Last week, an enthusiastic team of OATS volunteers teamed up with path contractors from Cairngorm Wilderness Contracts to undertake path-building work on An Teallach.
Over three days, the volunteers and contractors worked together to build several metres of stone revetment, a large stone cross drain, lay aggregate path, dig some ditches and do some path restoration work to minimise the visual impact of the path works.
The £300,000 path project is being funded by the It’s Up To Us campaign in partnership with Mountaineering Scotland, which aims to raise awareness of the desperate need for funding for upland path repairs in Scotland. Over £215,000 has been raised so far, but there is still more to do so that this vital conservation work can continue.
On Tuesday, the volunteers were joined by members of the Mountaineering Scotland teamed, who travelled from HQ in Perth to see the progress that’s been made on the path and try their hand at path building. Well-known outdoor writer and It’s Up to Us ambassador, Chris Townsend, along with photographer James Roddie, were also on site covering the volunteers days for the June issue of The Great Outdoors (TGO) magazine.
The EOCA grant has given a massive boost to the It’s Up to Us fundraising campaign for path renovation and habitat restoration works on one of Scotland’s most iconic mountains.
This generous grant brings the fundraising total for It’s Up to Us to over £200,000. The current total, two thirds of the £300,000 project budget, secures essential contract works on An Teallach until at least May 2025.
EOCA is a charity organisation set up in 2006 by the European Outdoor Group (EOG) to enable businesses from the outdoor sector to work collectively together. It supports and funds a growing number of much needed grassroots conservation, protection, and regeneration projects around the world (except in North America where The Conservation Alliance does similar work), protecting the wild places and wildlife everyone cares so much about. Since 2006 EOCA has invested more than €5m in 194 projects in 65 countries throughout the world.
Credit: Brodie Hood
On their website EOCA highlights the only UK project to win a grant award in this round: “It’s Up to Us will bring together those who care for mountains and conservation to help raise awareness and funds to fix the path erosion scars on An Teallach, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, through path restoration using natural local rock materials. The 1250m of upland path and 1300m of light touch path works will protect the hill from further loss of biodiversity and allow habitat recovery in the eroded area. The project will use habitat restoration techniques to recover 4.95 acres of the lost upland peatland habitats.”
Chair of the Outdoor Access Trust Scotland, Duncan Bryden, said: “An Teallach – Gaelic for the (Blacksmith’s) Forge – towers alpine like above Little Loch Broom. One of Scotland’s great mountains, it delivers a special mountaineering experience for many people. OATS are delighted and grateful that EOCA member companies recognise the mountain’s special needs and have given this fantastic award to the It’s Up to Us project to help restore paths for both people and nature. It is a great example of businesses from the outdoor sector giving back to wild places.”
Credit: Brodie Hood
Mountaineering Scotland CEO, Stuart Younie, said: “The award of this grant from EOCA is fantastic news. It makes a significant contribution to our fundraising target, but just as important to our campaign is to have an established European charity which has supported projects all over the world, recognise the value of the work being carried out on An Teallach to restore nature and protect the environment. I’d like to thank EOCA for their generous support and to everyone who voted for It’s Up to Us.”
Catherine Savidge, General Manager at EOCA, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the project ‘It’s Up To Us! – An Teallach’ which the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland submitted to the European Outdoor Conservation Association for funding. The project was chosen during a thorough selection process which took almost six months, finally being selected by EOCA member companies for funding. We very much look forward to hearing reports on how the work is progressing, protecting fragile habitats in this special area.”
HARVEY Maps has donated a fantastic £300 towards the It’s Up to Us campaign to save mountain paths in Scotland after choosing the campaign for their annual Green Friday donation.
Instead of offering customer a Black Friday sale or similar, each year HARVEY Maps chooses one charity, project or campaign to donate to, with the hopes of encourage a positive approach to the sustainability of our environment.
HARVEY Maps said: “Green Friday offers the opportunity to reflect on our place in the great outdoors and the impact all of our actions are having upon it. Our hills, mountains and green spaces, and our appreciation of them, are vitally important.”
Green Friday ran from Wednesday 22nd November to Monday 27th November, with 10% of the value of each order HARVEY Maps received via their website during this period donated to It’s Up to Us.
They added: “We’re passionate about looking after the mountains and trails that we map, which is why the It’s Up to Us campaign is important to us. We’re aware that the first goal of the campaign is to repair the badly eroded path on An Teallach. HARVEY Maps are currently revising the An Teallach map to bring it into line with the rest of the Superwalker series. We’ll be relaunching the most up to date format of the An Teallach Superwalker next month, and we hope that our Green Friday donation will help towards the restoration of the path.”
We want to say a HUGE thank to HARVEY Maps for their generous donation and for supporting It’s Up to Us!
It’s time to meet another amazing #ItsUptoUs campaign ambassador – Benjamin Barendrecht – who is helping us to #SaveMountainPaths in Scotland!
