Mike at MCofS

The snow & ice are back

2011-12-12T03:31:00.000-08:00

Well, winter is here now & like most mountaineers I can't wait for the cold & sunny days to come. The clear air & long-distance views are what I love about winter in the hills. No heat haze to wipe out the distant views, just mountains as far as the eye can see.

Whilst we might be able to see further on a good day in winter, we can't see much at all when the weather clags in, & the length of daylight is significantly shorter during the winter months so the time window to take in the views is squeezed in at both ends. The rewards on a good day are fantastic, but as the MCofS Chief Officer, David Gibson, said in a MCofS news release last week: "
the margin for error is much less than at other times of the year due to the weather, conditions underfoot and limited daylight hours".

The MCofS in the last couple of weeks has announced its Winter Skills & Avalanche Awareness courses as well as the upcoming series of Winter Safety Lectures. Visit our Press Releases page & click on the two most recent entries (2nd & 9th December). I hope that lots of people will sign up for these courses & come along to the lectures. Heather Morning is working hard to get the winter safety message across and her work will hopefully lead to a further reduction in the number of incidents & casualties on the Scottish mountains.

I didn't have time to get out for a proper day on the hill yesterday, but I did go out with Perth Road Runners for their festive run to Loch Ordie above Dunkeld. Long stretches of the Land Rover tracks were covered in ice, so I tried out my new set of Yaktrax Pro ice grips on my running shoes. Wow, to say I was amazed would be a bit of an understatement. I was able to run on the sheet ice as if it were a pavement, & that was on the downhill stretches as well. In fact the sheet ice was easier to run on than the chossy snow in the middle of the track or the variable vegetation at the side of the track. My running on the sheet ice certainly drew the attention of passing walkers who probably thought I was just wearing a pair of running shoes!

Although he's not a runner, I've bought a pair of Yaktrax Pros for my Dad's Christmas present this year. Don't tell him, but I saved a couple of pounds by getting a MCofS discount on them. If you're still looking for presents then don't forget to use your MCofS membership card to claim some tasty discounts. Take a look at the Discounts area of our website before you head to the shops this week. http://www.mcofs.org.uk/discounts.asp

If you are stuck for a gift for a mountaineer in your life then don't forget the Gift of Membership offer that we have at the MCofS. This is a great way for you to buy a friend or relative a year's membership of the MCofS at a very reasonable price. Check out: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/gift-of-membership.asp.

Anyway, I hope you have a great Christmas & New Year, & that you get out to enjoy some time in the hills over the festive season. I also hope you will get along to a Winter Safety Lecture & use your membership card to get some discounts on your Christmas shopping.

All the best for 2012.

Summer into Autumn

2011-10-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

That was a great spell of weather we had last week, but talk about having to wait for some decent warm conditions. I must admit to giving up on our Scottish summer & heading off abroad for a week amongst some warm mountains. We had an amazing week in Slovenia & made it to the top of Triglav. Great mountain & some fantastic views. Our base was the village of Ribcev Laz at the eastern end of Lake Bohinj. It's a great area & anyone into their mountains should aim to go there at some point.

Getting back home in mid-September I started to make autumn plans for a few Corbetts, but a break in the weather provided the opportunity to get out midweek & grab a bit of late summer warmth. It's a long story but I ended up cycling the Formartine & Buchan Way from Dyce to Peterhead. Not that well known mountain route, but a great way to spend my birthday when I was in the north east anyway. A lot of good work is going into developing & promoting Scotland's Great Trails so it was good to check one of them out.

Now that we really are heading into autumn it is back to plans for Corbetts & I can feel a trip to Ardgour coming on. Meanwhile at work our thoughts are also turning to autumn & winter. The MCofS's winter safety initiatives are almost ready to go. We're at the Mountain Safety Day in Stirling tomorrow, then our autumn & winter courses are filling up quickly & we'll soon announce the dates & venues for the Winter Lecture Series. Keep an eye on our website & e-newsletters for this information as it becomes available.

