Read on for:
- Alumni trip info. Alumni, come and get your rightful pre-sign!
- Pictures from recent meets and events
- Hillwalking-related miscellany
- Book review: The Last Hillwalker by John D Burns
Alumni meet reminder
The Alumni meet is coming up! Organised by none other than my humble self. I’m a great organiser: ask anyone about Christmas dinner in Eskdale! (Don’t ask them about where the minibus was at the time.)
Dates: Friday the 8th of March to Sunday the 10th.
Location: Glencoe SYHA.
Alumni: contact me for your rightful pre-sign!
Club activites: in pictures
There have been two weekend meets since the last blog post: Eskdale in December, and Ullapool at the end of January.
In other news
- Anna Wells continues her attempt to become the fourth person, and first woman, to complete a winter round of the Munros. She publishes regular updates on her Instagram account, rocksandtrails.
- Hillwalker Mike Pavitt arguably set a new winter Cuillin traverse record, completing the legendary challenge in less than 4h 36min. His achievement on the 11th of January beat the previous 2018 record, set by Uisdean Hawthorne, by more than twenty minutes. However, Pavitt acknowledged that, while he had worn crampons all day and that there was ‘lots of ice’ and ‘surface hoar’, the conditions were considerably less wintry than might be expected. He wrote on Instagram that ‘I’m putting this out there as not a claim of anything but just as me having a nice day.’
- Beavers are to be re-introduced to the upper Spey. NatureScot gave a five-year license to the Cairngorms National Park Authority for the release of up to fifteen families, in line with the national Beaver Strategy which it has produced on behalf of the Scottish Government. Rothiemurchus estate is asking visitors to give the beavers space and quiet, stick to paths and keep dogs under close control.
- At least nine areas have now expressed interest in becoming Scotland’s third National Park as a group led by Strathglass Community Council launches a National Park bid for Affric & Loch Ness. The Scottish Government has committed to at least one new National Park by Easter 2026.
- Industry plans for the erection of 4G masts in remote parts of the Highlands have provoked strong criticism from interested groups. Private Eye (issue 1614) reports that government targets for 4G coverage are measured in terms of land area, not population, and as a consequence, land classified as ‘wild’, where planning restrictions are looser, are being prioritised for the erection of 4G masts, even in sparsely populated areas where there are few or even no residents to benefit. Ever to be counted on where development in wild land is involved, Mountaineering Scotland has objected to the plans, as have the National Trust, the John Muir Trust, and, perhaps more importantly, Highland Council.
- Mountaineering Scotland has opened its annual Mountain Writing Competition. There is a Prose category and a Poetry category. Entries cost £7.50. Submission is open until 5pm on the 1st of March 2024.
Book review: The Last Hillwalker
Too often, hillwalking literature struggles to truly break free from the guidebook genre. As a result, memoirs can often end up reading like lists of walk reports. In stark contrast, The Last Hillwalker by John D Burns (Vertebrate Publishing, 2017) is a work of serious storytelling. In the few years since it was published, Burns has already won for himself a high reputation for this, his debut book, and he deserves it. In it, he explores his changing relationship with hillwalking as he, and the world around him, get older.
The narrative is underpinned by a dark cloud of mortality, which gets continually heavier as Burns gets older throughout the book. This sense of mortality gives the narrative a sense of moral weight. It prompted me to reflect on why, how and how much hillwalking does and should matter to the author, and by extension, to myself. Despite that gravity, it is not at all a depressing read. Most of the book is occupied with fun things the author did in the hills, not morose ponderings. The pondering, where it does happen, is tastefully light-touch, and proceeds naturally from the narrative account of the author’s life.
As Burns gets older and his situation changes, we see how his relationship with hillwalking changes, too. As such, the book helpfully debunks the myth that the pleasures of hillwalking are a culturally blank ‘return to Eden.’ Burns shows how in his life, his relationship with hillwalking has been defined by his class background, the cultural and historical situation, the available technology, and his own physical fitness and experience. The rag-tag cultural rebels of the 1970s, clad in their wooly jumpers and aging World War 2 army surplus, are replaced by the prim-and-proper professionals in their synthetic fleeces and modern boots in the 1980s. Burns himself transforms from a sprightly but inexperienced youth, to a fit, mature, but sometimes headstrong mountain rescue team member, to a plodding fifty-something with an intricate understanding of the things he’s no longer fit enough to do. We follow his relationship with hillwalking as it is remoulded by these swirling historical currents. As such, it’s valuable to us as hillwalkers, giving us the broader perspective that shows the way we walk is not a given.
There are plenty of adventures in this book, but it is not an adventure book. The stories that he tells are not your usual story of bravado. The stories are usually about a mistake the author made, a new challenge he didn’t know how to overcome, or a lesson he learned along the way. Each account is carefully crafted to move forward his bigger personal story.
So, if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading the book and you’re looking for a top-quality hillwalking read, I can, without hesitating, heartily recommend this book.
Buy The Last Hillwalker by John D Burns from Vertebrate Publishing
That’s it!
Thanks for reading, and until next time, happy hillwalking!
If you’re a club member or alumna/alumnus and have any stories, photos, sketches, poems, songs or interpretive dance routines inspired by your recent hillwalking adventures, we’d love to share them on this blog! Get in touch at edunihillwalkingalumni@gmail.com.