He says: “My name is Benjamin Barendrecht, I’m a mountain photographer living full time in my van among the mountains of Glencoe. Born in the Netherlands, I never had access to the mountains while growing up, I was always fascinated and dreaming of exploring remote places of the world.
“Since then, I’ve been to many places, but nowhere gave me the same feeling as the mountains of the Scottish Highlands, there is a magical feeling when exploring Scotland, a place I feel home. The incredible and diversely geological history of the place is something I feel truly invested in.
“Capturing moments of history with my camera is something I’m really passionate about. The mountains introduced me to my first camera. I was hiking in Norway, and I really wanted to find a way to capture the emotion and feeling of the place, which led me to a new creative process of finding how, standing among the giants which has stood the test of time.
“Over the years, I’ve learned a lot from how to use a camera and finding my own creative style, which led me to bring more purpose into my work. Through my photography I want to inspire others to dive deeper into learning and understanding the mountains.
“For a long time, mountains have been seen as a safe heaven, used for creative, competitive and health reasons. We have the responsibility to look after the things we use and love. I support the It’s Up to Us campaign because it’s an inspiring way to give back to the mountains. Paths are an important part of protecting the land and a safe way to navigate.
“It’s up to us to look after the mountains and give back.”
We are excited to announce that It’s Up to Us has been shortlisted for the autumn round of funding from the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) and we need your votes to secure 60,000 Euros that will be a huge boost to our fundraising for the path repairs on An Teallach.
The award will be decided by public vote, which is open until midday Wednesday 1 November, so please head over to the EOCA website now to cast your vote for It’s Up to Us and share with your friends, family, club members and colleagues to ensure we have the best chance of being chosen.
How to vote
To vote, you will need to REGISTER – this is quick and easy and can be done here.
To REGISTER, you will be asked to input a username and valid email account, then click the ‘Register’ button.
A pop-up box will appear, asking you for a four digit verification code. This code will be sent in an email to the address you have used to register.
Input the four digit verification code in the ‘pop up’ box, click on the ‘Verify Code’ button.
You will be taken to ‘My Account’ page, where there is a link you can click to the ‘voting page’, and you are now ready to vote!
You can vote for one project from each category – It’s Up to Us is in the Wild Places category.
The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is a charity organisation, set up in 2006 by the European Outdoor Group (EOG) to enable companies from the outdoor sector to work collectively together. EOCA, with its members, supports and funds a growing number of much needed grassroots conservation, protection and regeneration projects around the world, protecting the wild places and wildlife everyone cares so much about.
Funded by membership and other fundraising activities, with over 150 members, EOCA is unique as it provides companies from an entire industry the opportunity to work together, making a difference to threatened wild places, species and habitats, multiplying the effect and positive impact on nature.
Funded projects tackle the loss of biodiversity and mitigate against climate change, whilst also having a link to the outdoor enthusiast, being beneficial to local communities and leave a lasting, positive legacy.
It’s 5 months since It’s Up to Us launched and we are delighted to announce that work has now started on our project to repair 3.2km of badly eroded path on An Teallach.
Thanks to donations by Mountaineering Scotland members and clubs, and contributions from our other public donors and sponsors, we have raised nearly £50,000 in public donations towards the path repairs. This, in addition to the £100,000 Diamond Grant awarded by the Scottish Mountaineering Trust, means we are almost halfway in our campaign to raise the £300,000 required for the An Teallach project.
The team from Cairngorm Wilderness Contracts (pictured above) began work on the An Teallach path at Dundonnell on 29 September, starting at the bottom of the hill and making their way uphill as work progresses.
The contractors are a specialist company dedicated to the design, build and maintenance of upland and mountain footpaths who have worked on many other path projects with OATS including The Fairy Pools and Ben More. Path work often commences in the autumn and throughout the winter, as this is a time when there is less footfall on the mountains, meaning the team are out working in some very harsh weather conditions!
Volunteer parties, organised by OATS, will support the path work and are another great way to get involved in a more practical way. If you’d like to find out more about volunteering with OATS please contact the OATS Activity Project Officer.
Other ways to support It’s Up to Us
Become a regular donor – if you haven’t already done so, one of the best ways to support It’s Up to Us is to set up a regular donation
Employee volunteering – Employer-supported volunteering (ESV), also known as Corporate Volunteering, is where an organisation’s employees take paid time off to volunteer during work hours
Adopt a Path – become a champion for one of the paths maintained by OATS through the Adopt a Path scheme
We’ll be sharing further updates on progress on the It’s Up to Us website and through the Mountaineering Scotland and OATS social media channels, as well as regular email updates to supporters.
It’s time to meet another awesome #ItsUptoUs campaign ambassador, helping us to #SaveMountainPaths in Scotland!
Ian Stewart is the founder of Trail Running Scotland, a Mountaineering Instructor with more than ten years of experience delivering courses, not to mention a former member of the Mountain Safety Team at Mountaineering Scotland! He says:
“I have been fortunate to have spent the last 15 years working and playing in the mountains of Scotland. Originally as a mountaineering instructor this was often about visiting summits and iconic climbing routes, as well as training future leaders on their journeys into the industry.
