Avon climbers risk disturbing peregrines

Climbers have been reported in a restricted area of the Avon Gorge – and were filmed by the BBC in action!The team was on a route of the main wall near a nesting site of peregrine falcons, in contravention of a voluntary ban.

Everest docs set bloody altitude record

It’s been a week for strange Everest records. On Monday came the news that Climber Rod Baber had become the first man to make a mobile phone cal...

Access-battle family 'could be kidnapped'

A millionaire businessman who wants to keep the public off his Scottish estate is at risk of kidnap because local police are underperforming, according to a former police chief.Joe Holden, who was head of operations of Central Police, told Stirling Sheriff Court that Euan Snowie and his family could be snatched because criminals would know the Dunblane police area had lower-than-average detection rates.

Accidental death verdict on Cairn Gorm climber

An experienced mountaineer died after making a last-minute decision to go ahead with a climb on Cairn Gorm.A coroner’s court heard that Lt Col Michael Rough fell 200m from the top of the Aladdin’s Mirror route in Coire an t-Sneachda.

Answering machine takes high-level call

Typical! You climb 8,848m up a mountain to get a decent signal and all you get is the answering machine.Climber Rod Baber became the first man to make...

Gaping Gill winch operates this weekend

It may have lost its title as the king of the caves, but Gaping Gill is still a remarkable spectacle.The massive main chamber of the limestone cavern is normally the preserve of potholers, but this weekend, mortals who never otherwise have the chance to venture underground can take a trip into the subterranean wonderworld.Left: Gaping Gill's main chamber Bradford Pothole Club has its annual winch meet from next Saturday, when you can fork out £9 to descend the 105m to the floor of the cavern, on the slopes of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.

Henry back in Speyside love nest

A quick update for grough readers addicted to the soap opera which continues in Speyside.Two-timing EJ has welcomed back her old flame Henry and the couple are now nurturing two issues, the fruit of their union, after Henry barbarously kicked VS’s clutch out of the family roost.Yes, the ospreys of Loch Garten continue their saga of love, betrayal, violence and loose morals, with the happier news that rock-steady fish-catcher Henry is installed back in the nest after dashing his love rival’s eggs on the ground.

Fellsman Hike: Hartell makes it ten

Ultra-long-distance expert Mark Hartell put his stamp on the Fellsman Hike this weekend with an emphatic tenth win to equal the record number of firsts.He topped the list of 154 hardy hikers who completed the gruelling 62-mile course over some of the toughest terrain in the Yorkshire Dales, in weather ranging from torrential rain to bright sunshine.Read our account of this annual bog-trotting, fell-conquering festival of endurance, with pictures from the event.Winner Mark Hartell approaches the final checkpoint at Yarnbury See our collection of Fellsman Hike photographs at our photosales website .

PM's home centre of criminal-trespass row

A campaign group has succeeded in forcing the Home Office into a U-turn on a law which would have banned the public from right-to-roam land near the Prime Minister’s country home.The land, at Beacon Hill, half a mile from Chequers in Buckinghamshire, had been included in controversial regulations which would have meant walkers risked being arrested for venturing on to access land.The Open Spaces Society (OSS) spotted that a parliamentary order made it a criminal offence to walk on Beacon Hill, which overlooks the Elizabethan mansion which has been the official residence of premiers since 1921.