Winter Lecture Series 2011
The MCofS are proud to announce a new partnership with Tiso. Alongside our popular venues of the Clachaig and the Mountain Cafe, Aviemore, we will be hosting a series of 7 lectures across the Tiso stores.
Buff have also kindly agreed to support the 2011 series; we will be inviting all participants to enter their name in a free draw and have the opportunity to win a Polar Buff worth £23.
The lectures will be running at each of the following locations.
The Clachaig Inn, Glencoe (Tuesday evenings)
The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore (Wednesday evenings)
Tiso Stores (Thursday evenings) See individual dates for venue.
The focus of the lectures is to entertain and educate on winter mountain safety. In order to deliver this, an inspiring array of speakers has been chosen who are guaranteed to provide an entertaining night out! All the speakers have spent many years in the mountains and will draw upon their own experiences to illustrate hard lessons learnt. Each presentation will last approx 45 minutes and there will be opportunity at the end of each evening for any questions. Whether you are a hardened climber, or up in the Highlands for your first winter experience, you can ensure a good night out and learn something new.
The MCofS Winter Lecture Series is free of charge and open to all.
The Clachaig Inn, Glencoe
The Clachaig is the birth place of the Winter Lecture Series. Tuesday evenings from the 1st February see the return of the series for a six week period. The evening talks will begin promptly at 20.00, however feel free to arrive well in advance to enjoy a bar meal and a pint or two. This winter’s speakers are:
1st February & 8th February - Roger Wild
IFMGA mountain guide and ex Mountain Safety Advisor with the MCofS. Roger has a wealth of Scottish mountaineering experience to draw upon. Roger will be talking about Winter Mountain Navigation.
15th February & 22nd February - Adele Pennington
Adele Pennington (MIC) is always around in the Scottish Hills in winter and her enthusiasm never seems to dwindle. Outside Scotland, Adele has climbed all around the world and has made ascents of numerous Himalayan giants including Everest, Cho-oyu and Manaslu. She recently returned from Makalu, where she turned back just 150m from the summit in a battle of survival. Adele's talk 'Summit or Survive' will re-live this experience and highlight how safety and common sense are key to survival in the mountains.
1st March & 8th March - Tom Gilchrist
Tom's enthusiasm for the outdoors, whether mountaineering, ski-ing or canoeing has, for the last forty years, entirely outstripped his ability; however, it doesn't stop him trying! Tom has been on expeditions to many of the worlds great ranges, but the Scottish mountains still remains his favourite. He champions the middle grade climber, is fasinated by avalanches and snow structure and his greatest claim to fame is being on the front cover of 'A Chance in a Million'! Avalanche work led Tom to develop an interest in search dogs and he has been a dog handler for the last fifteen years as well as a rescue team member for considerably longer.
Tom's charismatic and flambouyant character is reflected in the title of his talk 'What went right when it all went wrong!' An evening not to be missed....
The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore
This famous cafe must be the perfect venue to spend a winter's evening after a day on the hill. The cafe will be open from 18.30 onwards - use the entrance around the left hand side of the building. Food is available at 19.00; there will be a choice of meat or veggie at an excellent price of £10. Pre-booking is essential if you would like a meal. Call the Mountain Cafe direct on 01479 812473. The evening talk will begin promptly at 20.00. The Mountain Cafe winter lecture series will run on Wednesday evenings for eight consecutive weeks from 12th January 2010. (Excluding 19th Jan) This winter’s speakers are:
12th January & 26th January - Nick Carter
Nick has climbed extensively around the world since the early 80s. He has instructed in the outdoors for the last 15 years including working at Plas y Brenin and Glenmore Lodge. Nick holds the Mountaineering Instructor Certificate (MIC) and runs his own mountaineering company, Alpha Mountaineering.
As a keen winter climber, Nick has made ascents up to grade VIII in Scotland, including the first winter ascent of Hung, Drawn and Quartered (VIII) and the second winter ascent of Sidewinder (VII,8) on Ben Nevis and Genesis (vii,7) on Beinn Bhan. Nick has also put up new routes in the Peruvian Andes and the Khumbu region of Nepal. His experience includes leading expeditions to Nepal, Pakistan, India, the Kyrgqz Tien Shan, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya.
2nd February & 23rd February - Simon Steer
Simon is an experienced mountaineer who is also the Deputy Team Leader of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. In his fifteen years in mountain rescue, he has been involved in a great number of incidents and his recounting of some of these, supplemented with a few minor epics of his own, makes for an entertaining talk.
9th February - Cameron McNeish
Until recently Cameron McNeish was editor of TGO Magazine, the UK's premier hillwalking and backpacking magazine. He has been walking and climbing in the Scottish mountains for over 40 years and regularly leads treks to other parts of the world. In recent years he has led groups of trekkers across the High Atlas of Morocco, to Everest Base Camp, to the Annapurna Sanctuary, around the Annapurna Trail, to Kanchenjunga, around Manaslu, to Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro, to climb volcanoes in Guatamala and to climb North Africa's highest mountain, Toubkal, in winter.