“More recently this has been as a running guide and coach with my company Trail Running Scotland, where we are working hard towards the vision of a vibrant community of runners; connected through shared values of health, wellbeing, personal performance, and an appreciation of the wild places we choose to play in. We aim to do this by providing the highest quality of skills training and inspirational experiences.
“There is no doubt that the environment in which we run is fundamental to our enjoyment of the sport, both in terms of the things that we see around us, but also the trails under our feet.
“I am conscious of the potential conflict between encouraging and empowering people to participate and explore our wild places with the inevitable impact we then have. That is why I am so happy to support the It’s Up to Us campaign as it builds towards a sustainable model of funding to ensure that we are never involved in a conversation about there being too many people in the hills.”
We’re excited to introduce another of our amazing It’s Up to Us campaign ambassadors, helping to save upland paths in Scotland. Ross Cunningham is a hillwalker, mental health ambassador and the founder of Mountains Mend Minds.
“I’m Ross, 37, a proud Fifer who has recently moved to the Orkney Islands for work. Hillwalking came into my life in August 2017 when my friend Megan somehow persuaded me to go Munro bagging with her one weekend when I had been struggling with my mental health, which had left me in a very dark place.
“Hillwalking gave me a focus, an activity which made me feel happier, and an environment where I felt comfortable to open up about how I was feeling to others. It’s no exaggeration to say it’s an activity that may have saved my life.
“Last year I ‘compleated’ the Munros and every weekend since August 2017 I’ve been out hiking around Scotland, mostly up hills and mountains, and it brings me a lot of happiness and peace. I feel very grateful to live in such a beautiful country with so many peaks to explore!
“I could not be more supportive of this campaign, which seeks to make our mountains more accessible and to protect the environment for future generations to enjoy. I would encourage anyone reading this to support this fundraiser so that more people can reap the wellbeing benefits of our great outdoors, just like I have been fortunate enough to do.”
We’re excited to introduce the next amazing #ItsUptoUs campaign ambassador helping to #SaveMountainPaths in Scotland.
Lorna (better known as @gurl_on_the_hill on Instagram) is a Scottish adventurer and mountain-lover. She says:
“Hi! I’m Lorna and I live in the Highlands of Scotland. I’m a passionate every-day adventurer with a love for the outdoors, mountains, trails, forests, oceans, rivers and lochs.
“My childhood was spent mostly in the outdoors with family camping and hiking weekends, day trips to the hills and local hikes in the forest. From a young age, I always felt a strong connection with the outdoors and the hills and couldn’t wait for the next adventure. I lost that connection in my 20s and early 30s when other priorities in life took over.
“Looking back, I was so busy with the day-to-day pressures I forgot to give myself regular time for an outlet, space to think, reflect, process, and have fun.
“I rediscovered my love for the mountains when my friend asked if I’d like to climb Ben Lomond. I enjoyed every minute. It reignited that passion in me, and I remembered who I really was. I’ve never looked back since. It’s now a big part of my life and I make sure I allow myself time in my busy schedule to do what I love the most. It’s also opened up a door to a wonderful hiking community and I’ve made so many connections and lifelong friends.
“I’m delighted to support the It’s Up to Us campaign and help raise awareness of the importance of maintaining upland paths. It’s so important for the hiking and outdoors community of Scotland to make a difference collectively. It’s up to us to keep our paths maintained so we can continue to enjoy our beautiful mountains together.
“Mountain paths are a fantastic way of looking after our environment, the land and delicate eco systems by minimising our ‘footprint’. Plus, give me a path over a muddy bog any day!”
Each week, we’re introducing you to one of the amazing ambassadors who are helping to #SaveMountainPaths in Scotland by supporting the #ItsUptoUs campaign.
Today, we’re hearing from Nav Bakhsh – a friend of Mountaineering Scotland, and someone we were delighted could join us at the Fort William Mountain Festival back in February.
We asked Nav to tell us a bit more about what he does and why he was excited to get onboard with the It’s Up to Us campaign:
“My name is Nav Bakhsh, I am 46 years old and am Co-Founder of @bootsandbeards (the Glasgow-based organisation who work with diverse communities to build bridges to the outdoors)
“I have been hillwalking for the past six years or so and can honestly it is the most enjoyable activity I look forward to every fortnight. Being born and bred in Scotland, I can say I am proud to be called Scottish, and proud of what Scotland has to offer. It is just beautiful, and I want to play my part in helping keeping it that way for the next generation to enjoy and also to be part off.
“When I am walking, I cannot help but think of how small we humans are against some of the jaw dropping mountains we have as a backdrop. These mountains invite many people to come and explore, but over time things do get eroded and need to be looked after. That is why it was an honour to be asked to become an It’s Up To Us ambassador. Not only is this an honour but being also of Pakistani/ Muslim heritage, this is my way of taking time out and giving back to something which is so dear and valuable to me.
Find out more, get involved and donate: 
