Our free one day introductory navigation courses are now available for booking. 
Course dates are 
Saturday 14th May
Saturday 21st May
Saturday 11th June
Friday 17th June      
and the course venue is the Touch Estate near Stirling.
Full information and booking available at 
​https://www.mountainaid.org.uk/navigation.html​

Our 2022 winter skills courses will be opening for booking at 10am on Monday 29th November. These First Steps courses are aimed at the newcomer to winter hill walking (you will need previous summer experience) and aim to teach the essential skills need to safely enjoy Scotland's winter hill. We have a selection of dates, with a choice of 1-day or 2-day courses, all based in the Northern Cairngorms. Full information and booking will be available on our website on Monday.

It is with deep sadness that Mountain Aid has to advise of the recent passing of founder member Davy Mclellan.

Davy Mclellan was a  proud 'Boots Across Scotland' supporter since the start up many years ago, he promoted at every opportunity the ethos of Boots aims in helping others which was set up to help walkers and in this capacity Davy mirrored Boots,   
 
When Boots was restructuring into Mountain Aid he set out on a remarkable solo trek to raise funding.   At a time when he was still recuperating from a life threatening illness, he journeyed from Milngavie to Fort William, not by the busy West Highland Way but via the 30 or so Munros that skirt it, to finish on top of Ben Nevis a couple of weeks later.  This incredible feat yielded some £2k which he split between a cancer charity and to provide start up funds for Mountain Aid.
 
Although Davy was chairman of Mountain  Aid for a year or so in 2016, he was always happier as a 'man of action' rather than be involved with dreary committees.   He was the driving force that  made the Haggis Dinner Event on the top of Ben Nevis the success it was with his  remarkable enthusiasm and stamina that enabled him to greet the 40 or so tired participants who arrived at the summit on a bright Sunday afternoon in August 2010. His knowledge and skills ensured everyone, including one fundraiser dressed as a bride and a uniformed guardsman to get down safely.  To help others was always a priority for Davy on various other Mountain Aid events which were seldom blessed with good weather.
 
 Mountain Aid were proud for to have such an able ambassador.
 
Davy was a walker, a true walker, didn't matter where; he was at his happiest tramping over mountains around the world like Mera Peak and Island Peak  in the high Mountains of Napal or the beautiful GR20 in Corisica though his passion would always be the Scottish mountains, hills and our beautiful islands.  
 
His company was always one of encouragement and love of the mountains.  His sense of humour will always be remembered by all who know him
 
17-06-47 /29-09-21

Mountain Aid trustees are delighted to announce that we have made funding available to our partner, Outdoor Adventure Scotland, to enable them to offer free navigation training direct to the public. They will be running 6 one-day sessions, with up to 8 participants on each session, in the Ochil Hills area. The sessions will be offered at two levels to enable participants to choose the level most appropriate for them.

Sunday 19th September ( MANav.1)
Sunday 3rd October (MANav.2)
Saturday 9th October (MANav.3)
Sunday 7th November (MANav.4)
Saturday 13th November (MANav.5)
Sunday 21st November (MANav.6)

These courses are funded entirely by donations to Mountain Aid. As a registered charity, Mountain Aid aims to reduce mountain rescue call outs by promoting mountain safety awareness. Providing funding for free skills training is one means of achieving this aim.

Course detail and booking information is available on the Mountain Aid website.

On the 13th July we received confirmation from OSCR (the Scottish Charity Regulator) that our application to set up a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) had been approved. The new charity will continue to be known as Mountain Aid although our registered name is now Mountain Aid (SCIO). This is only part of the conversion process as we now need to wind up the old Mountain Aid charity and transfer the assets to the new charity. Again this is something that needs approval by OSCR so it will take a bit of time to work through the process. Our new charity number is SC05112. ​

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.
​
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.