Robert Kincaid, a lifelong hillwalker, mountaineer, and dedicated mountain rescue volunteer, recently made a generous £5,000 donation to our ‘It’s Up To Us’ campaign. We caught up with him to learn more about his connection to the hills and what motivated him to make such a meaningful contribution.
How did you first hear about It’s Up To Us?
My wife and I are both keen hill-goers and are members of Mountaineering Scotland. From them, we’ve seen various articles about path repairs and why donations are helpful and that type of thing.
I, for one, have always been one that observes the environment when on a hike; going up a path and thinking ‘oh, they’ve done this quite nicely’ or ‘that little bit is there isn’t looking so good’. I often notice certain sections where you see the deterioration is about to happen quite rapidly and it’s going to wear away, a couple of wet winters and some frost and this will all be washed off.
Path repair work is vital to prevent further damage either from footfall or natural causes like weather.
What made you want to donate to the campaign?
My father was a keen hillwalker in his younger years, he never pushed me into it but when I was drawn to the mountains naturally, he made sure to pass on his expertise and values that I always enjoy the hills safely and responsibly.
When my parents died, we were sitting on a fairly sizeable inheritance and wanted to use the money to make a positive change that we can see the benefit from. We donated to several charities of varying amounts that all exist to either educate people or makes people’s lives better.
I wanted to donate to It’s Up To Us in particular as the sentiment means a lot to me; I’ve been on the water as a sailing instructor basically all my life, but where I get a huge satisfaction from is being in the hills. I find the hills are an inspiring place, and I love them in their raw, natural state with proper vegetation and wildlife around, rather than a big mud bath.
There will always be new people venturing into the hills, and I’ve realised that the education around minimising impact on the hill is vital. People need to understand the work that goes in to being able to share the enjoyment they get from the hills and create a sustainable environment for future generations.
What would you say to anybody considering donating to us?
If anybody has ever thought about donating, I would say this to them – look at the path you last walked on and think about what it might have looked like 10 years ago, and what it’s going to look like in 10 years’ time… with so many people using this path, it’s only going to get worse. Some parts of it may become so bad that people no longer use that path and cause a massive problem across the mountain.
Putting a path right may seem like a small effect but it’s such a critical thing to avoid further erosion.
If you’re able to donate money, even just a few coins in the donation box in the car park before your walk, it does help; it supports a group of people that are prepared to use their muscle to make amends and make our mountain paths more enduring for the future.
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We are incredibly grateful to Robert for his generosity; his contribution will directly support the vital work required to maintain and restore our mountain paths.
If you feel inspired by Robert’s story and share his passion for protecting Scotland’s mountains, you can learn more about supporting our path repair work here.