Cameron regularly appears on the BBC Scotland television programme, The Advernture Show. He was recently made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
16th February & 2nd March - George McEwan
George has over twenty five years of mountaineering experience in Scotland and many other mountain areas of the world, including Nepal, New Zealand, the Tien Shan, America, Alaska and Canada. He has several first ascents of both Scottish winter and summer routes, ice-falls in France and the North Ridge of Naya Kanga (Langtang Valley, Nepal) to his credit.
George holds the Mountaineering Instructors Certificate (MIC), is Head of Mountaineering at Glenmore Lodge National Training Centre and is Technical Officer for the Association of Mountaineering Instructors.
9th March - David "Heavy" Whalley BEM, MBE
Heavy's mountain rescue career spans 38 years and he has been involved in over 1000 rescues during that time. He spent his working life in the RAF and rose to the dizzy heights of team leader for the RAF Kinloss and Leuchars teams. Heavy has also been a member of the Torridon Team. He is now retired and still spends his spare time climbing mountains. Heavy has many stories of rescues and mountaineering, is a larger than life character and is guaranteed to provide an entertaining evening.
Tiso Stores.
We are running lectures from Tiso Stores in Inverness, Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow. All the lectures will start at 8pm. The Tiso lectures are on Thursday evenings for 7 weeks from Thursday 27th January. We are planning to offer an evening meal prior to the lectures, more details will follow soon.
27th January - Stuart Johnston - The new store in Perth at the Inveralmond roundabout on the north side of town.
Stuart has been an MIC for many years and now runs his own successful mountain training business 'climbmts.co.uk'. He balances this with his commitment as a member of the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team and Training Officer for the Mountain Rescue Committee for Scotland.
3rd February - Tamsin Gay - Tiso Edinburgh Outdoor Experience, 41 Commercial Street, Edinburgh
Tamsin Gay grew up in Scotland and spent her early life trying, and failing, to keep up with her older brothers in pursuit of various outdoor activities. Whilst still unable to burn off her brothers, the formative years spent suffering left her well equipped to deal with the rigours of all aspects of mountaineering but particularly Scottish Winter where she finds the greatest rewards.
For the past few years Tamsin has worked as a freelance mountaineering instructor for various organisations including National Outdoor Centres Plas y Brenin and Glenmore Lodge. She now works full-time as a Senior Instructor for Edinburgh International Climbing Arena: Ratho.
10th February - Rosie Goolden - Tiso Glasgow Outdoor Experience, 50 Couper Street, Glasgow
Rosie's love for the mountains hasn't waned in all the time she's been going to them. The simple intensity of experience and feelings triggered for herself and her clients whilst climbing is enough happiness to keep her going for a lifetime. But why stop at merely 'enough'? Rosie takes every opportunity she can, on any adventure she can, to take to the mountains. During her evening talk, she will share some of her stories and hard earned lessons from expeditions worldwide and closer to home.
17th February - Di Gilbert - Tiso Inverness Outdoor Experience, 2 Henderson Road, Longman Estate, Inverness
Di Gilbert has never had a "proper job" and refuses to grow up. Holder of the MIC award - which means "Missing in Charge" and not holder of the Mountaineering Instructor Certificate as some would lead you to believe - Di has somehow managed to enjoy the past 20 years pootling around the mountains. Di was Operations Manager in Antarctica when a storm wiped out 8 tents, and damaged 2 planes; she crushed her knee jumping over a crevasse immediately before climbing the North Face of the Grande Jorasse; and was made to climb Tower Ridge again, so that her client could climb it without a hangover from the previous evening. Di successfully managed to climb her final Seven Summit in July 2010 but is still trying to complete her first round of Munro's. Di runs her successful mountaineering business www.digilbert.co.uk based out of the Spey Valley and firmly believes that you can still be professional and have a laugh along the way.
24th February - Stuart Johnston - The new store in Perth at the Inveralmond roundabout on the north side of town.
Stuart has been an MIC for many years and now runs his own successful mountain training business 'climbmts.co.uk'. He balances this with his commitment as a member of the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team and Training Officer for the Mountain Rescue Committee for Scotland.
3rd March - Stuart Johnston - Tiso Edinburgh Outdoor Experience, 41 Commercial Street, Edinburgh.
Stuart has been an MIC for many years and now runs his own successful mountain training business 'climbmts.co.uk'. He balances this with his commitment as a member of the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team and Training Officer for the Mountain Rescue Committee for Scotland.
10th March - Stuart Johnston - Tiso Glasgow Outdoor Experience, 50 Couper Street, Glasgow.
Stuart has been an MIC for many years and now runs his own successful mountain training business 'climbmts.co.uk'. He balances this with his commitment as a member of the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team and Training Officer for the Mountain Rescue Committee for Scotland.
