Organisations

The main body which works on behalf of the climbing community is the Mountaineering council of Scotland. The majority of mountaineering clubs belong to this organisation which is involved in many areas, from climbing walls to guidebooks to access. Members (including members of clubs which are affiliated) also get reciprocal benefits from the British Mountaineering Council which covers England and Wales and also has an insurance service.

Access Related Organisations

There is no body working specifically on Climbing access issues. Apart from the MCofS , and the BMC however, there are a number of bodies which try to help with access to wild places. The Scottish Outdoor Access Code website has now also been launched.

The John Muir Trust

John Muir was born in Scotland and became a great American pioneer in access to wild places. The John Muir Trust, named after him, works to preserve the wild places of Scotland by attempting to buy up areas of the Scottish countryside and maintain them for the future.

The John Muir Trust are commited to the conservation of wild places. You can support them by joining the trust or donating to their latest appeals or by spreading awareness.

Latest Appeal: The John Muir Trust assisted the Lochinver community (Assynt Foundation) to purchase the outstanding 44,500 acres of Assynt and Drumrunie Estates including the iconic mountains Suilven, Canisp, Cul Mor and Cul Beag. The land will now be safeguarded as a national treasure, creating lasting benefit for generations to come. In addition to having four SSSI's, a special area of conservation and a special protection area for breeding birds the area was awarded European Geopark status in recognition of its outstanding geology and landscape.

Other Organisations of Interest

The Mountain Bothies Association

Scattered through out Scotland are a reasonably large number of cold stone huts with roofs. Otherwise known as Mountain bothies. Apart from having an infinite supply of ready made warm tea, these are really great to stay in overnight. Much of the maintainance work on these bothies is carried out by The Mountain Bothies Association

Like all charities, the MBA relies on public goodwill for funding as well as to help with the physical work of bothy maintenance. All MBA work, whether administrative paperwork or hammers-and-nails maintenance, is carried out by unpaid volunteers: the idea of the bothy system is that all those who use bothies should make a contribution to their upkeep. Bothies can only continue to exist if those who use them help to look after them and if work parties are short of volunteers necessary maintenance work cannot be carried out.

last paragraph from Denis Mollison of the MBA.

In a similar vein, scattered strategically across the country are hostels. The two notable organisations in Scotland that operate these are the Scottish Youth Hostel Assiciation and Scottish Independent Hostels.

While not a mountaineering organisation it is notable that the National Trust own most of Glencoe. Other organisations of interest include the Carirngorm National Park which has recently been founded and Forestry Commission who own great swathes of the highlands and Trossachs.

Please also check out our LINKS page as this is more likely to be updated quickly.