On my own Membership Development side of the MCofS's work, today has been an exciting day as we launched a new membership initiative called The Gift of Membership. You can now buy someone special to you a year's membership of the MCofS. Whether it be for Xmas, birthday, anniversary or Valentine's Day, this is a superb gift that provides the recipient with the many benefits of MCofS membership, & you get to choose a free gift for that special person, so there is something tangible for them to get on the day.

Finally, a big CONGRATS to the G-Force who completed his first round of the Munros last weekend. Chased on by Wispa the Wonder Whippet, this was one driven man determined to get his name onto the Munros list. Read all about it on his partner's website.

Borderline Hills

2011-08-12T02:49:00.000-07:00

The Munro that has been on a bit of a diet has certainly made the headlines this week and the main talking point has been the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) announcement that it is taking some time out to decide how to react to The Munro Society survey that has measured Beinn a' Chlaidheimh at 44 centimetres short of the magic height. Will it or won't it be demoted to a Corbett? I don't want to add to that debate, but there are a couple of other issues that have sprung to my mind and which I will discuss here.

A number of the interviews this week have concentrated on what difference this will make to Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, as if it were a stand alone Munro for which hill walkers have to walk in for many hours just to reach one Munro. Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is still at the northern end of a ridge system with 4 peaks and still on the classic circuit of the Fisherfield mountains that many walkers tackle from Shenavall bothy. A hill walker going by the name of G-Force makes that point today on the Fiona Outdoors blog. G-Force says: "In any case, it wouldn't save much of a walk skirting round this mountain because you need to walk up on the ridge to reach the peaks of all of the Fisherfields. I'm not disappointed at all." I'm with G-Force on this one; to my mind the Fisherfield 6 will always be the Fisherfield 6, even if it becomes 5 Munros and 1 Corbett. It is still a fantastic mountain journey and we should celebrate living in a country that has such stunning mountains. Whatever their height.

The other point I want to raise was triggered by something Dave Hewitt wrote in the Caledonian Mercury. Dave's argument is that "resurveys generally reduce heights rather than adding to them" and suggests there is a trend in this downward direction. It is understandable for The Munro Society to be looking at the bottom end of the Munro's Tables and top end of the Corbett's Tables, but who is going to investigate the bottom end of the Corbett's Tables and top end of the Graham's Tables, or any other set of tables for that matter? Beinn na H-Uamha is regarded as the lowest Corbett, just scraping in at a marginal 762 metres (2,500 feet). Ben Loyal and Meall an Fhudair are also pretty close to the borderline with their current heights of 764 metres. Is the status of some of these hills in doubt now? I think they are. Dave has quite rightly identified a trend towards resurveys suggesting a lower height, but if a high Graham were to buck that trend then there could be a case for promoting a big Graham into a wee Corbett.

No doubt at some point someone will get round to resurveying some of the borderline hills in the other Tables. In the meantime there is plenty for hill walkers to chat about and no matter what happens, a good hill will always be a good hill. Ben Loyal will always be right up there amongst my favourites (see my last blog posting) even if it were to be relegated into the third tier of Scottish hill tables.

The Far North At Its Absolute Best

2011-07-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

I was asked recently to imagine that I had an overseas visitor staying with me and I had one day to take that visitor up one Scottish mountain of my choice. Which mountain would it be? It led to an interesting discussion, albeit with no firm conclusion. Possible candidates ranged from Sgurr Alasdair, Liathach, An Teallach, Beinn Eighe, Ben Nevis, Suilven and several others that I can't recall just now.

Roll forward a couple of weeks and we're up in Caithness for a few days. The weather in the far north was better than the rest of Scotland for most of that week and the Tuesday and Wednesday in particular were absolutely stunning. We decided to nip over the border into Sutherland for those two days and visit a hill that has been high on my list for many a year. Ben Loyal.

Wow, did we pick the right day! This was the north of Scotland at its absolute cracking best. Warm, but with no hint of heat haze. North Rona, which is 84 miles away, was visible with the naked eye & binoculars made it even more impressive to look at. We also found an interesting descent route off the west side of the hill just to add a bit more pleasure to an already top quality day.

