Save the Monadh Liath Mountains & Cairngorms Wild Land Map

Two very different stories about wild land and the preservation of the Scottish Highlands have emerged recently.

The first is the formation of a campaign for the preservation of the Monadh Liath mountain range. So far this takes the form of a petition created by Save the Monadh Liath Mountains. This was instigated by the Allt Duine Wind Farm proposal, which, if it goes ahead will mean 31 giant turbines high on the southern edge of the Monadh Liath just across Strathspey from the Cairngorms National Park. The Monadh Liath is now threatened by an increasing number of wind farms (see Alan Sloman's excellent blog) and it looks as though the wild beauty and remoteness of this area, once the largest roadless region in the Highlands, will be lost forever. Saving what’s left is still worthwhile though so please sign the petition, which you can do here.

The second story is the production of planning guidelines on wildness by the Cairngorms National Park, using fascinating maps produced by Steve Carver of the Wildness Research Institute. These maps divide the Cairngorms into wild land zones, with the mountain core having a high wild land value. This is an excellent resource and it’s good to see the National Park recognising the value and importance of wild land. Yet at the same time just outside the park wind farms are planned that will be highly visible from many areas in the park and will substantially detract from the “naturalness, ruggedness, remoteness and the lack of modern human artefacts” that the park identifies as attributes of wildness.

That the Monadh Liath is not in a national park does not mean it’s unworthy of protection. But the fact that the destruction of its wildness will impact on a national park is another reason why the wind farms should not go ahead. There needs to be some connected thinking here. The Scottish government has two opposing objectives. Through the national park it wants to preserve and enhance wildness and prevent developments that could damage it. Through its energy policy it wants wind farms built that will destroy wild land. It can’t have both.

The picture was taken on a stormy day in the Monadh Liath.

A Munro No More?

To be a Munro is simple. You have to be a Scottish hill 3,000 feet or higher. Easy it would seem. And for many hills it is. 3050 feet. Munro, 2950 feet. Sorry. Not a Munro. But what about those hills that might be 2999 or 3001 feet? Just how accurate is the measurement? The Munro Society has been finding out over the last few years with a series of surveys using modern accurate equipment and techniques. Two years ago they booted out Sgurr nan Ceannaichean above Glen Carron, discovering it was a full metre below the magic line (see my post, Munro Changes). And in keeping with metric maps the new measurements are metric, which means that line is 914.4 metres, a wonderful measurement that beautifully illustrates the craziness of the Munro game – which I love. I mean, who would compile a list of hills over 914.4 metres?. Today, the Munro Society announced its latest findings, having measured three hills in the wonderful and remote Fisherfield Forest back in July. The three hills were two Munros – 918 metre Ruadh Stac Mor and 916 metre Beinn a’Chlaidheimh – and one Corbett (hill between 2500 and 3000 feet) - 910 metre Beinn Dearg Mor. The first and last preserved their current status but Beinn a’Chlaidheimh came in at 913.96m, a full 0.44 metres too low. So logically Beinn a’Chlaidheimh is a Munro no more and joins the Corbetts. But not yet as there is another twist in the story. The guardian of Munro’s Tables, the official list, is the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), for whom Sir Hugh Munro originally compiled them and the SMC has said that it “has been notified of these survey results and has undertaken to consider the implications for Munro’s and Corbett’s tables when the Ordnance Survey update its map of the area.” So Beinn a’Chlaidheimh is in the curious position of still being a Munro whilst not meeting the qualifications. A Munro, indeed, that is not 3,000 feet high. And it is now up to the OS to make the final decision. If its next map keeps the current 916 metre height then Beinn a’Claidheimh remains a Munro, if it accepts the Munro Society height then it isn’t. If Beinn a’Chleidheimh is demoted it will mean the famous (or infamous) Fisherfield Six Munros, one of the toughest Munro days out, will become the Fisherfield Five (and my Scotland book will be wrong – damn!).

So what is the poor Munro bagger to do? As always, climb them all. They’re all fine hills and all worth the effort. And anyone who makes it up to Fisherfield, which is a long way from anywhere, and has good weather would be wasting their journey if they missed any hills, regardless of height. But if time or sunshine is short and choices have to be made then I’d go for Beinn Dearg Mor first, a superb rocky hill in a fantastic situation overlooking Loch na Sealga and with a superb view of An Teallach. It may “only” be 906.28 metres (a new lower height from the Munro Society survey) but you’ll not notice the lack of 8.12 metres.

The picture shows A’Mhaighdean (left) and Ruadh Stac Mor – whose height according to the new survey is just 0.02 metres higher than previously thought.

