BIVVI TALK

‘Star Letter’
The winning letter published this month in Bivi Talk to receive a Victorinox “SwissChamp” Swiss Army knife (RRP £49.95) is B. England & M. Kidd.

Wild Boar Threat

Dear MCofS

With reference to Craig Roy's letter, we cannot tell you how relieved we are to discover that we are not the only walkers in Scotland to be cowering behind closed doors in fear of the packs of wild boars that are swarming across the Scottish countryside in search of human flesh.
Scottish mountaineering is indeed facing a crisis. Irresponsible farmers and landowners have already allowed feral herds of huge ginger buffalo to roam the land in murderous intent, forcing the rest of us to flee for our lives when ambushed by these bloodsuckers. To make matters worse, these beasts are not even offered as meet delicacies.

Unless the Mountaineering Council of Scotland takes a stand and campaigns for the right of all Scottish hillwalkers to bear arms, we fear the worst. Please, MCofS, do something so that we may tread the hills once more.

B.England and M.Kidd

Pay and Display Car parking

Dear MCofS

Your March article invited comments, and this concerns Schiehallion and the Forestry Commission car park at Braes of Foss on the border with John Muir Trust land and is the natural starting point for a walk up the hill. As Hon. Sec. of the local Schiehallion Group of the JMT until the end of March 2004, I became aware that FC was about to improve the toilet block, enlarge and resurface the car park and install a Pay and Display machine. The Group was not contacted by the main JMT for comment nor invited to meetings.

Naturally the FC has its own agenda. You would also expect JMT to have one too, in line with their proposed management plan (still in draft), but it appears that JMT agrees with FC. This would mean that in future if you park at the start of the newly made path up Schiehallion (courtesy of Heritage Lottery and Scottish Natural Heritage Funds), you will have a payment to make, albeit possibly 'voluntary'. The perception will be that you are paying for a walk up Schiehallion, but in reality you are paying for FC to make more permanent a facilities on their ground, just before you enter JMT land. This might be fine for many organisations, but the JMT ideal would be to extend the.

As a member of the JMT sub-group which wrote the 'Aims and Objectives' for the management of East Schiehallion, I think it would have been right for JMT and its Schiehallion Group to be at any meeting with FC to put the East Schiehallion Management theories before them, and to have a practical proposal to interpret that theory. Apparently JMT did not make any proposals of its own. On my own initiative, I got FC to understand the Schiehallion Group's position, and it still might not be too late, which is why I write.

If any JMT member, or anyone at all, has a view on this, they could make their voice known before it is too late or JMT’s Schiehallion may be treated as just another visitor facility. A letter to JMT direct might be useful.

Several of the original Schiehallion sub-group (6 persons) had their own ideas on this, and they didn't all agree. I have no problem with that, but the fact that JMT didn't consult their local group, when they make a big thing about consulting with local communities is not the JMT I had hoped for.

Unfortunately this was not the only lack of communication or consultation recently on the part of JMT, and in combination with other concerns this was one reason I did not stand at the AGM for continuation in office as Hon. Sec. Others also stood down.

JMT is the premier wild land organisation in Scotland (and UK). I wish to see JMT as ‘different’ and dare I say ‘pioneering’ in promoting its ideals, but at present it seems to be becoming just another provider of facilities, at least on Schiehallion.

The mountaineering fraternity in Scotland might like to consider these points, as many of them will also be members of JMT, but be unaware of what has happened on the ground here.

Yours sincerely
John Allen

North East Guidebook comments:

Dear MCofS

Having read the somewhat negative review of the new "North East Outcrops" book in Scottish Mountaineer, as a regular climber in the North East I felt it necessary to write-in to express a more positive opinion of this climbing guide. With the exception of a few minor errors, this version is vastly improved from previous versions of the guide. The book contains a number of new crags containing a variety of new exciting routes, better descriptions to get to the crags and also excellent new diagrams of quality crags such as Meikle Partans and Logiehead (a must for any climber visiting the North East).

The previous version of North East Outcrops has been out-of-print for more than eighteen months. Climbers new to the North-East were desperate to get hold of a copy, instead of having to rely on photocopied pages. This new guide has been warmly welcomed by both new climbers and experienced climbers alike with all local copies selling out like "hot cakes" in the first few weeks of print. Well done to the authors and editors for all the hard work put in. In my opinion, worth every penny.

Andy Lawson

Dear MCofS

I read with interest the review of the SMC’s North East Outcrops Guide and would like to add a few observations.

My personal preference for all guides in the recent series is for the smaller style of older guides, mainly due to rucksack pocket size. That aside, this guide has it all, with something to please everyone. To get all this into a single book has been a mammoth task, though sacrifices were made: there is no first ascent list, and no index. Instead we have a substantial history, where details of the more significant ascents can be found. This is biased toward the upper grades leaving little or no information of first ascents on cliffs with few extremes. You have to ask why the history wasn’t condensed in favour of a definitive first ascent list.

There are some minor problems, for example, the poor directions to Redhythe, and the editor being solely credited with writing the Rosehearty section, and as expected, there are local debates about grades and stars, but most of the grade anomalies in the old guide have been addressed. A lot of the old guide does re-appear unchanged, including one or two of the cock-ups, but on the whole it succeeds in its primary role, which is to get you to your chosen route.

The only real weak point is the photographs. A guide is a good way of giving a flavour to an area and provides a source of inspiration and even the editor admits the new ones are poor.

The selection committee tied their hands with too many restrictions, ruling out all horizontals and anything vaguely similar to pre-published shots. Combine this with a small dose of local misunderstanding and resentment, and it leaves (with three or four exceptions) a distinctly average and uninspiring set, made worse as most either feature or were taken by members of the slide selection committee. While the odd perk was to be expected, this gives the impression that no one else in the area possesses a camera and makes it look like a photo collection of ‘me and my pals’. If all the shots had been brilliant then this would not have been cause for complaint. Sadly, the only active locally based non-committee shot published is the excellent cover photo which does a good job of showing what the coastal climbing up here is all about.

Mike Reed

Munro Completer:

Dear MCofS

During October 2002, the Year of the Mountain, I ascended my final Munro, the brace that are known collectively as Beinn Alligin. I had taken thirty years, to the month, to complete the round. When I started I did not know they were Munros. The account of The Horns in Poucher's book on Scottish Mountains, read by me during the 70's, filled me with awe and I resolved to leave Alligin till last or never at all.

Anyway, in a blizzard during October 2002 I went over the Horns. At my final summit, I left an offering to whatever spirit had guided me through the years and the mountains, it was my Silva compass, some thirty years old. I assume some soul has since found it and if so I hope it guides you as well as it guided me.

Take care and good mountaineering. Oh,the magazine is splendid, keep up the good work.

Ian McNeish,
Stirling, norelation

Send your letters to:
Kevin Howett, Scottish Mountaineer, The MCofS, The Old Granary, West Mill Street, Perth PH1 5QP
Tel: 01738 638 227 Fax: 01738 442 095
Email: Kev@mountaineering-scotland.org.uk