A much sought after Corbett visited on one of the best days of the year. Possibly the best day of the year. And when that hypothetical overseas visitor comes to stay I might just take him/her up to Ben Loyal to show them the delights of a perfectly formed and beautiful Scottish mountain.

Cape Wrath Challenge

2011-06-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

I have written a guest blog about my week at the Cape Wrath Challenge running week for Fiona Russell's "Fiona Outdoors" website. To have a read, go along to: http://networkedblogs.com/jwqbK

First Tick of the Year - March 20th

2011-03-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

So much for the theory that says the hard winter will have hit Scotland's tick population. I found my first tick of the year on my right leg last night. I suspect I picked it up yesterday afternoon in my own garden, probably within 15 metres of the house, although it could have been on Saturday when I ran the Newtonmore 10 mile road race (in shorts) or when we went up Meall na h-Aisre in the afternoon (in gaiters). Most likely the garden I would say, in which case I picked up my first tick of 2011 on March 20th. My first tick of 2010 was on April 29th, so quite worrying that they're out so early this year compared to last.

Yesterday was mild though. Despite the breeze making it feel a bit cooler, our weather station recorded a high of 12.9C yesterday afternoon. That warm temperature was no doubt responsible for bringing the tick that attached itself to my leg out of the undergrowth.

I mention this in my blog, because ticks are probably not registering on most people's radars at this early stage in the year. Having previously suffered from Lyme Disease myself (2006) I'm keen to do my bit to communicate the message about taking precautions to avoid picking up ticks on your body and thereby reducing your chances of developing Lyme Disease.

To find out more about ticks & Lyme Disease I would recommend visiting the MCofS YouTube site to watch our 7 minute video on the subject.

It's March - Turn the lights on please

2011-03-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the way in which our debate on daylight saving (putting the clocks backwards & forwards) is portrayed as being so black & white. From listening to the radio & reading the papers this last couple of weeks you could be fooled into thinking we have a straight choice between the status quo, permanent British Summertime & joining the European time zone. OK, that's three options, black, white or grey then. However, there are other options, or colours in the spectrum.

First of all though, there is the simple reality of having the same amount of light on a given day, whichever system we use. All the articles I have heard or read seem to miss out on that simple fact of physics. So, here is my my thinking on this one. December & January are in mid-winter & the days are very short. No system is going to give us more light to play with, but we can make it safer to get to & from school & work. Given the amount of light we have to work with in deepest winter I would say we are currently right to be on Greenwich Mean Time during this period of very short daylight hours.

However, we are now in March & there is lots of light around. It's just that a lot of it is around before we leave home on a morning & it would be good to have some of that light on an evening. From a hillgoers point of view we could have longer evenings in March to enjoy our walk off the hill. Or even just to potter around the garden or go for an evening run.

So, here's my contribution to this debate. Have the combination of British Summer Time & Greenwich Meantime that we currently have, but alter the dates when we fall back & spring forward. I would turn the clocks back a bit later than we do now, say around the first Saturday in November. Then at the other end of the winter, turn them forward a lot earlier than we do now, say around the third Saturday in February.

Of all the months in the year when the current system doesn't work well it has to be March. Surely we could tweak the current system so we get to use the light available to us in this month when winter starts to give way to spring.

If you agree with my views, or if you have views of your own, then do let your MP & MSPs know. Its important that this issue isn't allowed to drop off the agenda.

Happy New Year

2011-01-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to anyone tuning in and reading this. I hope you had a good festive period, found some outdoor gear in your stockings and managed to get outside for some fresh air.

I had an interesting weekend just after new year. On Saturday we needed to wear crampons just to walk out of our driveway, then on Sunday we climbed the Glen Falloch Corbett Meall an Fhudair and our ice axes and crampons stayed in our packs for the whole day. It was surprising how little snow and ice there was in that part of the Western Highlands.

