One of Scotland’s best-known mountaineers is urging climbers and walkers to assess the risks before taking to the hills this winter.
Newtonmore based Cameron McNeish will be the headline speaker at a major international mountain safety conference next week.
Speaking yesterday ahead of the conference, Mr McNeish said he would highlight the risks of taking to the hills – but he would also underline the immense benefits for the well prepared.
He’ll be making the point that, although mountain accidents are tragic, and make headline news, every year there are are around an equivalent seven million days when people going to the hills come back fitter, refreshed and rejuvenated.
Mr McNeish said: “Of course our mountains are not only beautiful but are potentially dangerous places.
“So are our cities, our road networks, and our own homes.
“One of the biggest killers of Scots is lack of exercise, resulting in obesity and diabetes.
“Winter mountaineering is like everything else – you learn to recognise the risks and you try and manage them. You find out what skills you need to cut that risk to a minimum and you learn those skills.
“In terms of mountaineering we learn how to navigate in bad weather; we learn how to use an ice axe and crampons; we learn about avalanches and how to avoid them and we learn how to listen to that often lost instinct for survival.
Mountain Safety Day 2014, which will be held in Stirling on October 11, will be attended by all the main mountaineering organisations, with a host of demonstrations, displays and instruction available for hill-goers.
The event is organised by the charity Mountain Aid, supported by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
Mountain rescue teams, youth organisations such as the Scouts and Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, hill walking and mountaineering clubs will all have stands at the event, in Stirling’s Albert Halls.
Mountaineering Council of Scotland mountain safety adviser Heather Morning will also lead discussions on what to do in potential emergency situations.