Gore-tex Active Shell Review - Haglofs Endo Jacket

Active Shell is claimed to be the most breathable Gore-tex fabric yet. It's also very lightweight. I've been trying Haglof's Active Shell Endo Jacket - and there's been plenty of rain for testing this summer! My review has now been published on the TGO website here.

Alan Blackshaw Remembered

Yesterday I was saddened to hear of the death of mountaineer and conservationist Alan Blackshaw. I was privileged to know Alan, first meeting him when he chaired the Cairngorms Partnership Recreation Forum on which I sat as the representative of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland over a decade ago. Since then I have met Alan at various meetings and corresponded with him on access and conservation matters, growing to admire his fierce intellect and determination. He was deeply involved in mountaineering organisations and served on many committees, contributing greatly to the position of mountaineering in Britain today. In particular he was an expert on access and played a major part in the debates that led to Scotland’s fine access legislation. Details of his career and other information can be found in the obituaries already published by Cameron McNeish and To Hatch A Crow. There will be many more.

Thinking of Alan I remembered his seminal book “Mountaineering From Hill Walking to Alpine Climbing”, first published in 1965, and dug out my old battered and well-thumbed copy, purchased in 1974. “Blackshaw’s Mountaineering”, as it was always known, was the mountaineering handbook of the time, a comprehensive volume by one of the then leading mountaineers. Flipping through it now takes me back to another time – a time of canvas rucksacks, wooden-shafted ice axes, cagoules, moleskin breeches and woolly balaclavas. The basic ethos of the book is still valid of course. The following quote from the book was true for Alan and, I hope, for many of us who have followed him:

“Mountaineering may come to mean something more than a sport; you may find in it a philosophy of living. If you do, and I hope you may, then you and the mountains will be inseparable through life”.

Adventure Travel Piece in Scotland on Sunday

Yesterday afternoon I was asked to write a piece for Scotland on Sunday about the value of adventure travel in the light of the tragic polar bear attack on Svalbard (in an area where I once led a ski tour - the only trip on which I've carried a rifle). The piece is in today's paper and can be found on the Scotland on Sunday here.

Sunshine, Clouds & Midges

Compared with the Western Highlands and islands like Skye the Cairngorms have a reputation for less fearsome midges. Now I’ve always felt this was exaggerated. Yesterday I found it to be completely untrue as I was engulfed in clouds of ravenous beasties within seconds of stopping to take water from a burn. I’d set out earlier for an ascent of Bynack More, the easternmost of the 1,000 metre summits of the Northern Cairngorms.


I left late as the forecast suggested the low damp mist of morning would clear to give a fine afternoon and evening. And so it proved. The long walk-in from Glenmore round the eastern edge of the hills was in some of the hottest weather of the summer so far with a blazing sun and a sharp blue sky. Yet to the north and east it was hazy and towering clouds suggestive of thunder heads drifted by.



Sweating heavily in the still air I climbed the final rocky north ridge to the jumble of boulders at the summit. A westerly breeze cooled me down as it dried the sweat on my t-shirt. South and west the mountains shone in the sun. Turning the other direction and the sky was grey and the hills indistinct. A giant cauliflower cloud was building just east of the top. This not being the place to be caught in a thunderstorm I didn’t linger but was soon cutting across the stony slopes to the lower top of Bynack Beg, whose north-east ridge I took down into Strath Nethy, a rough descent on sketchy gravel paths and through deep heather.



I was under cloud cover now and the air was hot, humid and heavy. It was during this descent that, having emptied my water bottles, I stopped for a refill and the midges found me. Using my sun hat as a whisk to repel the hordes I was very quickly on my way. Down in the glen I forded the shallow River Nethy and crossed the ridge above before descending into the lovely natural forest above the Ryvoan Pass path. This is an interesting and unfrequented route, with only traces of paths and much rough terrain that slows progress. On this occasion I rarely stopped to look around, let along take photographs, as the second I did the midges poured over me. Indeed, on the ascent out of Strath Nethy I could barely move fast enough to stay head of them. It was with relief that I reached my car and was just left with the problem of how to get in it without bringing in too many midges.

Pictures: from the top - the summit of Bynack More; clouds building up over the shoulder of Meall a'Bhuachaille above Ryvoan Pass; Bynack More and Bynack Beg; Strath Nethy with Bynack More top left.

Big Shakeout Weekend

For those down south in England there's an interesting sounding weekend in the Peak District on 14-16 October organised by Alpkit and Thornbridge Outdoors. There are activities and courses - including caving, climbing, conservation, bushcraft, photography and first aid - plus music, films and lectures. Last year's event had good reviews and it looks a great opportunity to try out different activities and meet others with similar interests. More info on the Alpkit website.