This is a festival of rock climbing being held at EICA Ratho on the 10th of October 2009. The festival is being brought to you by The Quickdraw Climbing Club and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland in association with EICA Ratho. The main aim is to bring rock climbing to the masses and to show Scotland why we all love it!!!

Glenmore Lodge will be supporting the event - look out for us on the 10th of October!

Check out http://www.quickdrawclimbingrocks.com for more information.

Winter 2010 sees the introduction of a new expanded MCofS winter lecture series. Following on from the success at the Clachaig Inn each winter, the lectures will now run from three differanct locations.

The Clachaig Inn, Glencoe - Tuesday Evenings

The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore - Wednesday Evenings

The Lochaber Mountan Rescue Team Base - Thursday Evenings

The focus of the lectures is to entertain and educate on winter mountain safety. In order to delver this, an inspiring array of speakers has been chosen who are guarnateed 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 lernt. 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 2nd 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:

2nd February & 9th 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.

16th February & 23rd February Nick Carter Nick has climbed extensively around the world since the early 80's, but is probably most well known for his hard winter ascents. Nick climbs up to grade VIII in Scotland including the first winter ascent of Hung, Drawn and Quartered (VIII,8) and the second winter ascent of Sidewinder (VII,8) on Ben Nevis and Genesis (VII,7) on Beinn Bhan. As we all know, to be successful and safe climbing in Scottish Winter you need to be much more than a ‘hot shot’ climber. Getting to and from the routes can be a challenge in itself. Nick will share some of his experiences with us.

2nd March & 9th March Rosie Goolden Rosie is a well known face in the Scottish winter mountaineering/climbing scene and one of only a handful of female MIC’s. She has spent the last 10 years guiding in Scottish Winter and was the founder of the hugely successful initiative ‘Chicks Unleashed’.

The Mountain Cafe, Aviemore
This famous cafe must be the perfect venue to spend a winters 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 £8. 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 20th January 2010. This winter’s speakers are:
20th January & 27th January Ian Sherrington, IFMGA Mountain Guide and Senior Instructor at Glenmore Lodge. Ian has extensive experience of mountaineering, climbing and skiing in Scotland and is looking forward to sharing some of his adventures with you.

3rd February, 17th February & 3rd March Simon Steer, Simon combines his day job in the Scottish Government with the role of Deputy Team Leader of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. He relaxes by climbing hills slowly; making easy rock or ice routes look hard; falling off his mountain bike and posing as a ski patroller on Cairngorm. He also lectures on wilderness emergency care to anyone willing to listen. In his 14 years in the rescue team, Simon has been involved in a great many incidents (some funny, some not) and will be sharing some of those tales with you.

10th February & 10th March David (Heavy) Whalley – this is Mr Mountain Rescue! What Heavy hasn’t been involved with in his 37 years in mountain rescue isn’t worth knowing about. Heavy spent his working life in the RAF and rose to the dizzy heights of Team Leader for both the Kinloss and Leuchars Mountain Rescue Teams. He is now retired from the RAF and spends his spare time collating the Scottish Accident Statistics for the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland and is still active in mountain rescue as a member of the Torridon Team. Heavy is a larger than life character and guaranteed to provide an entertaining evening.

Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team Base, Fort William
This venue is the fantastic, new purpose built facility for the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, located on the Ben Nevis Industrial Estate on the north side of the town. The LMRT have kindly opened their doors to the public to host the Thursday evening lectures. The lectures will run for eight consecutive weeks from Thursday 21st January, starting at 20.00. The lectures are free, but visitors may wish to make a donation to the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team.

This winter’s speakers are:
21st Jan & 25th Feb Cameron McNeish Cameron is well known for his work with media, he regularly appears on our TV screens with classics such as his walk through the Far North West of Scotland. Cameron manages to juggle his day job (editing TGO Magazine) with an active and enthusiastic love of the Scottish Hills.
28th Jan & 11th Feb Stuart Johnston Stuart has been an MIC for many years and now runs his own successful mountain training business ‘Stuart Johnston Mountaineering’. 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.
18th Feb & 11th Mar Di Gilbert Di is another one of those rare female MIC’s. Alongside her many years experience climbing in the Scottish Mountains, Di has made many ascents in the greater ranges including Denali and Everest. Her vibrant personality and enthusiasm for the Scottish Mountains will ensure an entertaining and informative evening.
4th Feb & 4th Mar Richard Bentley A well known MIC, Richard has been running his own mountaineering business for many years from the foot of Ben Nevis. Richard has climbed throughout the world but is probably best known around Scotland for his coaching and teaching of winter climbing, his love of hard mixed climbing and his knowledge of Ben Nevis in Winter. He is a member of the Lochaber Mountain rescue team and occasionally masquerades as a Ski Patroller on Aonach Mor!

