A film I made over on the Fort William Mountain Festival channel about Caitlin Connor - an ice comp and dry tooling specialist. It was pretty tough to film this and not join in with the training! Caitlin received the Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture this year. If you would like to nominate a young person making an important contribution in the mountains for this award, you can do so here.
A music video made by myself, Claire and my daughter Freida recently. It comes from a new album by Aaron Jones and Rachel Walker called Despite the Wind and Rain, which celebrates influential women in Scottish history. Check out the album here https://rachelwalkerandaaronjones.bandcamp.com/album/despite-the-wind-and-rain
This song is about Mary Somerville, a scientist who spent her youth exploring the outdoors in Scotland and cultivating a gift for observation that eventually led to the discovery of Neptune as well as many books and papers on mathematics, astronomy, geography, ecology and anthropology. We thought it would be nice to represent that magic of exploring the outdoors early in life, observing, learning and finding inspiration that can take your life off on some exciting path whether that is science, sport, art or just enjoyment.
A new film on my YouTube channel now which I made with the John Muir Trust. It's about me making the first free ascent of Keystone (E8) in Glen Nevis in the summer. But although Glen Nevis is somewhere I thought I knew quite well and have spend a lot of time in, I also explore the reasons why this corner of the glen seems so different from the rest of the Glen, and the hills in general. That story is one of land, money and power.
If you would like to know a bit more about the trees I’m talking about in the film, there is more info about them at https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/mountainwoodland
Nevis Faces is a 6 part series of short films we made for the Nevis Landscape Partnership, exploring various characters who work and live around the Nevis area. Dr Cathy Mayne is an ecologist who specialises in mountain and upland environments.
Nevis Faces is a 6 part series of short films we made for the Nevis Landscape Partnership which explores various characters who work and live around the Nevis area. Jamie Hageman is a self-taught mountain landscape painter and is suitably based in the West Highlands of Scotland where, surrounded by mountains, much of his painting inspiration comes from.
Nevis Faces is a 6 part series of short films we made for the Nevis Landscape Partnership which explores various characters who work and live around the Nevis area. Helen Rennard is an accomplished winter climber living in Fort William. We have made many first ascents together on Ben Nevis over the past ten years and Helen is one of the most solid climbing partners I know.
Nevis Faces is a 6 part series of short films we made for the Nevis Landscape Partnership, exploring various characters who work and live around the Nevis area. Dave 'Cubby' Cuthbertson is a mountaineer and landscape photographer. Watch his overnight stay on Tower Ridge to capture the sunrise over the North Face of Ben Nevis.