WE’RE just waiting for the first copies of our latest Mountain Media book to arrive from the printers.

Some of you may recall that last winter a young doctor from Edinburgh, Andrew Murray, ran from John O’Groats in northern Scotland to Morocco. We published the DVD of the excellent BBC television programme earlier this year.

Andrew has written account of that run – Scotland2Sahara – and the book, RUNNING BEYOND LIMITS – The Adventures of an Ultra Marathon Runner, is the result.

Andrew began running in 2005 when he realised it might be a good way to see the world. Since then he has won numerous endurance races in all corners of the world, including the jungle, the Arctic, the Sahara and in Outer Mongolia. He has also competed in the Everest Marathin in Nepal.

As an expedition/event doctor Andrew has worked on six continents and the geographic North Pole where he has been able to study the effects of extreme conditions on some of the toughest athletes in the world.

RUNNING BEYOND LIMITS is the story of the remarkable Scotland to Sahara run, interwoven between tales from some of the most extreme running events imaginable. The Foreword has been kindly written by Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

We’re currently taking pre-orders for the book. Check it out in our sister website, Mountain Media.

THE John Muir Trust has expressed concern about the dangers of rockfall and erosion on a popular path to Quinag (try coon-yak) and is requesting hillwalkers to take a different route.

A parking space on the A894, at an elevation of almost 250m, makes a good starting point but don’t be tempted by the footpath that appears on Ordnance Survey maps showing a route up into Coire Chornaidh.  The JMT is very keen that walkers avoid this route because of the erosion on the hill above. There is also a very real threat of rockfall. The Trust advises walkers to follow the route from the footbridge for a distance of 250m or so before turning left to access the east trending Spidean Coinich ridge. This ridge leads to some steeper rocky slopes that in turn lead to the rounded summit of Spidean Coinich.

Unusually for a Corbett, Quinag boasts three summits – Sail Gorm, 776m, Sail Garbh, 809m, and Spidean Coinich, 764m. It’s this southern top that is supposed to resemble the spout of a bucket, giving the hill the name Cuinneag – Gaelic for a narrow-mouthed water stoup.

Mountain Equipment, one of the UK’s best known equipment manufacturers, is 50 years old.

I think I must have come across ME for the first time round about the late sixties when I bought my first duvet jacket. Everyone in my climbing club, the Lomonds in Glasgow, had a duvet although most folk only seemed to wear them in the pub. But you couldn’t be a climber in those days without having a duvet jacket, so I bought one.

It was an early Mountain Equipment model, and for the life of me I can’t remember which model it was. But it was big and bulky and very warm and I used it mainly when I dossed down in my car, an Austin A35, which had a lousy heater.

Years later I met Peter Hutchinson at the Harrogate Trade Show and got to know the ME team, and the gear. Not long after Gore-Tex first arrived on the scene a team from ME and some others, including my old friend Bill O’Connor and myself, took one of their American executives up Bidean nam Bian in Glen Coe. This poor exec type wasn’t in great condition and he struggled all the way. Even worse, only Bill O’Connor, good mountain guide that he is, had an ice axe, and when we realised the escape route down into the Lost Valley was still chock full of snow we found ourselves in an awkward position.

Eventually Bill climbed down into the Lost Valley and went back to the Clachaig to collect the van. The rest of us trundled down the snow-free side of the hill into Glen Etive, where Bill eventually collected us. I seem to recall the guy from Gore swore he’d never climb a Scottish hill again.

Anyway, enough of my reminiscing. Check out the ME website for a great film of the company’s history, a film that also traces the last 50 years of British mountaineering. It’s well worth watching.

I’m deeply saddened to hear of the death of Alan Blackshaw, OBE, a mountaineer, conservationist and friend.

Alan lived in the same village as me and he became a good friend over the years, particularly during the time I served as President of Ramblers Scotland. At that time Alan acted as an adviser to the Ramblers on access issues and his knowledge and political skills were crucial during the debates leading up to the creation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

Like many mountain folk of my generation Alan’s name was well known as the author of the textbook Mountaineering – from Hillwalking to Alpine Climbing,, published by Penguin in 1966. Despite the proper title, everyone knew it as “Blackshaw’s Mountaineering.”

In the fifties Alan made significant climbs in the Alps including the North-East Face of Piz Badile, the North Face of the Triolet, and the South Face of Pointe Gugliermina.  Later in his career he became a passionate ski mountaineer and in 1972 made a continuous ski traverse of the Alps (Kaprun-Gap). Between 1973 and 1978 over a series of visits, he skied Scandinavia end-to-end (Lakselv-Adneram).  He also climbed in the Caucasus, Greenland and Garwhal.

I don’t think I’ve known anyone who has served mountaineering in such a deep and diverse way.

In 1985 Alan joined the Mountaineering Commission and six years later became its President (1991-97).  This was at a time of great change within mountaineering with the introduction of climbing competition and an explosion in the popularity of indoor climbing walls. Recognising the importance of these changes Alan helped introduce competition climbing and ski mountaineering competitions into the UIAA, the world governing body for mountaineering.

Under Alan’s presidency, the Mountaineering Commission proposed the UIAA Summit Charter for the International Year of Mountains (IYM) 2002, during which two key seminars were organised by UIAA colleagues in Trento and Flagstaff.  At the Trento seminar, Blackshaw presented his keynote paper ‘Human Rights and Access Freedoms: is Nature the Missing Link?’  In 1996 Blackshaw had become a member of the United Nations (UN) Inter-Agency Group on mountains, and Vice-Chair of the Inter-Governmental Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development.  It was therefore quite natural that he should become the UIAA Special Representative to the UN International Partnership that was launched during the IYM2002 with the support of UIAA.

Amongst his leadership roles Alan served as President of the BMC, the Alpine Club and the Ski Club of Great Britain. He also served as Chairman of the Committee for Plas y Brenin, and Chairman of the British Ski Federation and the Scottish National Ski Council but it was during a period leading up to the creation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, when Alan acted as an adviser to Ramblers Scotland, that he made his keynote contributions to the outdoor world, particularly in Scotland.

Working closely with Dave Morris of Ramblers Scotland, Alan used his political skills and detailed knowledge of the legislative process to help achieve some of the best access arrangements in the world for Scotland. A formidable researcher, with detailed notes of every access campaign that had been launched, Alan fervently believed that England and Wales should also benefit from such open access arrangements. Many outdoors folk would later attribute the success of the Scottish legislation to these two men.

In the world of conservation politics Alan Blackshaw was a giant, and many of his skills had been honed from the long years he worked as a civil servant.

This included a senior position in the UK delegation to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), acting as the Principal Private Secretary to three Ministers of Power, including Tony Benn, and other senior postings connected to coal, North Sea oil, and manufacturing of iron and steel.

Only a few weeks ago I had dinner with Alan, his wife Elspeth and mountain guide Sandy Allan. We had a convivial evening and Alan enthusiastically told us of plans for mountaineering and sailing trips. It’s hard to believe he’s not around any more.