The Scottish Cyclocross Series returns this autumn with 11 rounds of the funnest, friendliest, cheapest and most accessible type of bicycle racing around.
And there’s not long to wait – the series kicks off on Sunday 4th October at Plean Country Park near Stirling. It promises to be a great start to the series with a fast, fun course that makes for brilliant racing and spectating.
Venues
After Plean, the series will visit several venues in and around central Scotland from the sand dunes at Irvine to the slippery singletrack at Mugdock Park near Glasgow.
The series will also travel further afield, to two truly unique venues for cyclocross. The first is Glenmore Lodge near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands, with two races over the weekend of 31st October/1st November. The second provides a spectacular setting for the final two races of the series on 12th/13th December – Glengorm Castle on the Isle of Mull! As an added bonus, the Mull weekend will also be hosting the inaugural Santa Cross World Championships!
Easy to get involved and get racing
There are categories for all ages at every round of the series (including the Isla Bikes U12’s races) and literally any type of bike with knobbly tyres will work great (you can race on mtb’s at all rounds). It’s cheap and easy to enter too, just a tenner or less per race (U12’s race for free) and you simply turn up and enter on the day.
The vibe at the Scottish series races is relaxed and super friendly, it’s all about having fun and enjoying the racing whatever your level. And that’s one of the really neat things about cyclocross in general – the short courses and multi lap format make for close, exciting racing - there’s always someone nearby to race against, no matter what your fitness is. Cross courses generally include a healthy mix of grass, singletrack, mud, dirt road, pavement even sand, as well as the traditional cross obstacles of wooden barriers and short steep run ups – expect all these and more at the 2009 Scottish series.

More Info
http://www.scottishcyclocross.org.uk/ has all the info on the 2009 Scottish Cyclocross series along with the latest news and happenings, contacts and the SCX shop. You can also follow the series at www.twitter.com/scottishcx

Tiso's Dundee store celebrates it's 20th anniversary next month with a special one off event held at the Apex Hotel in Dundee.

Dave Mcleod will be presenting an illustrated lecture titled "How Soon is Now?"

There will also be a charity auction with prizes from Glenmore Lodge and a Free prize draw in association with Black Diamond, Gore, Mountain Equipment and Tiso.

All profits are going to the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team.

This event will take place on Thursday the 22nd of October at 7.30.

Contact Tiso Dundee on 01382 221153 or dundee@tiso.co.uk or in store to buy a ticket.

Tickets £8, Concessions £6.

From Friday the 11th to Sunday the 13th of September Glenmore Lodge hosted the Scottish Canoe Associations annual Coaching Confernce.

The event is aimed at paddlesport coaches all over Scotland and gives them the opporunity to learn new teaching methods and coaching techniques at the forefront of the sport today.

The weekend kicked off with an official welcome in the lecture theatre from Ian Sherrington followed by a whisky tasting session run by Balvennie and then a fantastic lecture by Iain Abercrombie and Dave Rossetter on their recent expedition to the Zanskar.

Saturday began with a series of classroom sessions and updates from the SCA. In the afternoon there were three "round robin" practical programmes.

In the evening there was an annual dinner and then a "few" drinks in the bar!

Sunday was a practical day in which delegates chose a course to attend. There were sessions in sea kayaking, white water kayaking, open boating, teaching rolling, teaching forward paddling.

Glenmore Lodge provided the venue, transport and loan of all equipment for the conference which is part of the Lodge's committment to providing for and being an HQ for the outdoor sector.

Glenmore Lodge hosted the Mountaineering Council of Scotland's AGM on Saturday the 5th of September.

There were several intesting and informative lectures/seminars throughout the day. Dave Macleod ran a climbing masterclass in the afternoon and entertained everyone with a fantastic lecture in the evening...despite having written his car off on the way from Fortwilliam to Glenmore!

Heather Morning, the MCofS safety adviser and her SARDA trained dog Millie also presented and so to did Geoff Monk from the MIWS.

Key Decisions from the AGM:

All and all it was an enjoyable and productive weekend and it was great to see that the MCofS is modernising and taking Scottish mountaineering forward in a dynamic way with the full support of it's members.