UK Weather Online

Archive for the ‘Mountain Area Forecast’ Category

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister appeared to give ground on the issue of VAT charged on new equipment for Mountain Rescue Teams. The issue has been raised by Mountain Rescue for some time and has been put into sharper focus recently with the recent rise on VAT to 20%. Nick Clegg was speaking at public meeting in Boat of Garten, Strathspey, last week. In response to a question from a member of the public he pledged to investigate the issues and said there were “very compelling” reasons to look into scrapping the VAT charges for MRTs.

A petition backed by more than 3,500 people to demand action to protect wild land will be presented to the Scottish Parliament today (Tuesday 25 January 2011).

The John Muir Trust, the UK’s leading wild land charity, is submitting the petition to the Scottish Parliament as part of its Wild Land Campaign, which aims to secure greater protection for the UK’s best areas of wild land.

The petition calls on the Scottish Government to improve protection for the best areas of wild land by introducing a new national environmental designation.

Stuart Brooks, chief executive of the John Muir Trust said: “Our vision is that wild land is protected and wild places are valued by all sectors of society. This petition is the first step in making the case for a new designation to protect Scotland’s wild land areas.”

“At the moment there is inadequate protection for landscapes in our most important wild land areas. Half of Scotland’s best wild land has no environmental protection, and only a third is protected by a national landscape designation.

“Wild land has a wide variety of benefits. It is home to some of our most iconic wildlife and provides us with things vital to our everyday lives like fresh water and clean air. 92% of visitors to Scotland cite the fantastic scenery we have as the main reason for coming here.

“In 2003 visitors coming to Scotland’s wild areas contributed as much as £751m to the economy, supporting 20,600 jobs.”

Wild land areas in the UK comprise some of our most iconic and sensitive landscapes and are mainly restricted to Northern and Western Scotland, as well as some areas of upland England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

Wild land is defined as large areas with spectacular scenery and high wildlife value. There is very little evidence of human activity in these areas and they typically include mountains, tracts of blanket bog, river margins and rugged coastlines.

Writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish, who is supporting the Trust’s Wild Land Campaign, said: “For over 40 years the wild places of Scotland have provided me, and countless others, with the sustenance of redemption. It’s the wild hills and glens that I turn to when I need to flush from my mind the problems, anxieties and stresses of twenty-first century living.”

“Our areas of wild land, those rugged regions that have given Scotland its unique character and identity, are under threat as never before. If we go on losing wild land at the present rate then there is a real risk that our nation will lose its unique identity and our society will move into a bland cultural placelessness.”

The Trust has used mapping by the Wildland Research Institute, University of Leeds to find the top ten percent wild land in the UK. The amount of this area in Scotland without protection from any environmental designation is 50.4%. The amount covered by National Scenic Areas, a designation which is designed to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape, is 33.6%.

According to research by Scottish Natural Heritage, between 2002 and 2008 the area of Scotland unaffected by the visual impact of development fell from 41% to 31%.

About the Mountain Weather Information Service: great downloadable mountain-specific forecasts for NW, W and SE Highlands, Cairngorms, Southern Uplands, Peak District and Lakes in PDF format. Plus a Snowdonia forecast. Scottish forecasts are seven days a week, the Lakes are six days a week and the Peak/Dales and Snowdonia forecasts are now available all week.

Check individual forecasts for specific details. Arguably the best mountain-specific forecast out there by a way . Production is now fully funded by the Scottish Government in the interests of mountain safety with operating and development down to commercial sponsorship.

A 35 year old hillwalker has escaped with only minor injuries after falling 1000 feet down a mountainside in the Grey Corries. The climber, who was 35 and from Glasgow, was part of a group of hillwalkers.

He fell from near the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor in the Grey Corries at around 2pm yesterday. He had struck the hillside on the way down, scattering some of his gear and passing three rocky outcrops. The rescuers – on HMS Gannet’s Sea King Helicopter – arrived within half an hour from a training mission, and after seeing a man standing up and reading his map at the foot of the slope, initially assumed he was not the man they were searching for.

“It seemed impossible. So we retraced our path back up the mountain and, sure enough, there were bits of his kit in a vertical line all the way up where he had obviously lost them during the fall,” said Lieutenant Tim Barker.

“It was quite incredible. He must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell, almost flying.”

Paramedics lowered to the man found he had suffered only a minor chest injury and cuts and bruises.

“He was shaking from extreme emotional shock and the sheer relief at still being alive.

The casualty was then transferred to Glasgow Southern General Hospital.