Nevertheless, we were pleased we carried that winter gear with us. Better to have it and not need it than to leave it at home and wish you had it with you when conditions turn out tougher than you expected. I'm sure the MCofS Winter Lectures will be full of useful tips like that.

I hope to be at one, if not both of the Perth talks, so if you're around I may see you there. Don't forget, our Winter Safety Lectures this season are in Glencoe, Aviemore, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Inverness. Check out http://www.mcofs.org.uk/winterlectureseries.asp for full details of the Winter Lecture Series.

Sharpen up those navigation skills

2010-11-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago I took part in the Grampian Mountain Challenge - a 2-day Mountain Marathon / orienteering event on the Invercauld estate. Along with my partner we made some good navigation decisions, quite a few bad ones and a couple of real howlers.

Two thoughts I had at the end of weekend were that by doing the event it had sharpened up our navigation skills and if we were to run it again shortly afterwards we would be so much more on our toes as a result of the experience.

I've done lots of navigation training in the past and tested myself out on the hills hundreds of times. I've also done several mountain marathons, but with navigation you are only as good as your last day out. You have to keep working at it and you can never know enough.

Good navigation is at the heart of mountain safety, so it was good to spend a couple of days at the start of the winter season practicing our map reading skills, but we need to get out again soon to maintain that sharpness. After all, that is one of the key aspects of good navigation - sharpness.

With the onset of winter upon us its also that time of year when the MCofS's winter safety courses are filling up fast and the programme of Winter Safety Lectures is ready to roll. An awareness of the importance of good navigation is a major part of the message we'll be putting across this winter, so why not make a point of attending one of our courses or coming along to one or more of the winter safety lectures.

And now that I've got you thinking about navigation, why not try some competitive navigating by having a go at an orienteering event or a mountain challenge / marathon. Or perhaps just go out into a featureless bit of terrain sometime and set your own challenges. I remember once being set the challenge of finding the dot on an i on a 1:50,000 OS map. Now, there's one you can try next weekend!

Have fun and maybe see you at one of the winter lectures.

Staycation

2010-10-08T02:17:00.000-07:00

I just had one of those Staycation holidays. Two and a half weeks of running to and from the weather in Scotland. At times it seemed like there wasn't a single square mile of Scotland that wasn't covered in cloud and rain. And as for the wind!

At times however, there was superb weather in one corner of the country when everywhere else was being blown to pieces and soaked just for good measure. We had three great days in the Galloway hills including a long day on Merrick and Shalloch on Minnoch. Despite a constant cold wind and some haze we could just pick out the Mountains of Mourne across the Irish Sea so a great reward for studying the weather forecasts and choosing the right direction to travel.

After returning home for the open canoe we headed over to Argyll and spent a superb day exploring the Crinan Canal. It was a joy to see so many people out in boats of all kind, as well as a considerable number walking, running and cycling along the towpaths. The canal is a real gem and a terrific place to go when you have a day away from the mountains. We launched at Crinan, paddled to Ardrishaig, turned round and paddled back again. It's definitely worth a look sometime.

As the weather improved towards the end of our fortnight we made our way up to Glencoe, Fort William, Skye and Kintail. After chasing the one bit of sunshine in the whole country we suddenly had the whole of the west coast to choose from. Spoilt for choice!

Highlights included a great day on Garbh Bheinn on Skye and then a canoe/walk day on Beinn Loinne. Beinn Loinne is the Corbett on the south side of Loch Cluanie. We avoided the long-ish walk or mountain bike ride in by paddling across Loch Cluanie and then made a pretty steep ascent of a spur on the north side. The reward was an absolutely fantastic view from the top. One of those moments that the Scottish mountains are all about. Sheer magic!

Over the course of the holiday we had managed to take in 8 Corbetts, so not a bad tally given the mixed weather we'd had.

Just before the holiday I spent the weekend at the start of September at Glenmore Lodge for the MCofS AGM. As well as running sessions for members and attending the AGM, I also worked with a film maker - Simon Fildes - working on a video to promote MCofS membership. Now that I'm back at work I'm liaising with Simon on the final few tweaks to the video and hopefully within the next week or two the final version should be embedded on the MCofS home page. Have a look at it and encourage others to have a look as well. I hope you think we have done a good job with it. I would certainly welcome your feedback.

