Heather Morning

A seasoned mountaineer and rescue-dog handler has been appointed safety adviser for climbers and hillwalkers in Scotland.

Mountain Instructor Certificate holder Heather Morning will take up her post with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland on 1 June. Her role will be to advise on all aspects of safety in the mountains, from avalanche awareness to technical skills and training.

She was formerly a CairnGorm Mountain ranger and instigated the poo project to deal with the messy subject of human waste despoiling the mountain.

Her first trips on to the high ground of Britain were in the papoose of her keen hillwalking parents around the North York Moors. Her father was a keen munro-bagger and she eventually took up posts teaching mountaineering and climbing after a university education and postgraduate study at Bangor University.

She has taught in universities, local education centres, national mountain centres at Plas-y-Brenin and Glenmore Lodge and at the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre at Ballaculish.
A veteran of expeditions to the Himalayas, Greenland, Norway, Alaska, Antarctica and the European Alps, as well as extensive climbing in Britain, Ms Morning said: “I am delighted to take up the post and am looking forward to working with MCofS members and the public to develop opportunities for mountain safety awareness.”

Heather is also an active member for eight years of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team and has just qualified as a dog handler for the Search and Rescue Dogs Association with her collie Milly.

Graeme Morrison, MCofS director and chair of the mountain safety committee said: “The post of mountain safety adviser is a high profile appointment and we believe that Heather has a great combination of technical and other skills that will build on the excellent work done by Roger Wild over recent years.”

The MCofS is the representative body of mountaineers north of the border and the governing body for sport climbing in Scotland.