Dave Hewitt has a lot on his mind this week from the media getting themselves in a muddle over mountains, to Corbetteers, low flying jets and a new foot and mouth scare.
An interesting email has come in from Anthony Dyer of Preston in response to an earlier query. I had asked how a 120mph windspeed reading came to be quoted for Ben Nevis in the big storm of 28 January, given that the UK's highest hill doesn't (as far as I'm aware) have any measuring devices on its summit. "I seem to recall," Anthony writes, "that in Martin Moran's Scotland's Winter Mountains there is [mention of] a weather station at the top of the Aonach Mor ski area, owned by the Met Office."
This makes sense - ie the reading wasn't taken on Nevis at all - and it links into a common theme in terms of how the media report hill incidents and accidents. There's long been a history of vagueness, with the nearest big/famous hill often being used as the default option when it comes to broadcast/publication time. All sorts of Lochaber locations become "Glencoe" - eg I can recall an accident on Ben Starav being relocated in this way - while there was an excellent example in January 2001 when a Cessna 172 crash-landed 950 metres up on the hills east of the Glenshee ski centre. (Which itself isn't in Glenshee at all but in upper Glen Clunie.)
All four people on board had remarkably lucky escapes and the incident was widely reported as having occurred on Lochnagar. This was stretching the truth somewhat, as the Munros that the grounded fliers could have strolled across to bag were Cairn of Claise and Carn an Tuirc, some 8km from Lochnagar as the ptarmigan flutters. A ski-mountaineer named James Gordon tells me he planked past the wreckage four days after the crash and gives a grid ref of NO190802 on Landranger 43. This is much nearer to Glas Maol than to Lochnagar but even that big hill didn't get a name check in the press coverage.
I recently came across another curious example of this when flicking through a book about Lake District plane wrecks. I can't recall the book's title offhand (it's at my partner's family's place in Coniston), but it was written by a man named Hirst and was every bit as interesting and useful as David Smith's High Ground Wrecks which covers incidents on the Scottish hills. But both books, good though they are, fall victim to what could be termed "selective pedantry". Because the authors are coming from an aviation angle, they list the minutiae of the planes/flights in remarkable detail but often as not make a bit of a hash of the actual hills/crash-sites. Usually the grid refs are correct but hill names tend to be generalised and spellings are erratic.
This phenomenon has long interested me and is instructive for editors and indeed writers everywhere. The basic rule is try to be as accurate re the things you're unfamiliar with as you are with your "specialised subject", otherwise the confidence of readers tends to be undermined.
This latter point was perfectly expressed this week in an email from Christopher Horton, who was mentioned in dispatches here last week. We swapped mails again afterwards and he commented on a Times article about hill bagging published last Saturday. It's good to see the Thunderer covering such matters, Christopher noted but then he came across mention of "the total of Munros...279". [It's actually 284.] "I find it amazing," he writes, "when I read an article about a subject that I know a lot about, how many errors there are. You do kind of lose faith in the media sometimes, you begin to wonder how many other mistakes and incorrect information you are reading on topics that you know less about."
And finally for now on the subject of vague reporting, thanks to Richard Webb for spotting this, from a recent online edition of a well-known Edinburgh newspaper, "The climbers caught in the avalanche were scaling the 3,349ft Buachaille Etive Mor when they were swept down a steep gully, known as Curved Ridge, by tonnes of snow." Now I know that Lochnagar doesn't sound much like a hill, and that Under Saddle Yoke is curiously higher than Saddle Yoke itself but turning ridges into gullies is a bit perverse even by these standards.
Having already mentioned James Gordon, I must mention him again. Last Sunday (24 February) he became the first person known to have visited all 669 Corbett Tops in Alan Dawson's 1999 list. This is a phenomenal achievement, taking in not only the 219 Corbetts themselves (which JG completed with Stob Coire a'Chearcaill on 15 August 1998), but also 185 CTCs or Corbett Tops of Corbetts and 265 CTMs or Corbett Tops of Munros, where a Corbett Top is defined as being of Corbett height (ie 762m-914m) and with 30m of all-round separation. More on James Gordon's round anon - he's had a remarkable hill career - but for now it should be noted that it took him just over two decades all told, starting with Dollar Law as a boy on 16 August 1981.
A thought from Iain Cobb in Chelmsford, who wonders whether the recent military action in Afghanistan and elsewhere has led to an increase in low-flying antics in our upland glens. It's hard to tell for sure - eg I was in Wales shortly after 11 September and if anything it seemed quieter than on my previous visit. But Iain reckons a recent Highland trip was far noisier than in previous years and I've certainly been aware of an increase in military activity in the skies above Stirling this past while - including a massive twin-rotor helicopter performing handbrake turns over our house last week. Does anyone have any thoughts/observations on this?
Here's hoping, fingers, toes and trotters crossed, that the foot and mouth revivalist scare near Thirsk comes to nothing. At the time of writing the initial tests have proved negative but goodness knows what will happen access and tourism wise should the final results prove positive. I've recently heard of an outdoor-gear shop having closed as a direct consequence of foot and mouth in 2001 - New Heights in Falkirk - and various other smaller traders, along with B&Bs etc, surely couldn't survive second onslaught this season.
Just before hearing of the Hawnby tests I asked my contact at the Scottish Executive for a few pointers in terms of where we would be starting from were another outbreak to occur - eg there surely wouldn't again be closure of non-stocked areas, forests, paths across arable fields etc. In other words, the Exec would hopefully have learned enough from last year's disaster to be able to better advise (and better control) the councils and in turn the landowners. Only by doing this could they hope to prevent the near-breakdown of democratic and legal processes from recurring. More on this in due course once I hear back from the civil service corridors.
Finally, a few diary-dates. BBC Radio Scotland has scheduled a report on the Shieldaig hydro proposals on Wednesday 13 March at 1130 (in the Fresh Air slot). This is scheduled to be repeated the following day at 2330.
The Lesley Riddoch programme has provisionally arranged to broadcast from the Cairn Gorm funicular on Easter Monday, 1 April, from 1200-1400. For people outwith the broadcast area (which in my experience seems to peter out around the northern Lakes), Radio Scotland is available online at www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland
Also on Shieldaig, a display board showing various aspects of the press coverage was placed in Gairloch library before being taken down and a Highland Council disclaimer put up in its stead. The display then reappeared, then vanished again following a complaint from "a member of the public" (believed to be someone connected to Gairloch Estate). The latest state of play is that "both sides" in the dispute are being invited to place displays of equal area.
There are also murmurings that other hydro proposals in the Torridon area are being initiated by a company other than Highland Light and Power. More on this as things become clearer (or murkier).
Not hills but still of interest, Tayside Sea Kayak Club is hosting a talk by Howard Jeffs entitled "Sea kayaking - a never-ending journey". This covers Jeffs' life spent paddling around various seas and coasts including Shetland, the Channel Islands, North America, Alaska and Greenland. Mike Dales of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland - himself a keen paddler - says he's heard Jeffs speak before and he's one of the best around. The talk is at 7pm on Saturday 9 March, in Room 1517 of the Kydd Building in the University of Abertay, Dundee. Tickets (sorry, I don't have a price) from Dave Robertson (01382 667950), Paul Deacon (01382 810790) or Maurice McKeown (01382 521180).
Dave Hewitt
28/2/2002
You can contact Dave at Dave.Hewitt@dial.pipex.com