Winter on my mind - Even in May

2010-06-04T04:51:00.000-07:00

I always like to go for it in May. Longer days, the start of the better weather (er, sometimes) and two holiday weekends. It's usually a good month for getting up a few hills and this year was certainly good for collecting a few new Corbetts. By the end of the month I'd increased my tally by 4.

For the early May bank holiday we took the Sunday evening train from Rannoch Station to Corrour, camped wild to the west of the railway line then went for an early morning walk around the ridges of Leum Uilleim before taking the lunchtime train back to Rannoch.

In the middle of the month we spent a week in Durness for the Cape Wrath Challenge running festival. 5 races in 6 days provides for an energetic week anyway, but I also managed to get out twice in the sea kayak and got up a couple more Corbetts. We had a very pleasurable walk up Glas Bheinn (east of Quinag) in superb clear conditions, then a more hazy trip up Canisp with dark clouds threatening to burst at any moment. Thankfully they didn't.

Finally, on the last day of May, we headed for Glen Muick to enjoy the warm sunshine and climb Conachcraig. Having secured the Corbett we headed over to Lochnagar - our first Munro of the year. For the first time in the month we were sharing our mountain with a few other walkers. Lochnagar wasn't particularly busy, but after the solitude of the Corbetts, we were more conscious than normal of there being other walkers around us. That is in no way a complaint. Far from it. It was great to see so many people out there enjoying such a fantastic day.

Whilst everyone was well protected from the cold wind on the plateau, it was nice to be out in a short sleeve top on the way up and down the mountain. That's one of the things I like about May. The sense of arrival at the start of the summer season.

The contrast of the hills I climbed in May with the ones from two or three months ago in deepest winter could not be more pronounced. We had an amazing winter, but its over now and the summer season is with us. As much as I'm enjoying being out there in short sleeves again, the real winter that we've just come through has left its mark in that I'm still thinking about it even when the sun is warm and striking a high arc in the sky.

The winter season we've just come through saw a number of fatalities that will show up in the next set of annual figures. Every mountain accident that ends in a fatality is of course very sad, which is why the MCofS is working hard with everyone else involved in mountain safety to provide information and other resources that will lead to a downward trend in the number of fatalities.

Looking around the other walkers on Lochnagar on Monday I wondered how many of them had in some way picked up on the winter safety messages being communicated by the MCofS. The energetic work of Heather Morning (MCofS Mountain Safety Adviser) and Roger Wild (Scottish Student Mountain Safety Officer) is reaching out to hillgoers of all ages and instilling a greater sense of mountain safety awareness. In my view, their work is helping to raise the general level of mountaineering skills and mountain safety knowledge within the people who go to the Scottish hills. It's a fundamental principle of the MCofS's work that we aim to make mountaineers safer by providing educational opportunities rather than attempting to make the mountains safer by providing handrails.

With a view to improving our winter safety initiatives the MCofS officers and directors are working hard to carry the safety message to even more people next winter. Roger's valuable work with student clubs will pick up again later this year and Heather is looking at new venues for the Winter Lecture Series. As an MCofS member you are directly supporting this crucial work and by following our Safety news on the website and in Scottish Mountaineer you are more likely to get involved yourself, and if you get involved you are more likely to be influenced by our safety messages. Why not make a decision now to attend one of our lectures, or perhaps one of our courses during the coming winter season?

The sunshine of late May was perhaps a strange time to be thinking about winter, but for all of us who go to the hills, it is always worth thinking about the winter season and preparing ourselves to be better prepared for the hazards that come with cold weather and short days.

Keep an eye out for news of where next winter's safety lectures will be and click on the "Follow us on YouTube" button from our home page and check out our safety related film clips.

A Cycle Round the Norties

2010-04-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

The days are stretching out now and starting to get a bit warmer. Just looking out of the MCofS office window the tree in the yard has burst into leaf this week, so after the amazing winter we've just come through my thoughts are turning to summer trips and I guess you're doing the same.

