The last 9 months have put many activities on hold. Here at Mountain Aid we have taken advantage of the hiatus in our normal activities to look at our own structure and whether or not it is still appropriate for this day and age.
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Until now, although a registered charity, Mountain Aid has been an unincorporated association. Times change and, after much research and discussion, the trustees / committee of Mountain Aid have agreed that it would be more appropriate for us to become a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation). We are pleased to be able to tell our supporters that this process is now underway.

What will it mean for you, our supporters? Very little. Probably the only difference you will notice is that our charity registration number will change and there may be a minor amendment to our legal name.

What will it mean for our committee / trustees? Quite a lot. Mountain Aid will have a legal personality of its own and our trustees will have limited liability. Currently the trustees have full liability for the organisation which is not an ideal set up these days.

The assets of the old charity will be transferred to the new charity so all the money you have raised for us in the past will still be available to the new charity.

So, whilst we are currently restricted in our activities, we are putting the time to good use to make these important changes to our organisation. We expect to be in a position to relaunch Mountain Aid as a SCIO in the summer. Hopefully, this will coincide with us also being able to recommence our training course and safety talks programme.

If you have any questions or would like more information about us converting to a SCIO please contact us on info@mountainaid.org.uk.

Our April navigation courses are postponed. We will be rescheduling them when we can and will be giving priority booking to those who were booked on the April dates. We are in the process of contacting those people who are affected.
Our May courses are currently scheduled to go ahead but we will be reviewing the situation in mid April.

Registered charity Mountain Aid (SC040294) have places available on their introductory Confidence with Navigation training days in April.

​Available dates are:
Wednesday 8th April - Stirling
Saturday 11th April - Ochils (afternoon / evening )
Wednesday 22nd April - Pentlands

Although free for participants, all courses are delivered by fully qualified and insured instructors.

More information and booking available on the Mountain Aid website at https://www.mountainaid.org.uk/.

Four members of the Mountain Aid committee attended this Scottish Parliamentary Reception at Holyrood on 28th January. Organised by Scottish Mountain Rescue and Mountaineering Scotland the event was hosted by Liz Smith MSP. After a number of speeches including one by Damon Powell the Chair of Scottish MR about a rather dramatic rescue on Ben Cruachan, we had time for networking. We renewed old contacts and made new ones and hopefully spread the word about what we, Mountain Aid, are able to contribute to mountain safety.
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Following a period of exceptionally mild and wet weather the snow cover in the Cairngorms has all but disappeared. Recent weather has seen no build up of snow cover and what remains are pockets. Weather forecasts do not suggest any extension to cover and conditions will continue to deteriorate the remaining snow.
 
The likelihood of there being any suitable conditions on the ground is highly unlikely even if snows return during the week. Any cover will be thin and insubstantial and as Mountain Aid is a charity we are not keen to pay out fees with the possibility that the main purpose of the course can’t be achieved.

Therefore we have made the decision to postpone next weeks winter skills course 18th / 19th January). 

Our 2019 submission to OSCR (the Scottish Charity Regulator) has now been published on our website. You can download the report at https://www.mountainaid.org.uk/documents.html.