One dead in busy Highland rescue weekend

Scottish mountain rescuers had their busiest weekend of the winter with call-outs to 11 mountaineers in five separate incidents.One man died on Bidean nam Bian in Glencoe after falling 600 feet.

Help needed to Fix the Fells in Lake District

Volunteers are needed to help patch up the Lake District’s paths.The national park authority is looking for keen people with practical skills and the ability to navigate to help in their Fix the Fells scheme.The Scafell range seen from BowfellAccording to the Lake District National Park Authority, they’ve received a less than generous £1.96 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, though grough suspects they may be understating the amount.Now the park authority wants volunteers to tackle the task of repairing the damage done to the district’s upland paths by the ten million walkers who visit the park each year.

Mountain rescuers in call for Government cash

A Welsh MP says the Government takes mountain rescue teams for granted, as calls were made for more public money for the rescuers.The Mountain Rescue Council (MRC) for England and Wales says teams are increasingly used by police in urban searches, and this is stretching the volunteer teams’ budgets to the limit.

Views sought on bigger Cairngorm park

The Scottish Parliament wants views on plans to extend the Cairngorm National Park.A bill before the Scottish legislature proposes including the Forest of Atholl, Blair Atholl, the Beinn A’Ghlo range and Beinn Udlamain.

Campaign against Peak quarry goes on

The British Mountaineering Council’s campaign against Peak quarrying continues, with pleas for views to be sent straight to them.The Save Longstone Edge battle goes on, with a series of walks on Sunday, 4 February, in the area, where participants can see the destruction wrought by quarrying.Climbers and walkers who have sent submissions to the Peak planning inspectorate have had their letters sent back because the deadline has passed, but the British Mountaineering Council says these can be sent straight to them, since they have already registered their interest in speaking at the inquiry.A number of outdoor shops and climbing walls in Sheffield and the Peak have also agreed to collect letters.

Update on this year's Nine Edges

There’s another chance to challenge your stamina and help a mountain rescue team.Edale Mountain Rescue Team is running its Nine Edges Endurance again this year and it’s inviting entries now.

Cathedral ceremony marks Wainwright centenary

Fans of the Grumpy Old Fellwalker gathered yesterday in the distinctly un-outdoors Blackburn Cathedral to celebrate the centenary of his birth.As his sometime walking companion, broadcaster Eric Robson, said in his address to the gathered acolytes of Alfred Wainwright: “Even though AW would rather be on the hill than in the pew it’s appropriate that we should be celebrating his life in this cathedral church in Blackburn.”The ceremony marked the anniversary of the compiler of probably the best known walking guides produced in England, Wainwright’s meticulously illustrated Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.

Court shown Lakeland photos of bomb suspects

A police officer has told a London jury how he watched five men accused of a failed bomb attack on a campsite in the Lake District.The officer said he saw the group apparently praying together in a semicircle.

London bomb suspects 'took part in Langdale camp'

Five of the men on trial for plotting to bomb innocent Londoners had been under surveillance in the Lake District, a court was told.Woolwich Crown Court heard that pictures were taken of the group during a camping trip in Langdale, Cumbria, 14 months before the men’s failed attempt to detonate bombs on the capital’s transport system.The jury at the trial was shown pictures of the men, taken by police, of the alleged bombers dressed in outdoor gear and loading camping equipment into cars, with the Langdale fells as a backdrop.