We went over to Aberfoyle last Saturday with road bikes and cycled a 41 mile route that took us round Loch Katrine and down to Loch Lomond, before heading back to our starting point. A superb route with great views of the mountains in Scotland's first national park. The main reason for planning the route was to see Loch Katrine from the quiet road on its north side.

I've got to know Loch Katrine quite well over the past three years as I've now been on there twice in my sea kayak. Prior to 2007, however, I had never paddled on Loch Katrine. Why's that? Well, access to Loch Katrine was previously denied due to a longstanding byelaw, but thanks to the Land Reform (Scotland) Act that byelaw has now been repealed. For those that have never been there to walk, cycle or paddle it really is a beautiful loch and well worth a visit. From a paddlers perspective the views of the surrounding mountains from out on the water are spectacular and it really is worth picking a good clear day to go there.

There are two parts of that story that would have been very different just ten years ago. As we entered the new Millennium there were no statutory access rights in Scotland and no National Parks. Now, we have the Land Reform Act enshrining our access rights in law and two National Parks, the first one of course being Loch Lomond and The Trossachs. The MCofS worked with a wide range of partners, and engaged with the Scottish Parliament to secure these two significant improvements to the way we take access and look after our most scenic mountain areas.

The MCofS represents the interests of mountaineers and actively works with other bodies to improve the enjoyment of our activities and safeguard the places we visit to practice those activities. By doing that the MCofS helped make some very big changes over the last decade.

With the support of our members, we can do further great work over the next ten years. Whether it is in Access and Conservation, Safety and Training, or Sports Development the MCofS is working tirelessly to ensure the results of our work provide great benefits for you. We are also coming up with new ways to help our members save money with new participants joining our Members' Discount Scheme every week.

So do keep visiting our website to follow the latest news and to check on local events going on in your area.

Buzz

2010-03-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

I can't begin this blog by asking whether you've seen the recently upgraded MCofS website, because the very fact that you're reading this means you are on the MCofS website and therefore must have seen it.

So, now that you are on the MCofS site and found your way to my blog, what do you think to the changes we've made to the website? If you do want to answer that, I'm happy to receive feedback (+or-) via my e-mail address: mike@mcofs.org.uk.

I just want to touch on three parts of the site that you might want to take a look at. Firstly the Members' Discounts pages. MCofS membership is a combination of supporting our good work in areas such as Access & Conservation, Safety & Training, and development of the sport; with opportunities to claim discounts that save you money every single time you flash your membership card. You don't have to try too hard to save more than your membership fee in the course of a year. Take a look at the list of businesses participating in our Discount Scheme, and keep checking back as we are constantly adding to the list.

The Blogs page is also worth a regular visit as well. We're trying to develop this into a place where visitors to the site will come to find out what other walkers, climbers and hillgoers, of all standards, are up to via their blogs. So far we have links to about 70 blogs, but in time we hope to add lots more as we become aware of other relevant bloggers that would be of interest to our visitors. If you have suggestions for other blogs that you think should be on this page, please send me a quick message to mike@mcofs.org.uk.

The third area that is worth checking out is the Follow us on YouTube link. We have 5 videos on there at present and these clips, mainly from our Safety DVDs, have achieved over 52,000 visits, with in excess of 100 new visitors every day. In time we hope to post more videos on this page, so do keep looking in there.

Hopefully the new look to the website is playing its bit in creating a buzz around the MCofS. There really is lots happening at the moment and its a great time to be an MCofS member, so if you're not already a member take a look around the site and call in at the Join Us page.

Finally, and away from the website now, I did an interview with Dave Hewitt (editor of The Angry Corrie) a few days ago. Dave is writing for The Caledonian Mercury now and he wrote an article on my juggling of two part-time jobs at the MCofS and Scottish Canoe Association. Here's Dave's article if you want to see what he had to ask and what I had to say.

Until the next time; all the best and enjoy your sport. Mike