Mountaineering Scotland and our partner organisations. For those who’d like to get involved, we’ll be looking for volunteers to help us set up and be part of the Climbing Development Group in January.
We also published the results of the Earba consultation in December. We asked for your opinion on the proposed pumped storage hydro scheme south of Loch Laggan. Over 300 of you responded when asked if you were in favour or not of this large dam proposal going ahead, with an almost equally split in opinion: 43% in favour, 44% against it, and 13% undecided.
Finally, as the year comes to an end, we want to say a huge thank you to you, our Mountaineering Scotland members. We couldn't do this without your support, and we look forward to carrying out more work on your behalf in 2024!
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Mountaineering Scotland is a registered trademark of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland Limited
